I wrote a post last year about some of the things my students (I’m a teacher) and colleagues said to me as the only COVID conscious person in our building. One of my students told me, “Y’all still acting like it’s COVID,” because I mask and follow basic hygiene. I made a comment on another post last night that was similar, so I thought I’d do it again.
When I tell my students how I don’t want to get COVID or other illnesses and they look at me like I have two heads. It’s like COVID has destroyed basic hygiene knowledge. So this time around, I’ve decided to write down some of the things I have said to students and staff so far this school year.
To a student, “Cover your mouth with your shirt or a tissue when you cough. No, not like that. You have to catch the germs. Yes, you actually have to trap them.”
To a teacher, “Yeah I noticed a bunch of your class is sick too. Just saying, nothing’s stopping you from masking again. There’s not just effective against COVID. I’ve got extras.”
To a student, “Take it out of your mouth. See, now there’s spit on your pencil. And you use your hand to write with that pencil. And you’re touching the tables where your friends sit. Do you think they want your spit on them?”
To a teacher, “I don’t think they’re faking it. If a kid feels sick I make a nurse appointment for them. They’re not going to be effective learners if their body needs rest.”
To a student, “You’re right, I did get COVID last year even though I mask all the time. I would have probably gotten it a lot more if I didn’t. Where do you think I got it from? My house?”
To the principal, “Thanks, we practice hygiene a lot in my room. It’s not that hard. You just have to model how to do these things for them. I honestly think we should have a hygiene clinic/assembly at least at the beginning of the year.”
To a student, “Okay why in the world is your used tissue lying on your worksheet rather than in the trashcan? Yes, you have to do it again. I’m not grading your snot.”
To a special education teacher, “I know some of my students on your case load need fidgets and other manipulatives. I don’t want to step on your toes, but maybe these chew toy things aren’t the best choice for this student who struggles with motor function anyway. He’s literally covered in saliva by 10am.”
To a student, “You still have to wash your hands after using the free-draw markers. 20 seconds. Warm water. Soap. Get your finger nails.”
To a teacher, “They’ve been empty for weeks? The custodians have thousands of refills for the soap and hand sanitizer dispensers. Just ask them for a few boxes at a time and change them as needed. You don’t have to just live with them being empty.”
To a student, “Hand sanitizer doesn’t clean off your hands. You literally just rubbed snot all over the your hands. No, you can’t just use more hand sanitizer.”
I could go on and on. But I think you get the picture. Kids have always been gross. Apparently more and more adults are too. You’d think a pandemic would make some of these basic hygiene practices common knowledge. Why the hell am I teaching 11-year-olds how to blow their noses and wash their hands? Why am I the only one on staff who actively tries to not get sick.
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I feel bad for your SIL. Mainly because I have OCD as well, and I can tell when people get tired of my “unreasonable demands.”
Granted, if I’m taking your words at face value then those things seem excessive and unhealthy. But I’m willing to bet there is a lot of nuance left out.
I don’t strip down and shower every time I take out the trash or go grocery shopping. But after a day of teaching or sitting in a waiting room for one of my kid’s doctor appointments? Yeah, we’re going straight into the showers. A garage hamper is just a good idea in my opinion.
Cleaning used to be a big issue for me. Now it’s normal maintenance. I used to stay up at night to clean because I didn’t want my partner to see me because my brain was convinced she’d think I was weird. Therapy got me to understand 99.99% of people literally don’t care if you clean up things. I just hope your SIL wears appropriate PPE with cleaning products.
My kids see my parents mostly in warm months, outside, because my parents simply don’t care if they’re sick. We’re much past the point of me begging them to mask, on their own or around my kids. If they care enough to see their grandkids inside during the winter then I have masks ready to go for them. But the ball has been sitting on their side of the court for a long time.
Alright I’ll take the L. 1 and 2 are indeed excessive and not backed by science, sounds like she’s got a real problem. Covid is airborne so masking anytime you’re around someone outside the household is the primary appropriate precaution. Hand sanitizer basically takes care of what fomite risk there is so unless they’re having sex where she’s licking him head to toe the moment he comes home there’s no covid-justified reason for him to have to shower and change clothes immediately.
3 though depends. If your mom is masking wherever she goes and/or willing to mask around the child, then it’s not that reasonable. If she’s yoloing like it’s 2019 and doesn’t mask up anymore, then it’s appropriate to treat her as a potential infection risk.
Yep it sure is telling, and I’ll tell you what it tells: I’m sick of all the capitalist gaslighting and I’m primed to snap at someone about it because 99% or more of the time minimizing dog-whistles like the ones you dropped are deliberate gaslighting. I guess your comment’s in the 1% or less where someone actually was being excessive and not making fact-based decisions. Yours is the 2nd story I’ve heard about someone having genuinely severe OCD symptoms about Covid in 4 years. Most other times I’ve seen people say someone’s being “unreasonable” they’re bitching about someone insisting on testing before unmasked hangouts, back when you could get reliable tests, or about insisting on continuing to wear a mask. So yeah, I’m defensive and mistrustful because there’s a fuckton of gaslighting out there.
And I guess a P.S. to that is you picked a name calling yourself a liberal and I’ve seen you advocate voting for Holocaust Harris to own the conservatives as if handing them everything they want is a way to stick it to them, so don’t act shocked if people assume the worst of your takes. I wouldn’t have been so harsh on other posters here saying the same thing.
Lol what a cRaZy belief in year 5 of a pandemic of one of if not the most transmissible disease of all time that also wrecks your immune system and makes it more likely you’ll spread other diseases as well.
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There may be other factors at play. Does transportation to do the visiting have the same risks for both parties? Has your partner ever asked your SIL if they perceive a difference in the level of cleanliness, covid risk mitigation compliance, or social behaviors of each set of parents?
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What are the other reasons? Does transportation to do the visiting have the same risks for both parties? Are there any other differences your SIL has cited when discussing their discomfort with visiting your parents?
Are your parents willing to take covid tests before visits? Do they eat out at restaurants or go to the movie theaters regularly? Do they wear adequate masks in public?