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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The campaign by the bourgeoisie to “end” the pandemic ideologically and sociologically is terrifying and deserving of more examination by leftists of all stripes but especially Marxists.
Keep doing the right thing. It’s fucking hard out there.
I think the Death Panel podcast has some great episodes already out (or that are upcoming) about the social-cultural-production of the “end” of COVID, that I’ve been meaning to listen to
The lead hosts wrote “Health Communism” which is a fucking banger
There’s an episode they unlocked in like… May? I think. It was about that woman who wrote an article about how her husband won’t compromise on things like eating out, because he’s at-risk and had a very bad go with his covid infection. I think it’s a very good episode for deconstructing the “end” of the pandemic and the consequences. Let me go see if I can find the episode again…
Yeah, May 29th 2024: On NPR’s “Wrestling with my husbands fear of getting COVID again” (Unlocked).
Absolutely! I really wish this was taken more seriously as a whole by the broader movement. COVID has absolutely devastated all of our lives. Why aren’t we speaking more about it and the ruling class’s culpability in it?
This is a good question and the unfortunate answer I’ve come to is that ableism is the ur-ism among us all. It is horrifying in its complete grasp on pretty much everyone alive. Ableism and health supremacist attitudes make even the lowest among us see even lower, and it keeps us complacent. “I got covid and I’m fine. It sucks if you’re disabled but the world has to go on.” - every person on the left I’ve tried to agitate this point to.
It is a deprogramming within a deprogramming, and I don’t even know where to begin to fight it with the urgency it requires.
Thanks. At this point I’m no longer simply motivated by public health and my family’s safety. I’m motivated by righteous hatred of the owner class.
Based. The reason the capitalists decided to prematurely declare the pandemic solved was they didn’t want to pay the price of restructuring society to deal with it. They’d rather offload the price in blood onto the working class.
meanwhile city subreddits are like “is there an illness going around?”
Allergies amirite?
The fun part is the longer this goes on the more terrifying possible answers there will be for that!
This Internet stranger who is immunocompromised and wears a p100 respirator everywhere loves you and is so, so proud of you. Never stop. You are what gives me the strength and hope to keep going. Please keep going, too, as long as it takes.
Stay safe comrade ❤️
We are fucking char-broiled. Completely overcooked at this point.
Thank you for sharing, it makes m so much more confident in the extreme precautions I take.
Also, I hate you for sharing because it shines light on just how fucked we actually are.
All that said, you aren’t alone and your efforts are very much appreciated! Keep it up, comrade!
I hate you for sharing
It’s okay. Give me your hate. Let it out. It fuels me. Seriously, if you need to vent, let it rip.
Nah, I don’t really hate you, was just being sarcastic about the fact that we are in a horrible situation as a society and only a small percentage of us actually care anymore.
I have a friend who’s kid has had Covid 3 times already and they aren’t even a year old yet.
Realistically I do honestly appreciate you and your efforts!
❤️
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?”
Please tell me you teach kindergarten.
Why the hell am I teaching 11-year-olds how to blow their noses and wash their hands?
:agony:
Unfortunately, this kind of stuff is normal among kids at that age. Not washing their hands after using the bathroom, snot everywhere, etc. Pre teens can be vile with their lack of hygiene.
Not that I was paying attention as much as I do now, but I remember in 2018 kids being better about hygiene.
I’m trying to move out of my house and yesterday I call a realtor about an apartment she listed. At one point in the conversation she asks “any pets?” to which I answer no, then a little later she asks “any pets?” I again answer no. Then she goes “wait…did I already ask you that?” I say “yeah but it’s fine haha no worries.” She then goes, and this is pretty much word for word, “I swear I have no idea what’s going on with me lately, it’s like early-onset dementia or something. I mean I’m in my 50s - late 50s, but still! This shouldn’t be happening this soon but you never know, it’s important to stay vigilant.” I of course wanted to scream COVID COVID COVID but I find ranting about covid tends to push people away more than get them to listen to you, and I wanted to see this apartment.
Anyway today I go down to see the apartment and the whole time I’m hearing some woman in the next apartment over just hacking out her lungs. Like, this wasn’t “oh I’m a bit sick” this was like extremely violent coughing and sneezing. And it never let up. At one point she comes out of the apartment pale and sweaty and has a brief conversation with my realtor in the hallway - both unmasked of course - while I was in my potential apartment looking at something. S2g I don’t know what’s going on with people, wear a damn mask!
Fucking dire
I still don’t know how to do the emoji things because of early onset boomerism. Maybe someone can do a salute rat thing for me. But pointing the other direction.
You just type a colon : and then a word, it should produce a list of emoji somewhat close to that to pick from.
The wildest to me is how far some people have swung back.
The person who, back in 2021/22, would walk out of their way in the hallway to keep 6 feet of distance between us, who has two kids at home both younger than 3, doesn’t take any precautions anymore. Or the guy who wore aura respirators before anyone else and did everything on zoom until 2023, I never see wearing a mask anymore. Or people I organize with who actively refuse to wear a mask, even at actions. It’s just so strange.I think those kind of people just get tired of/overwhelmed by it all and completely give up at some point. It’s not that they don’t care or even think COVID is over, they just don’t have the effort to keep it up. I know I’ve felt like that on occasion.
Of course that will ultimately just make things worse, but it’s hard.
Understandable, but not a good excuse in my opinion. I am extremely overwhelmed by all of this, but at no point did I ever let up or give in.
Let that blame fall on the 24 hour news media and CDC for making COVID precautions about as simple to understand as quantum physics. We could have had simple guidance, but you gotta fill the airways.
Yeah, I think it has to be that. Just sucks that people who cared so much get overwhelmed to the point of giving up.
It’s not that they don’t care or even think COVID is over, they just don’t have the effort to keep it up.
gonna be honest, I fall into this cyclically at this point. when nobody else cares, it really sucks to be the one person in 100 who’s bothering to mask, especially bc the primary benefits of masking are seen when the infector is wearing one, not the infectee.
like, it’s disheartening, uncomfortable, and potentially not even protecting me that much; I’m still masking when I go to places where I’ll be breathing a lot of others’ air, but it sucks to feel like it’s not actually helping me much.
If you’re wearing an N95 (you should be), then it’s protecting you fairly well. And you could always go with something better like a P100.
The reason it’s better for the infected person to wear a mask is less because it makes another individual less likely to catch it than the other way around and more because it makes everyone around them less likely to catch it.
It is. A good quality mask will help protect you very, very, very much. You mentioned they’re uncomfortable. What kind of masks have you tried? It’s ok if you don’t know what brands or product names. There’s loads of different types for different faces.
My wife works with hundreds of people, mostly kids and their families every day. She’s the only one who wears an N95 for her whole shift and commute, just about 12 hours total. She’s been there a year and we have not once been sick. There is always an element of luck when no one else is contributing to mitigation, but it can’t just be luck for that long. Respirators that fit your face are extremely, extremely good at protecting you, and everyone around you. They are always worth it.
I’ve tried some KN95s with earhooks and a nose piece (the least uncomfortable), a couple different varieties of 3M N95/Aura masks, some other brand’s N95 masks, and they’re all varying degrees of awful sensory. unless there’s a mask that magically doesn’t feel like I have something on my face, I don’t think a comfortable mask exists for me.
Not wanting discomfort is understandable. I’m not trying to be facetious by saying this, but have you considered the discomfort that comes with COVID infections, for yourself and those you would potentially infect?
KN95s offer a great deal of protection. You can get/make ear-savers as well if that’s an issue (a seal check is mandatory if you do this because it changes the contour of the mask).
Sometimes I recommend IFM N95 A105, which is very similar to fold style kN95s. You can try duckbill or cup styles too.
And there’s of course plastic reusable p100 respirators, which a lot of people would associate with industrial uses. Next to adhesive seal respirators, they are most effective.
Ugh, I have friends who were leaving Amazon packages in their front porch for a week before even bringing them inside. Now those same friends are at night clubs on weekends… It’s so wild to me know the swing back to “normal” was so extreme and borderline malicious.
Honestly I feel like the people who did stuff like this at the beginning of lockdowns were some of the first to ditch masks. Just very reactionary to every news story. As soon as news coverage waned in the slightest they went back to business as usual. Except now they’d talk about those darn BLM rioters at the water cooler.
Edit: This is kinda a halfbaked take.
I’ve worked in a lot of different schools since the start of the pandemic. I think I’ve seen fewer than 5 masked teachers in the past year. I’m trying to specifically remember but I can’t.
My dad got covid this summer, it put him in the hospital. He’s out now, but it’s pretty clearly accelerated his other diagnosis.
It sucks so bad that everyone’s acting like nothing’s happening. There’s not even vaccine coverage for the uninsured anymore here, because that would come to close to acknowledging there’s an issue.
Can’t have that. COVID consciousness is a leading cause of class consciousness.
we need more people like you because the brainrot has spread far and wideThank you so much for not letting up. Every single example you’re giving is an opportunity for something to click in someone’s brain. Or for a kid who’s giving in to social pressure to at least know that there’s someone else who recognizes what’s happening.
That’s what I hope. For the past couple years my students are pretty good by December, forget everything over winter break, then are good again by March.
Anecdotally, I know 5 people who have gotten it in the last month, which is higher than at any other time during the pandemic so far. None of them mask, none of them think COVID is a problem, only one had gotten the most recent booster, all of them were surprised.
Why the hell am I teaching 11-year-olds how to blow their noses and wash their hands?
That was the most depressing part — I thought this was a kindergarten (5-year-olds) when I was reading this where they’d at least have an excuse for not knowing better.
I used to teach early childhood. The behaviors are very similar.
Thanks for this. The economic cost of this pandemic must be enormous, but one hears nothing of it. Sigh
I’m more concerned about the human cost. You can’t recoup those losses.
Fair enough! Lives and quality of life losses are enormous. It could have and could still be handled so much better. :-(
