COVID19 Update - Day 173

US Tests: 77,063,268*

US Cases: 5,967,833*

US Deaths: 175,243*

Worldwide Cases: 25,132,320*

Worldwide Deaths: 845,054*

* - Numbers are a lower bound.  True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration

There are no good options.  The New York Times has a story out today detailing the situation surrounding the start of the school year, and the fact that there are really no good options:

The state’s poorest districts were the first to turn to all-remote instruction once given the option — in spite of the estimated 230,000 children across New Jersey who state officials have said lack either computers or internet access.

Last Monday, Newark’s schools, which educate more Black, Latino and low-income children than any other district in New Jersey, announced that classes would start the same way they ended in June: fully online. Most of New Jersey’s other large cities — including Jersey City, Elizabeth, Paterson and Camden — had already said they were planning an all-virtual start to the school year.

In some affluent suburban districts that still plan to reopen, tension is running high and plans are changing quickly.

Last week in Summit, teachers who were worried about the safety of a plan to reopen to all students, five days a week, held two sit-ins on the same day.

But by the second protest, they had to remake their signs: The district had suddenly announced that it was switching to a hybrid model of alternating days in school for middle and high school students. Under the current plan, elementary students will attend school every day.

“We’re still mystified how they’re going to bring 20 students into an elementary school classroom and keep them six feet apart,” said Wendy Donat, who teaches history at Summit High School and is vice president of the district’s teachers union.

This isn't a problem for me personally.  I have a son in college (classes started on August 19, and it seems they haven't shut down yet), and a daughter entering her senior year of high school.  So they're both fairly well able to take charge of their own educations.  But I have a lot of friends with younger children who are pulling their hair out, trying to figure out home-schooling, or hybrid schedules where their kids have to be at school for only part of the day.

There is no doubt this would be a problem even if Trump had reacted to the pandemic responsibly, but his 'kill em all' attitude has certainly made things worse.