Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
We closed schools, shuttered learning, but kept bars, restaurants and sporting events open. We even kept doing that a year after pandemic started, and only on the brink of a complete breakdown of the health care system were any restrictions put into place to keep everything from burning down.
End of the day, closing schools was seen as an acceptable option, while keeping other non-essential places open wasn't deemed to be an issue. This is an issue of priorities, and obviously an issue of political stupidity.
We also knew pretty early on that kids weren't really affected. Hell, we knew anyone under 40 with no pre-existing conditions had basically a negligible risk factor.
So I don't think its quite fair to say in July of 2022, oh we learned. Maybe in July of 2020 that would have been correct.
But hey, water under the bridge. Sucks if your kid was set back years in development.
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I understand your frustration, but there are so many variables at play in this situation, it was never reasonable for the government to get it right. And I am no UCP/Kenney fan, but mistakes were always going to be made. On one hand you hurt/disadvantage one group and on the other hand you hurt/disadvantage another group.
Schools were closed because online learning was viewed as a reasonable alternative. I'm not saying it worked well, but it was an option. Also, people love to mention that kids weren't impacted by Covid as much as others, but there are MANY adults that work in schools who are over the age of 40 and have risk factors. In my school (I'm a teacher) we struggled from staff shortages like crazy and bordered on closing the school several times. In fact if the government hadn't closed schools at certain points when they did my school would have been forced to close regardless. We had too many staff out, with not enough replacements. It was a near disaster for us and I assume other schools as well. Plus, there were many in the educational system calling for the schools to close earlier and more often, but the government kept them open. Hell, we went stretches where 1/4 of our buses didn't run because drivers were out and we couldn't get replacements. It was a mess. Bus drivers in my division tend to be elderly retired types or "at-risk" people for Covid. So, again, it wasn't always about keeping the kids safe. It was about staffing issues, community spread and hospital pressures.
As such, closing schools was never really about protecting the kids, but more stopping community spread. And as a teacher of 11+ years I can assure you schools are breeding grounds for viruses. Kids hug, kiss, share drinks, share food, socialize way too closely. They still did these things with mask requirements, because theyre just kids and they don't think fully about it. It is what it is, but the notion that schools spread literally every other illness besides Covid is false.
As far as restaurants/businesses, etc, the government was also routinely criticized for closing them at all. People's livelihoods were destroyed by closing these things. Closing schools did not impact people's ability to earn income (other than needs for daycare). Regardless, I'm not even sure schools were closed more often than some businesses were? I honestly don't know the answer, but it felt like businesses were closed more often than schools. I could be wrong though.
As far as your closing statement "But hey, water under the bridge. Sucks if your kid was set back years in development." Could it not be flipped and say "But hey, water under the bridge. Sucks if your grandma died from Covid". Again this was always about MANY factors. The government was literally triaging throughout 2020 and 2021, and they were going to be criticized no matter what actions they took.
I taught in high schools for 11 years and taught throughout 2020 and 2021. I'm now on a leave, but I can assure you the vast majority of the kids that I'm aware of will be okay. They will find their way. Kids/People go through all sorts of crises and issues in life and the vast majority are able to overcome and prosper. The majority of the kids I saw struggle during Covid times in schools were already massively struggling due to other factors such as poor home life, abuse, etc. It sucks, and these people need our support, but the VAST majority (95%+) of kids rolled with the punches and are doing okay. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but in my rural Alberta high school the kids are okay and will emerge from Covid stronger for it. They may have missed out on some deeper understandings of the History, English, Math or Science, but they've gained some amazing insights into resiliency and perseverance that many other generations did not.
Your frustration is valid and I sympathize, but I'm not sure what else you wanted the government to do given the facts at the time? Hell, they're still being criticized for not closing schools earlier and more often. In fact, schools in Alberta were arguably open for most of the school years after 2020. Other than the March 2020 shutdown, schools were only closed for a few weeks here and there.
Covid was a disaster on many levels, but I feel pretty confident that Canada as a whole came through it fairly well considering how some other Western-developed nations fared. People were obviously hurt and disadvantaged all across our society, including kids, the elderly, the chronically ill, business owners, workers (especially retail), healthcare workers, etc. I can guarantee that if the government had kept schools open the entire time, they be criticized by another group for doing it. It was never going to be a perfect response, and that's okay.