Republicans need to stop making lives of children a political issue.
Washington, DC - A day after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (click here) threatened to withhold salaries of superintendents and school board members if schools defy his executive order against mask mandates, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Department of Education is looking at a range of options to help protect teachers, students and school leaders in Florida.
"I do want to call out the courage and boldness of a number of leaders in Florida," Psaki said Tuesday. "People who are stepping up to do the right thing to protect students and keep schools safe and open."
Florida's COVID cases and hospitalizations are currently among the highest in the nation.
In her press briefing Tuesday, Psaki said CARES Act money could "certainly" be used to pay the salaries of anyone who DeSantis strips funding from in Florida's school system for imposing a mask mandate....
If local authorities find it best to require masks, then it needs to be left alone. They only want to protect the lives of their students, staff and teachers. There is nothing wrong with that.
In many instances Masks = Life. I am fairly certain there are many teachers that have retired because of all this. Why make the situation worse? Allow people and children to feel secure. Radical right endangerment of human beings is a human rights violation.
Having schools open is not a heroic act as there are still virus in the air. Having a school system open does not mean the students will attend or teachers report to work or staff come in to their jobs. There is a lot more to school openings than simply declaring war on School Boards and Superindentents.
Press Secretary Psaki is making the comment that Florida has not done enough. There is a huge definition in that other than unlocking the doors.
There is a reason why Ms. Psaki stated monoclonal antibodies don't work. It is not a lie.
Most every scientist involved in tracking and treatments for the virus and it's variants have been saying over and over that the longer the virus is among people it will continue to mutate until it has superior ability for transmission as a Level Three virus. Omicron is PROOF of their steadfast assertions.
The fact that omicron has developed a resistence to treatment is not a good sign as it will continue to mutate to fight the efforts of human beings to end the spread.
This virus has come a very long way in circumventing efforts to end the pandemic. It has been among the people since 2019. It is beginning to reach it's pinnacle of development to continue to spread.
KNOCK IT OFF!
In November 2021, (click here) the B.1.1.529 (omicron) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detected in South Africa. Since then, omicron has rapidly spread around the world. On November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization designated omicron as a variant of concern. The omicron variant was found to have at least 33 mutations (29 amino acid substitutions, 1 insertion of three amino acids, and 3 small deletions) in its spike (S) protein, as compared with early SARS-CoV-2 strains identified in Wuhan, China. Notably, 15 of the 29 substitutions were in the receptor-binding domain of the S protein, which is the primary target for monoclonal antibody–based therapy. This finding suggests that the monoclonal antibodies that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be less effective against the omicron variant....
