Woot! Small step towards COVID safety! (Updated)

[Ms. Toad]

Last edited Wed Aug 4, 2021, 04:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Most classes at my university begin the week of August 23. Mine start Saturday.

~130 students, 24 hours of contact with each (in two groups: 95-ish in one group and 35-ish in the other), unmasked, forbidden from asking about vaccination status, packed in shoulder-to-shoulder.

I had asked that I be allowed to require masks in my class, and urged my dean to press the higher ups for a quick answer because their decision timeline might be targeting the August 23 start date. I provided him with ammunition (essentially the same information I have been providing here).

I had very little hope that there would be movement (Republican administration, and all). But within an hour or two, the University will be announcing mandatory indoor masking - regardless of vaccination status as of August 9. Beyond my wildest hopes - I had anticipated that - at most - I would be permitted a personal plea to the students to wear masks based on my cancer/risk of metastasis to my lungs which would put me on chemotherapy and at significant risk should one of the yahoos give me COVID. Had I been told not to even do that, I probably would have gone ahead and given my spiel and accepted whatever punishment they doled out.

I had also gone out and purchased a clear mask (for lip reading) with filters that keep me safer than an N95 mask (N99 or N100, depending on which information I read), and also filter outgoing air to N95 level. That would have kept me safe, then I would only have had to wrestle with my conscience about the exposure I was subjecting my students to by requiring in person attendance.

My class starts 2 days ahead of the new policy, but I have been given permission to implement it as of the first day of the class.

Whew!

Even better:

Mandatory registration of vaccination status for all faculty, staff, and students
Unvaccinated (or non-reporters) are subject to up-to-weekly testing starting 8/16 (vaccinated are exempt)

[MLAA]

1. Sanity wins the battle!

[Ms. Toad]

7. It helps that my request was made slightly before

the request from the local health department, 3 major hospital systems, and after a competing university went way farther than we did.

[lagomorph777]

3. Amazing. Apparently they need to keep their staff alive.

It costs money to recruit replacements after killing staff.

[Ms. Toad]

9. We have no money to replace staff.

If they kill us off, we just have to make do without. The two of us in my department are already doing the work of 4. If they kill me off, the remaining staff member could not keep up with the work, and the salary savings would just be absorbed (no replacement)

[3catwoman3]

4. That's wonderful!

Please tell me/us about your clear mask. I might be interested in one of those..

[Ms. Toad]

6. It's from Leaf

https://leafmask.com/

There is a ton of bad reviews - all related to the indigogo funding (and not timely fulfilling orders for the investors). I decided to take a chance, since it is really the only thing avalailable that functions well as a clear mask - and the complaints seem to have stopped about 4 months ago.

The package came in under a week. I haven't tried it for teaching yet - but it seems to work well otherwise.

There is a knock-off that (in some ads) uses the photos from the leaf site. So I'd only order it from the Leaf site. I'll give you an update after this weekend as to how it works.

[3catwoman3]

8. Thank you.

I’ll keep an eye out for your report.

[EarnestPutz]

5. Nicely done. Good for you. Haven't seen a "Woot" in a long while. That's good too.

[calimary]

10. Congratulations! EXCELLENT work!

I wonder if maybe the thought of being sued by a newly-sickened student or his/her family (and all the resulting bad publicity) might have had something to do with it?

[Ms. Toad]

11. I really don't know what made it palatable for them.

And I'm shocked that they actually approved he change.

We're a state university, so we're somewhat immune from litigation, so I don't think that is likely to be it.

[jaxexpat]

14. "we're somewhat immune from litigation". Is that like "herd immunity"?

Sorry. I couldn't help it. I envisioned a grassy paddock of lawyers carrying their brief cases walking along the fences, chewing their cud and looking into the adjacent pasture for litigants.

[Ms. Toad]

15. That's all the staff who are JDs and faculty at my school . . .

Although they won't let us defend our own cases.

[Nevilledog]

12. I'm so glad!

[KS Toronado]

16. Good for you!

Like we always said at work....SAFETY FIRST

[yonder]

17. That's good news for you, your students and your associates.

Whether all of them realize it or not is another thing.

[Ms. Toad]

23. Yes.

I was offered the option of taking the course completely online, before it was clear where the University would land - and I was struggling to balance the relatively complete protection I had bought for myself against the reality that by holding the class live I was likely putting others' lives at risk.

We will never have perfect safety - but it is the next best thing to shutting down again (and I'm not, at the moment, inclined to advocate that).

[Nittersing]

18. Great news!!

You must be so relieved.

[Tadpole Raisin]

19. Wonderful news!

You probably feel you can exhale a little now… yah just a little but every bit counts. Congratulations!

[Ms. Toad]

22. Yes.

I'm going into this school year particularly depleted, with the largest load of students I've had in years, a family medical crisis that has at least a week before it abates, and no break between the last big thing (a disastrous bar exam - look up #examSoft or #NCBE if you're curious) and the onboarding of new students.

So it is a relief to be back in an envirnment that is as safe as can be.

[Tadpole Raisin]

24. I understand!

You (we) don’t really understand how important basic support structures are until they are pulled out from under us. It’s an eye opener.

I’d like to think I appreciate things more now, but still wish I hadn’t experienced this last year.

Oh I did look up examsoft and NCBE. Thanks for mentioning it.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. That is so great! I suppose :-( in other words, it must be as bad

as we think it is.

Same thing happened to me yesterday I was worried about my husband going to work in a red state. But his bank instituted a mask mandate. It shocked the hell out of me but made me so happy.

[Ms. Toad]

21. According to the announcement,

My county just fell into the CDC guidelines this morning. (I'm pretty sure they were there last Thursday, but I'm not going to quibble.)

But I'm right there with you about the mixed emotions.

It feels horrible to be gloating that they are finally doing the right thing, but it means that it is almost certainly too late to prevent disaster - since I've had a hard time even getting (some) DU members to wake up and smell the coffee. To get this Republican-run University to do a 180 means the coffee is all over the kitchen floor and we're drowning in it.

[questionseverything]

25. Since that stock market dive repubs have become more reasonable

Plus everyone sees it is putting children on icu units

I think many deniers have “seen the light “

Or maybe I am just too optimistic

[Laura PourMeADrink]

27. If they haven't, they are the stupidest of the stupid. I just think

Not about the number of lives lost that trump and the GOP have caused... But how many lives can be saved from this point forward.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

26. Like " coffee all over the kitchen floor and we're drowning in it"

They care about getting sued?. If you can even sue anybody over covid??? I thought for sure would be able to sue the nursing homes in Connecticut for not protecting patients... But think they passed a law exempting lawsuits?

[LeftInTX]

28. I wonder if mask mandate bans could be a violation of the ADA?

In Texas, governor Abbott is banning mask mandates from any jurisdiction that receives funding from the state: Public schools, public universities, cities, and counties. (Only hospitals and jails can have mask mandates)

However, employees and patrons also have the right of "reasonable accommodation"..Masks are a "reasonable accommodation" under the ADA.

Your post got me thinking...I wonder if the dean immediately thought of the ADA?

I don't think we can get a vaccine mandate under the ADA until it is fully FDA approved, but I believe mask mandates could be....

My granddaughter is 4 and has autism. She is non-verbal and cannot wear a mask because she cannot follow instructions. If they put a mask on her she freaks out and throws it off. Her parents did not enroll her in early childhood last year because she could not wear a mask. (I personally believe forcing her to wear a mask to school was a violation of the ADA, but her parents did not pursue anything)...However, she is at the mercy of instructors and other students to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid.

Public schools are full of kids with conditions such as asthma...

I assume kids with more severe lung conditions, such as cystic fibrosis can enroll in "home study"..(Where the instructor comes to your home..my son was in the home study for a year.. If my kid had CF, that is what I would do)
However, I'm sure there are kids with cystic fibrosis who may want to be at school in order to socialize...
Just as example and thought...

[Ms. Toad]

29. The ADA question will not be straightforward.

An accommodaton to one person cannot put another in danger. So allowing one child to go unmasked puts the rest of the class in danger.

An extreme example of this would be someone who is blind but wants a driver's license. No matter what accommodation is granted, a blind person with a driver's license still puts other pedestrians, drivers, etc. at risk. So, in that instance, no accommodation is possible. Depending on the infection rate and whether the person is vaccinated, allowing an individual - even one with a valid reason for not wearing a mask - to go unvaccinated might not be a reasonable accommodation.

We're actually dealing with that now.

(FWIW - My daughter's boyfriend, who has pretty severe asthma, is currently wearing a mask inside our house. Most conditions cited for avoiding mask wearing are not necessarily anything other than a preference.)

[LeftInTX]

30. OK..makes sense

But the mask mandate bans may violate the ADA

If someone has asthma and wears a mask, but is exposed to unmasked students and teachers, it could be a violation of the ADA.