vaccinating teachers

Axios - Teachers want the vaccine, but they'll have to wait
WBEZ Chicago - Chicago Teachers Say They Won’t Put Their Families At Risk By Returning To The Classroom

this is so ridiculous. of COURSE we should vaccinate teachers before REQUIRING them to go back to work in classrooms!! people under 16 aren't even approved for vaccination yet they for sure can get sick and/or pass it along.

wtf would even be the point of not vaccinating teachers anyway? they'll start to get sick right away, need to take time off, we'll hire subs, who will also get sick, and eventually we'll be out of teachers. how is this a necessary process? 

honestly, i'm so annoyed that most countries are vaccinating the elderly and at risk before the actual essential workers, or even the rest of the working population. in america all we hear about is opening up the economy, but how can we do that if we can't go back to work or do regular things because we're afraid of getting sick? yes, vaccinating the elderly will prevent more deaths, but that's not actually useful in the long run. more useful would be vaccinating teachers, postal workers, bus drivers, people who are forced to come into contact with many people. this will slow the spread of the disease sooner than it would if we were to vaccinate older or more at-risk populations first. high on our priority list would also be essential workers like grocery store people, delivery people, agricultural workers, people who cannot work from home. they keep the world running, not retired people who can choose to stay home or go out. 

i'm not against the elderly getting vaccinated, but it doesn't make much sense to base their priority sorely on age. a more reasonable criteria would be job sector. i do understand that it's much easier to do this by age though since you can "prove" that much more easily. 

related article from Reuters: Why Indonesia is vaccinating its working population first, not elderly

an excerpt: "Younger working adults are generally more active, more social and travel more so this strategy should decrease community transmission faster than vaccinating older individuals,” he said."

I think that it may seem more moral to vaccinate the elderly first because it will prevent more immediate deaths. however, I do think that in the long term, vaccinating more "essential" and "active" people first would prevent more total deaths and long term negative effects in the world, including, yes, the global economy. 

also, this article about Age groups' contribution to COVID-19 transmission in the U.S.!!!

for angela

there's a homeless lady in our area. she's a regular; i see hear maybe once a month and she's the only one i've really noticed. probably because she's a woman. 

anyway, i found a couple pairs of brand new socks at the house and didn't want / need them, and neither did my mom, and I thought of her. I kept them in our basket of things to be donated near the front door, and eventually was able to give them to her. she accepted them, was polite, and not overly grateful, which I liked.

about a month later, she's still on my mind. it's so cold at nights and one night it poured rain. last week I saw her and asked if she needed anything. she said possibly a small blanket. I had just visited my parents (I go once a week), and didn't plan to go again until the next weekend. so I told her to come find me in a week and a half and I'd see what I'd have for her.

but I couldn't wait that whole 7-8 days tho cause it is so cold at night, and it's not like my days are so busy anyway, so I went on monday to get assorted blankets, a long wool coat from my mom, cleared out a large backpack (hers is so small), and a few other clothing items. I'd also asked ting a few days before and she donated a bunch of clothes too! and toiletries! the homeless lady is quite thin but wears a lot of layers so I don't think she'd do well with too much of my clothes. 

so we collected pretty much everything on the floor in the photo for her. (not the shoes, those are mine. the homeless lady is a size 9), plus the coat draped over the chair.

i was nervous that since I had asked her to come back in a week and a half but went early, I'd just have this sitting in our living room for a week. amazingly, the very next morning, I saw her! i had prepared the backpack for her, and added some fruit, a $40 gift card to walgreens (it was a gift to me and I never shop there), and a $25 starbucks from ting (also a gift). i offered her a choice of the blankets, said she could take them all if she wanted, tho she only wanted the smallest blanket. I've noticed that she is not one of those who keeps a lot of things in a shopping cart. she has a small backpack and a smaller tote stuffed full, but that's it. 

she seemed most appreciative of the coat and the backpack. she asked more than once that my mom didn't mind giving away the coat, and later asked me to thank my mom for it. :) ting and I both gave a good amount of thought of what to give. what was appropriate (ting gave some used but great condition socks) and sizes (I gave her new underwear in small size, but a jacket in medium of layering), and I think we dd good. 

oh, btw, I didn't think to ask her name until tuesday (today) when I gave her the stuff.