Data Report

SUMMARY:
OLDHAM COUNTY, Ky. —
An uptick in illnesses has Oldham County Schools moving to virtual learning the next three days.

According to the district, on Monday alone, they had 1,700 students, 200+ staff, and 15 transportation employees absent due to illness.

LINK:
https://www.wlky.com/article/oldham-county-schools-nti-tues-wed-thurs/63654710


"OCS also provided these tips to help parents and students stop the spread of illness:

Please continue to stress the importance of FREQUENT HAND WASHING (hands should be washed with soap and water for at least 20 seconds).
Teach your child to cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Allow them to carry their own supply of tissues. HAND WASHING is advised after the use of each tissue when coughing and sneezing.
Teach your child the "Cover Your Cough" maneuver recommended by health professionals. Simply cough into the crook of the elbow instead of covering the cough with your hands".


Masked Man side remark on aforementioned guidelines:

The school sure has a lot of gall giving advice and tips to people considering they completely failed to protect their kids from an outbreak they themselves were part of or possibly created.

uh does the mask exist!? Does anybody here recognize the mask as a medical safety device that has been proven to be useful for quite some time in history and all cultures in fighting germs? Hello!? Anybody in there? let's acknowledge the mask does indeed exist as a legitimate medical safety tool. It has a filter and filters out hazardous particles not just in the medical world around germs but also is used for filtering out dangerous particles in work occupational world such as asbestos, harmful smoke particles and there are even masks to prevent people from inhaling fumes that paint your car etc. This should be part of education knowing the tools that are available in this world and the mask has definitely proven its work as  a legitimate tool and weapon against breathing in harmful particles. I don't understand the denial of its existence and its sole function as a legitimate medical tool and device.

Okay wash your hands because germs just came out of sick people's faces at any given moment
Okay teach your childeren to cover their faces from sneezes.. uh well sneezes and coughs are often involuntary spasms making it somewhat impractical maybe giving the kid 3 seconds or less to grab a tissue..plus that means every kid has like a tissue out in the open which is also subject to germs. might as well MASK!
Okay teach your kid to cough in his elbow... c'mon that's bull then what .. walk around with his inner elbow exposed to his friends!? Are ya suppose to clean the germs on your inner elbow?  ... again wouldn't the mask be smarter!? This stuff isn't going to work anyway! coughing in your elbow if you are sick!? then go to lunch and recess everything will be okay!? gimme a break!

School,
There's an outbreak at your school .. your school failed ...don't give advice... this school's advice isn't going to protect the parents from children who spread this illness to mommy, daddy and grandparents when they get home. Be humble school. Why do you think you had an outbreak? because you know nothing about airborne diseases and how to prevent them obviously. All we know is that there is an outbreak in flu at this school and now the school thinks they all know what went wrong like a bunch of know it alls... a little humility is in order here for goodness sakes.You are not going to be fast enough to hold your breath and wash your hands when some child coughs or sneezes involuntarily into the air.. you people are not that gifted with superhuman agility and its impossible ... its all about physics.. your dealing with an airborne disease..your not going to be able to prevent or kill all the microscopic entities floating around in the air with hand washing or blowing into an elbow anymore than you can prevent Johnny from throwing a spitball or spit wad of paper at Sally across the room... think about the physics of it. You admit to understanding half the physics like when people cough sneeze , laugh ,shout or even breathe heavy then out of the face comes droplets and vapors in the air floating around and some of the droplets get breathed in by others from the air or land on people and stuff and people touch their faces but you don't seem to appreciate that time when the droplets are in the air or right when the droplets shoot into the air.. so shouldn't you also suggest people who aren't sick cover their face with a tissue when people around them accidentally cough or sneeze? See what I'm getting at? This isn't protecting people... at least suggest covering your mouth with masks if you understand the principles involved here and the timing of everything. You people aren't that fast.

Dear teachers,
What about when kids laugh? According to science these germs come out of the face when people laugh .. are you teachers going to cover your mouth too ? Wear a mask its easier and a mask is already in place before you laugh , cough, or sneeze involuntarily.. stop blaming the students and the parents for an airborne disease and your reason for not masking if you believe in covering the face when sneezing, coughing, shouting or laughing. I f you believe in covering your face when sneezing coughing laughing or breathing heavy then keep it covered(with a mask)! Its your logic ..your reasoning to cover a sneeze and a laugh then keep it covered!Don't give advice you aren't willing to take and follow yourselves... wear a mask if you believe kids should cover their faces while sneezing , coughing or laughing involuntarily.

I read the article and that's essentially what the school is saying is that its the parents fault for not teaching kids and its the  kid's fault for not covering up their sneezes and coughs enough and washing hands enough ...  so teachers, I say practice what you preach and keep your face covered too by wearing a mask if you believing in covering faces while people sneeze cough or laugh.. its only fair.

I give this school an F for pretending to know something about airborne diseases and blaming involuntary coughing and sneezing on it and yet not recommending people wear masks to prevent the droplets from entering the air as they have suggested is the problem. To think that all is needed is that parent teach their kids cover their face with a tissue when they cough or laugh or  sneeze into the crevice of part of their body body of clothing and that is will serves as some sort of protective filter for germs and protects all the healthy people in the room is nothing but but wishful thinking and doesn't include any deductive or scientific basis in reasoning. This school is blaming the parents for this outbreak. Its just true: An outbreak occurred at a school and the school implies that people need to wash their hands more and teach their kids to cover their faces more when they involuntarily cough, sneeze or laugh. I mean do you teach children to keep the crevice or fold of clothing they cough into closed for the remaining part of day? You cough into your elbows and then keep your arm all folded real tight so as to trap the germ in there? Is that how ya'll beat an outbreak maskless? How many coughs are you allowed before you have to wash your inner elbow crevice, professor? And that keeps everybody safe!? Is your inner elbow serving  like a temporary n95 mask? Is that your logic teacher? You believe in temporary or momentary masking just for those special moments like when one of the forty kids expels a little too much air for your comfort??

By the way How is coughing or sneezing into the crevice of one’s inner elbow any different than wiping your nose on your sleeve and then walking around? I know it deflects the sneeze a little but to trust the dexterity of a child ability to deflect an involuntary sneeze when people are sitting right next to him.. its ridiculous to think this act alone would prevent an outbreak for 6 hours a day when  someone is in a room sick around 40 other kids... its just not foolproof advice. Sneezing or coughing in a mask is probably dangerous enoug with that stuff shooting out the sides.
Wear a Mask around these know it alls and keep your distance... trust in physics and trust me,
The Masked Man

P.S.
Pop Quiz for teachers!

Do you understand the principles of airborne diseases? Test your powers here! in this handy question and answer about airborne diseases designed for teachers!

Question:
Can you get sick from germs in the air?

Answer:
A range of illnesses—from mild colds to the flu to COVID-19—are caused by airborne viruses. The COVID-19 pandemic shed new light on how viruses spread. During the pandemic, scientists learned that viruses can linger for a long time in the air. In fact, this may be the main way that many of them infect people.

Its only fair to at least acknowledge that a tool/device exists in reality such as a safety mask and its primary function is to prevent one from breathing in harmful particles and has been used with a degree of success. It is a legitimate option for people to use and protect themselves with..lets at least bring it to the public's attention and make the safety mask an option for people to choose by first acknowledging its existence and the sole function this device was designed for.
 
...with 1,700 students, 200+ staff sick, you have nothing to lose by acknowledging masks exist to filter out harmful particles and might be helpful or useful  to prevent airborne illness by those that choose to wear them.

Evidently some of my main viewpoints about making masks at least a viable option for those in schools that chose to wear one is not shared by the CDC either. It would be at least nice for a Center of Disease Control to recognize the  safety mask as being a real entity and contribution to the sciences considering many scientists made use of the safety mask while handling and studying many of these diseases that were studied through the electron microscope. Its hard to believe that not even the CDC a center of diseases control would not pay homage to all the amazing discoveries made while scientists protected themselves through this device called the mask that made it all possible to study germs closely and safely by scientists. 

It would be smart for schools and CDC's to at least be soupourtive of a device that protected their own  scientists over the ages and to be soupourtive of students and people who chose this very pragmatic means of protecting themselves with the mask. 

All I want is establishments to give people the choice and make it legal and protect those who chose to mask just like there are provisions like safety ramps for handicap people.

Nowhere in this following document is the Mask even mentioned for all the work that has been done behind one on the CDC's behalf...To not mention the mask's value in this day and age is really an act of anti-masking.

SUMMARY
Everyday Actions for Schools to Prevent and Control the Spread of Infections (no mention of Masks as if masks are but a figment of the imagination in the world of scientific discovery and medical practices)

LINK (I do not agree for lack of Mask acknowledgment in the following link):
https://www.cdc.gov/orr/school-preparedness/infection-prevention/actions.html

I'm not asking schools or the CDC to force people to wear masks but I would like to see some masks on the table along with their advice of sneezing into the crevice of one's arm to prevent the spread of airborne disease. Give people a choice and a chance to mask and not let them suffer social consequences for having chosen the mask as a viable means of protection.

To not include this tool called the mask when discussing the various ways of protecting one against airborne diseases is just downright blasphemous especially for educators and medical experts. Dangerous particles are dangerous particles... it would be equally fallacious and ludicrous to not mention the word mask around people who spray-paint cars for a living. We don't let people go maskless in the occupational world around dangerous particles why don't we at least make the mask more socially acceptable for schools?


Sorry about my long winded speech about Masks but of course:
I must live up to my name,
I'm a masked crusader and a crusader for masks. I jump right in there when I think masked people's rights might be be violated, neglected, or ignored by society,

I can't help but be in shock by the omission and lack of mention about masks by CDC and Schools considering the multitude of diseases on the scene as we type this including the insidious tuberculosis (the greatest killer disease of all time so far already in at least  a couple states  not to mention influenza the flu that are wreaking having on people's life  in a couple states not to mention novel diseases which are still relatively new to us such as covid... I can't believe the omission of the safety mask as suggestion to the general public's as a viable feasible pragmatic solution in protecting themselves against dangerous microscopic entities for the time being.


The Masked Man




.

[By the way I think schools have cancelled classes approximately(not sure if my counting is exact)  twenty one different states since the beginning of the year  so far for what its worth all over the USA not concentrated in any particular region of the country.
There were many schools in certain states that closed like a lot of schools in Tennessee and several closing in many of the same states occurred . Its interesting to someday  map out which schools are having problems and it would be interesting to see if hospitals in that area reflected the same illness spikes...no doubts some of the  same demographic spikes in illness should show in the community the schools are in...you'd think the parents would also get ill]

So more thoughts come to me as I see all these schools close. Its natural for schools to close from time to time because of the new challenges society faces with illnesses. This should be expected and and accepted. Although we weren't raised this way, there is nothing unnatural about being afraid or traumatized after a life altering illness such as covid.. or a close call with death as the body is attacked by various illnesses such as airborne diseases.

There's no need to deny the very real and even useful trauma that illnesses and and suffering brings us. It seems more than reasonable for most people to take precautions and learn from such pain and suffering and even from close calls with death as illnesses threaten us. Therefore I think we should learn from the experience and modify our educational institutions (and other institutions) to reflect this reality.

What am I talking here? I am talking a back up plan which require mere habits and customs that we adopt. This simply altering one's behavior or modifying ones behavior until it becomes 'easy' and feels good and natural. We seek what is good and avoid what is bad in the face of today's challenges and realities.

We make it a law that certain store must have wheelchair access ramps in the US for the same reason we should accommodate those that have been stricken with the latest challenges such as covid and of course we should modify schools and businesses to prevent contagious illnesses so that we can stay open. 

As I mentioned earlier  a comfortable setting in school for those that mask should be be encouraged and supported in such a way those people that mask are respected by their peers and the school settings and environment should be set up to support the masked personal space, boundaries , and needs just like there are ramps for wheelchairs and just like their are seatbelt laws for people.


With most of these schools that close another thing I notice is besides a lack of a plan for those that might want to attend school masked is simply a lack of a back up plan such as remote and distant learning. Ive seen it at a handful of schools which is good... some schools say "we will still do assignments and work online from home while going to school in person is out" ... this is excellent when schools do remote and distant learning!

So I think making schools safer where students are "allowed and encouraged and even rewarded  to mask and even have greater boundaries between one another and a support system amongst themselves to be safe is smart and teachers and staff should have the same. Teachers who want to specialize in teaching from home and teaching students remotely and distantly should be paid more because it is in our best interest to develop in these directions and we have those capabilities nowadays.

The electron microscope and the wastewater and the study and communications are telling us and relaying to us what our challenges are and that there are microscopic entities involved and just like knowing what to wear for the weather that day...

... its all about backup plans. If what we are doing ceases to work or we keep getting burnt with outbreaks we simply need to adapt and adopt new ways of doing things that are safer. We need to change our behavior and truly leave some of the past ways behind. We need to transform our schools and with the amazing technology we do have. We do have the ability to study and share remotely obviously or  wouldn't be able to convey these ideas online as I am.

We must take advantage of the technology we do have such as online communications to keep one another safe as well as to share and socialize and to simply survive new challenges society is facing such as outbreaks and illness threats. They didn't have online technology and tools like they have today. In the past societies crumbled from the plague in ancient times.. we don't have to do things the same as in Roman times or in times of early 1900's.

We can modify our lives and still be comfortable and still survive the current outbreaks and the next outbreak and manage and maintain our lifestyles if we just change our habits and cultural customs a little here and there to reflect what todays challenges are up to nowadays.

These modifications and precautions in life aren't a hindrance to happiness they are part of being happy because the habits make things better and provide us with security , safety , & health which happiness  depends on ..

...these are merely  habits and customs that society adopt.... Once a habit is developed it feels good and is natural.   

The Masked Man

P.S. so much new technology is available to take advantage of to replace face to face interaction that is not being taken advantage if.. for instance identification process.. why are people using driver's license when they have fingerprint scan device phones and  whenever people make transactions they always scan cards and use cellphones so its really not an issue since we are already scanning things in front of one another.. Why should identification be a concern for us masked people when fingerprint scanning is right there on everybody's phones and its much more accurate anyway and probably faster and less problematic than drivers licenses?