Neverending Covid-19 Coronavirus

Teachers in North Andover MA were required to show up to work today to start preparing the classrooms for school to start next week.

North Andover, like many Boston area school districts have chosen have a hybrid style learning environment this fall.

Teachers are not happy about this and believe they should be 100% remote learning. They fear the buildings are not safe, there is poor air circulation and that they could become infected and bring COVID-19 home to high risk family members.

As promised, teachers went on strike. They sat out on the front steps the first day refusing to enter the building. The teachers union is fighting the decision the school distract made for hybrid learning.

The school district is disappointed by the teachers actions stating they believe their buildings are safe and that teachers provide vital services to our communities. The school district is expected to take this to court tomorrow and seek an order to force the teachers to return to work.

Many Boston area school districts including Boston have had teachers say they would not show up for in person classes because they do not feel safe. This dispute is likely to happen several more times in different communities over the next week as teachers start reporting back.
 
The North Andover school board voted last night to to proceed with an emergency restraining order in court today to force teachers back to work calling the strike illegal.
 
Things just escalated in North Andover.

Breaking News:

The teachers union passed a vote of "no confidence" against the districts super intendant.

"His behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic has reached a point where his autocratic style of management can no longer be tolerated."
 
Discussing this on another forum.

It's amazing how many people are saying "The teachers should be forced back to work, and if they don't go back to work they should be fired".

There are some people that say the union has a valid complaint about safety. And It is the unions job to stand up for safe working conditions.

Philly area schools are expected to strike as well when teachers return to the classroom.

Another interesting thing I saw people commenting on is where communities have opted for 100% remote learning, private and religious schools are open for in person classes. Many of these schools have had low attendance for years and are on the verge of closing. This year they are full and do not have the capacity to meet the demand. Parents are are the breaking point of trying to manage childcare and helping their child with schooling while working. They will gladly pay to send their kids to school for the day.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
It's amazing how many people are saying "The teachers should be forced back to work, and if they don't go back to work they should be fired".
Click to expand...
I don't know about your state, but the idea that just firing all the teachers would put you in a situation where you could replace them remotely easily or quickly is hilarious to me down here where we have had a big teacher shortage problem for quite a while.
 
dhodo said:
I don't know about your state, but the idea that just firing all the teachers would put you in a situation where you could replace them remotely easily or quickly is hilarious to me down here where we have had a big teacher shortage problem for quite a while.
Click to expand...

We too have a teacher shortage. The issue is schools don't pay enough for teachers to get a liveable wage in this area. It's as an attractive job as it used to be. Many people are choosing different career paths because other career paths are more lucrative.

I bet these same people who say the teachers should be fired and think they are replaceable would also be the first to say teachers struggling to earn a living wage are in that situation because of poor life choices.
 
www.nytimes.com

New York City Delays Start of School to Ready for In-Person Classes

The system’s 1.1 million children will not return to school until Sept. 21.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

NYC just pushed back their school start date by 11 days.

This comes after Cumo saying what is happening in colleges is like the canary in a coal mine.

The concern is not so much for the kids as they don't get as sick or require hospitalization anywhere near the rate of adults, but rather they could be exprective spreaders to spread COVID-19 to those who could be at risk at home.
 
Teachers in North Andover are back in the classroom after legal action by the school district who called the strike an "illegal work stoppage".
 
www.sciencedaily.com

The six strains of SARS-CoV-2

The virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, presents at least six strains. Despite its mutations, the virus shows little variability, and this is good news for the researchers working on a viable vaccine.
www.sciencedaily.com
The virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, presents at least six strains. Despite its mutations, the virus shows little variability, and this is good news for the researchers working on a viable vaccine.

These are the results of the most extensive study ever carried out on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing. Researchers at the University of Bologna drew from the analysis of 48,635 coronavirus genomes, which were isolated by researchers in labs all over the world. This study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. It was then possible for researchers to map the spread and the mutations of the virus during its journey to all continents.
Click to expand...
 
My close friend's daughter went back to college, two weeks later she got Covid. She's doing ok, seems like she didn't get a bad case but she still doesn't have a sense of smell or taste. Her roommate and two other friends have it also. I think this is going to happen a TON.
 
Some cool stuff with supercomputing:

The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand Covid-19. The computer had revealed a new theory about how Covid-19 impacts the body: the bradykinin hypothesis. The hypothesis provides a model that explains many aspects of Covid-19, including some of its most bizarre symptoms. It also suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved. Jacobson’s group published their results in a paper in the journal eLife in early July. (https://elifesciences.org/articles/59177)

Once Covid-19 has established itself in the body, things start to get really interesting. According to Jacobson’s group, the data Summit analyzed shows that Covid-19 isn’t content to simply infect cells that already express lots of ACE2 receptors. Instead, it actively hijacks the body’s own systems, tricking it into upregulating ACE2 receptors in places where they’re usually expressed at low or medium levels, including the lungs.
The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) controls many aspects of the circulatory system, including the body’s levels of a chemical called bradykinin, which normally helps to regulate blood pressure. According to the team’s analysis, when the virus tweaks the RAS, it causes the body’s mechanisms for regulating bradykinin to go haywire. Bradykinin receptors are resensitized, and the body also stops effectively breaking down bradykinin. (ACE normally degrades bradykinin, but when the virus downregulates it, it can’t do this as effectively.
The end result, the researchers say, is to release a bradykinin storm — a massive, runaway buildup of bradykinin in the body. According to the bradykinin HYPOTHESIS, it’s this storm that is ultimately responsible for many of Covid-19’s deadly effects. [Emphasis mine]. Other papers (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7267506/) had previously identified bradykinin storms as a possible cause of Covid-19’s pathologies.

elemental.medium.com

A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged

A closer look at the Bradykinin hypothesis
elemental.medium.com elemental.medium.com

This is pretty neat. Researchers think they have figured out the biological mechanism that creates the more deadly side effects of Covid-19. Basically, covid is hijacking the body's ACE2 receptors to make more. It can affect the circulatory system through something called bradykinins, that regulate your blood pressure. Covid can wear this system down and make your body over produce bradykinins which can lead to a "storm" in the body that leads to the more deadly covid symptoms. The more we know, the better we can treat this.
 
nolalady said:
Some cool stuff with supercomputing:

The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand Covid-19. The computer had revealed a new theory about how Covid-19 impacts the body: the bradykinin hypothesis. The hypothesis provides a model that explains many aspects of Covid-19, including some of its most bizarre symptoms. It also suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved. Jacobson’s group published their results in a paper in the journal eLife in early July. (https://elifesciences.org/articles/59177)

Once Covid-19 has established itself in the body, things start to get really interesting. According to Jacobson’s group, the data Summit analyzed shows that Covid-19 isn’t content to simply infect cells that already express lots of ACE2 receptors. Instead, it actively hijacks the body’s own systems, tricking it into upregulating ACE2 receptors in places where they’re usually expressed at low or medium levels, including the lungs.
The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) controls many aspects of the circulatory system, including the body’s levels of a chemical called bradykinin, which normally helps to regulate blood pressure. According to the team’s analysis, when the virus tweaks the RAS, it causes the body’s mechanisms for regulating bradykinin to go haywire. Bradykinin receptors are resensitized, and the body also stops effectively breaking down bradykinin. (ACE normally degrades bradykinin, but when the virus downregulates it, it can’t do this as effectively.
The end result, the researchers say, is to release a bradykinin storm — a massive, runaway buildup of bradykinin in the body. According to the bradykinin HYPOTHESIS, it’s this storm that is ultimately responsible for many of Covid-19’s deadly effects. [Emphasis mine]. Other papers (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7267506/) had previously identified bradykinin storms as a possible cause of Covid-19’s pathologies.

elemental.medium.com

A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged

A closer look at the Bradykinin hypothesis
elemental.medium.com elemental.medium.com

This is pretty neat. Researchers think they have figured out the biological mechanism that creates the more deadly side effects of Covid-19. Basically, covid is hijacking the body's ACE2 receptors to make more. It can affect the circulatory system through something called bradykinins, that regulate your blood pressure. Covid can wear this system down and make your body over produce bradykinins which can lead to a "storm" in the body that leads to the more deadly covid symptoms. The more we know, the better we can treat this.
Click to expand...

The Vitamin D thing in the potential interventions section is very intriguing and something that has come up multiple times already.
 
This morning's news rounded up at least 10 school districts where teachers will be protesting over hybrid learning and pushing for fully remote learning. The teachers are claiming the schools do not meet the minimum requirements for air safety. And that in person classes should not be held until the schools meet this requirement.

All teachers are however back in the classrooms and teaching as of this week. All the school districts put a quick stop to any sit outs and strikes through legal measures ruling the teachers actions as illegal work stoppage.

Teachers plan on protesting in at least one towns common at 5pm tonight.

Because Massachusetts had COVID earlier than other states and was not part of the post Memorial Day spike most schools decided on hybrid learning models over fully remote because they said the numbers are good and make it possible.
 
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