Editor’s note: This commentary is by William French, of Sunderland, who is a college senior in New York state and a graduate of Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester.
In light of a recent commentary by Brooks Addington, I thought it fit to demystify and fact-check some of the more misleading claims he put forth.
The first problematic statement actually opened the commentary and spoke to his view that Gov. Phil Scott’s school closing was a testament to Vermont students’ expendability.
First, I’m not sure if this is the tone the governor intended, but I don’t see it that way at all.
Our society was not meant to deal with an illness this large. The last pandemic of this scale in recent memory was the swine flu in 2009, and even then the total death toll was only half of what the Covid-19 virus has given us (and the virus hasn’t even died down yet).
Yes, I agree with Addington’s later claim that prolonged isolation at home can have devastating effects on a student’s psyche; however, to say that this was an act of sacrificing our youth solely to “to protect its at-risk elderly without remorse” is quite frankly wrong.
The idea that children would remain unaffected was standard at first, but as has become standard in the wake of this outbreak, that did not last long.
The birth of a new Covid-19-related illness, similar to Kawasaki disease, has specifically targeted and killed children.
So, as the numbers rise, it has become apparent that this virus will take away whomever it wants at will, and to discredit all those younger folks who are dying right now is insulting to all those families mourning.
On the topic of mental health and domestic abuse, I can’t dispute the numbers Addington uses. There has been a great rise in domestic abuse and child exploitation, not just in Vermont but in the U.S. as a whole.
This is just one of countless societal side effects we’ve seen; however, to blame it all on one man who is responsible for the health of over 600,000 people seems unfair.
As for his next point about remote learning, as someone who is currently working their way through the remote learning systems, I agree that it is less than ideal; however, the crowded classroom alternative drives up the risk for the illness even more, putting teachers and students alike at risk.
Not to mention, as many of you have no doubt seen over the last few months, millions of Americans are extremely averse to putting on masks, many of them being parents.
If you really wanted your child to return to school you should be adamant about maintaining their safety through the usage of masks and hand sanitizers, etc.
Addington’s citation of the reopening of foreign countries, specifically Japan and France, is also very misleading.
Yes, they are opening up now, but Japan and South Korea and China were among the first to experience this horrible disease, followed swiftly by western Europe.
Most of these countries have been dealing with this disease for two to four months longer than we have, and most of them were far stricter in their shutdown policies than we have been.
As someone in constant contact with several individuals in China, Japan and South Korea, I was told that it was imperative that they did not leave their homes or they might incur serious consequences.
In addition, they had specific times and dates for when they could go out, and had Covid-19 tracers long before we thought of the idea.
Having lived in China as well, I can attest to the fact that they are a society where wearing masks is commonplace, and using hand sanitizer is commonplace as there are larger amounts of people than in our small state.
I think that when citing European countries it’s also important to take into account the way they are reopening.
France recently briefly shut down again as cases rose when they reopened schools, so they looked to countries like Germany.
Germany has, in fact, required ALL students get tested before returning to high school and those who are negative for the Covid-19 virus then must wear a mask, get their temperature taken every day upon arrival and again at dismissal, and are split up as a class.
German high schools now have half of each class in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.
Lastly, and I’m assuming the commentary was written long before Scott’s announcement, schools are set to reopen in the fall, assuming we continue to strictly follow the rules set forth by the CDC and other organizations.
If we don’t follow these, you can expect another spike and another several months isolation.
