The evidence that child activity affects the spread of covid among adults is thin.

> Data now suggest that many changes to school routines are of questionable value in controlling the virus’s spread. Some researchers are skeptical that school closures reduce Covid cases in most instances.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/briefing/american-childre...

The evidence is always nice and comfortable as long as YOU aren't the one being affected by it. I contracted COVID from my kid, who got it from another kid in her class who went to school for 3 days after a positive test because that kid wasn't showing symptoms and their parents had nobody to watch them.

Fauci is dying to hear your anecdotal revelation.

It's not a terribly anecdotal revelation. What's reported from public schools and what's actually going on on the ground are different universes. I'm close to many folks working in the district I reside in. The district desperately needs money which comes from maximizing attendance, hell or high water. Many students and families refuse to get tested even when showing symptom or do things like send a positive kid to school while the rest of the family is crazy sick because "the test must be wrong since they aren't showing symptoms." Teachers are constantly getting sick, the numbers the district reports are basically willfully negligent under-counts, and there's no doubt that parents and teachers are getting it from kids. Now maybe it's less likely in an equal contact situation to get it from kids (I've been reading that the latest strains are more likely to sicken kids, but obviously just news reports), but I don't think that's an antidote to crazy, it just means that it could be much worse if any of the new mutations we are helping to shepherd into being happen to get good footholds in children. (I also don't mean to suggest that some of what schools do isn't just security theater style stuff as applied to a pandemic.)

Here we go. Move the goalpost.

The parents and family should go get vaccinated, no?

A parent could be immunocompromised. Unvaccinated isn't the only risk factor for COVID.

Not moving the goal post. I agree that criminalization of leaving home for the unvaccinated gets more appealing by the day. But I also don't know that vaccines actually end it at this point.

> I agree that criminalization of leaving home for the unvaccinated gets more appealing by the day.

Don’t recall anyone in the thread suggesting criminalization (except you), so it’s pretty strange that you brought it up. Perhaps that is appealing to you, but it sure isn’t appealing to me. In fact it is so abhorrent an idea to me that I am pretty much open to anything that would prevent such totalitarianism from happening in my community.

And just for context, I’m vaccinated and boosted, so this is not some anti-vax position. I am just dead set against anything specifically designed to create class prejudices and creating a new group of “untouchables”. This is 2022, we should be way beyond such foolishness.

Obviously it's too late for it to matter and that was a bit of hyperbole. But I also think it's fair to say that anyone who insists on doing nothing and acting like COVID is a complete scam, vaccines are a complete scam, masks are complete scam, etc., is basically behaving pretty much criminally.

I’m thrice vaccinated and think masks are the biggest scam out there. It’s a worthless political virtue signal that gives people a false sense of security.

Go ahead and lock me up…

Agree that folks can sometimes treat masks more as tchotchke talismans than considerate tools, but I also think it's real obvious that you can't win a watermelon spitting contest with a mask on. And a lot of people are splattery speakers.

> but I also think it's real obvious that you can't win a watermelon spitting contest with a mask on

You could if watermelon seeds were the size of coronaviruses.

Why - they aren't a threat to anyone. There's no real difference in transmissibility. Unless you think the vaccines don't work, in which case, why do you even care.

I've seen /r/HermanCainAward/ - of course they're a threat, they'll post "own the lib" memes on your Facebook page. And it's a bummer when you have to support their widow.

I don’t have enough karma to downvote you, so this is my expression of disagreement with your comment.

I simply disagree.

I don’t even want to present an argument, because considering that you think it’d be okay to criminalize unvaccinated people leaving their homes, you are beyond saving and I sincerely hope that you’ll never be put in a position of any authority whatsoever.

If your family is not vaccinated then stay home.