After picking up kid from school:
Me: can we talk about what you said yesterday, how the air purifier on your desk means your group doesn't get "clean desk" points?
Kid: yeah, it's dumb
Me: why?
Kid: because they keep coming up with new reasons for not having an air purifier
Found out today desks in kid's classroom are in groups of 4 and each group gets certain points each day that go towards end of term rewards. Kids group misses out on "clean desk" points every day - because of my kid's portable air purifier 🤬
School has requested another meeting, no doubt for the same reason as all the other meetings in the past 3yrs...
School: Kid is being disruptive
Me😷: By repeatedly asking for the doors/windows to be open? Sounds like you could solve this pretty easily by opening them.
Oh I also asked what the rewards were they might miss out on, apparently there's a big box full of prizes, lots of stickers, pens, markers, some small lego toys etc. Told kid I'd be happy to buy some extra things to hand out if the group misses out because of the air purifier 😎
Me: does it make you not want to take the air purifier?
Kid: no it just makes me think they're not very smart
Me: did any of the other kids say anything?
Kid: yeah I told them to complain to the teacher
Me: did you get in trouble for anything today?
Kid: yeah not cleaning up
Just so dumb it hurts my brain to think about it. The Aranet is not causing my child anxiety and to be disruptive. The poor air quality is. If they want them to stop disrupting class to say the air quality is unsafe and open the windows, they should just open the damn windows.
Had to attend an in-person meeting with new stakeholders today in a venue I'd not been to before. They were genuinely interested in what my portable air purifier and CO2 monitor were, how they work, why I have them, why I'm still masking, how much covid is still around...
This is the email I received after day one of Aranet BAN from school. I thought my email yesterday explaining why kid would ignore the ban and continue to bring Aranet was pretty clear and polite. My next response will not be quite so polite.
Cc
@YouAreLobbyLud
@aparachick
It really is, like they couldn't bully my kid into taking off his mask or leaving the air purifier at home so now they've set it up so other 9 year olds have a problem with him 🤬
We are apparently back to "we strongly encourage staff to wear masks" yet no surprise, it's still just me masked 😷 Not even staff returning from sick leave are masked, just coughing away in a child health centre full of at-risk under 5s 🙄
Part of my response...
Now pondering who the complaint is going to - Education Dept, Minister for Health/Education, Human Rights Commission, all of them??
Zookeeper: “meerkats can catch viruses like cvd & the flu so can everyone pls put on mask to protect them?”
Safest, cutest, most fun outing in Melb - outdoors, everyone masked (keeper in P2 earloop) & meerkats 😍
plus lunch outdoors afterwards with my 2 younger daughters 🥰
Day 3 of our fight with the school over child bringing Aranet and guess what - we're seeing the best CO2 results of all year this week! Now they know I'm serious looks like they are opening the doors and windows at last 😎
From early last year, one of the very few indoor events I was prepared to risk, with a black silk mask over the top of a more effective but less pretty mask 😆 Definitely surprised more people graduating in medical science and health science weren't masked 😷
Note: this is Australia, weather is beautiful, no security concerns, no issues with wasps or bugs, and education department policy is that they should be open. As well as covid, there are high numbers of RSV and flu, and we're in the worst whooping cough outbreak for a decade.
@Lord_Burrito_
@YouAreLobbyLud
And when they didn't like my email, they pulled him aside and spoke to him directly - an 8yo - who has spent a third of his life in a pandemic doing everything he can to avoid covid, I am just getting so angry thinking about it
@_marching_Ents_
Unfortunately he is just as useless. Tried to insist the CO2 readings he took showed the classroom was well ventilated (under 600ppm)... but then admitted the classroom was empty at the time 🤦♀️
@Welnesschick
Very happy to be raising a kid who does not care what other people think. I make a specific point of telling them at least once a day - thank you for wearing a mask and trying so hard to keep us all safe and healthy 💕
Kid's science teacher today refused to open the windows and door because "covid is over and the ventilation guidelines are from a year ago and no longer apply" 🤬🤬🤬
@LJPG_23
@lulusherwood
@YouAreLobbyLud
Thank you. Wish you were my kid's teacher! We tried so hard to get his teacher to understand, then one day she was sick and a relief teacher thought the air purifier was too noisy and that's how we got covid last term. We don't want it again!
Air quality in kid's classroom today 🤯 New record low. Doors and windows now open, and they have added a large air purifier to the classroom, the library, and the art room. Sad it has taken this long but glad we kept fighting for the right to clean air at school.
@JJM1036303
The education department has a policy saying doors and windows should be open. If the school had a valid reason for not following it I'm sure they would have mentioned it sometime in the past 3 years.
@DebsFrazer
That's terrible. Yes our CO2 monitor was originally confiscated but we complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission and the school immediately backed down. Super keen for a smaller monitor on a watch strap though with
@airspothealth
expected next month 😁
The director at the centre we used to use was up to her 5th confirmed infection. She would send out emails begging parents to keep sick children home as all of her staff were repeatedly off with covid and other viruses. We cut back work hours so we could stop needing care.
There are calls for a change to sick policies at childcare centres, with frustrated parents being forced to take time off work, to pick their children up when they're sleepy, sniffly or simply have a hot head on a hot day.
@RageSheen
I know many people who say they've had it once or twice. Meanwhile they've then had non-stop colds and flus and hayfever and every other bug that isn't covid - but they never tested for covid 🙄
@Extant_Nomad
Thank you, it was honestly so lovely to get to share covid safety information with people who really wanted to hear it, and want to do their best to keep everyone safe.
@SuePository
@Lord_Burrito_
@YouAreLobbyLud
He would be so grumpy if he found out I keep telling people he's 8 😆 He's actually 9. He turned 9 recently, but yes, even 9 is still not an appropriate age for a school principal to want to discuss the issue with without a parent there.
@catladyactivist
@RedCross
Discovered yesterday that my diagnosis of ME/CFS following covid makes me permanently ineligible to donate blood. Seems a bit strange Red Cross don't take covid prevention more seriously, when one infection can be enough to take you off the donor list forever.
School principal said according to the Department of Education (Western Australia) the ventilation policy that was mandatory in previous years is optional now "so he can't force the teachers to keep the doors and windows open". 🤦♀️
New school term starts tomorrow which means changing over the filter in kid's desktop air purifier. Can see quite a difference between last terms filter on the left and the new filter on the right 😷
@3TomatoesShort
Have sent this to the principal now. They assured me in previous emails that all teachers were reminded of the guidelines but clearly not. Feel awful expecting an 8 year old to stand up to adults.
As of next Wednesday, the COVID-19 vaccine services on the Health Direct Service Finder will have the different vaccine types removed i.e. you will not be able to see which provider has which vaccines or book an appointment for a specific brand.
@NSWHealth
😆 My kid is aware that washing hands isn't going to help much in an airborne pandemic. Actual covid-safe behaviours like masking, keeping doors & windows open, and running air purifiers is what reduces covid transmission. If my primary school aged kid can get this why can't you?
@1goodtern
I've recently been reading back through the research about sars-cov-1 and the ongoing health impacts on those survivors from 2003. It's infuriating to realise that basically everything was already known from day 1 of covid including the devastating effects of "long covid".
@virtuistics
@bethechange1682
I'm in Australia so we still have access to some covid data but as much as we used to. I mainly look at hospital data - it's winter here so it's a mix of covid, influenza and RSV but overall hospitalisation rates are climbing and above previous years, especially in young kids.
@BagTooth
Huge rise in car crashes, adults drowning at the beach, heart attacks in previously fit and healthy young people, happening here in Australia too and no doubt through the rest of the world as well.
@serehfas
@YouAreLobbyLud
The current one is literally 600m from the hospital I work at, and in walking distance from our house. I don't want to have to drive him to another school 😭
Even heading back down south on the train is surprisingly good - Perth to Mandurah on a Sunday morning. Only about a dozen passengers per car, and a handful of them are also masked. Pleasantly surprised at the air quality. 😷
WA Dept Health can now return after 5 days from positive covid test - "This will ensure continuity of healthcare services and reduce staff absences related to winter respiratory illnesses." 🙄 That couldn't possibly backfire?
@EugeneShats
@LJPG_23
@lulusherwood
@YouAreLobbyLud
I would buy them for school if I thought they would actually use them. My kid takes a portable one that sits on their desk. Don't know how effective it is but better than nothing.
@lion_peacock
Just as the updated vaccines arrive are due to arrive they will remove the ability for people to see the different vaccine types, can't be a coincidence surely?
@TripWorryf503
@DebsFrazer
@airspothealth
I agree it's a great idea. To be honest I'm surprised my kid has been carrying around a $350 CO2 monitor for 2 years without losing it or breaking it 😆 We must have lost 4 school jackets and 10 drinks bottles in that time but somehow not the Aranet.
@EyeWtaf
My question to the principal was if the teacher has the choice to do what the science clearly says is in the best interests of their own health and safety and that of our children, and they choose not to, why should I trust them with my kid for 30 hours per week?
@Sushie213
I would happily buy air purifiers for the school if they wanted them, but they insist the open windows are sufficient 🤦♀️ so desktop one for my kid, and I just feel sorry for the rest of the children whose parents obviously don't realise how risky it is 😞
@unciertoesmero
I have the Sunbeam 'On-the-go-fresh'. Generally happy with it - it's fairly quiet, has good battery life. Kid has one also and it's sturdy enough to have survived a year at school.
Kid came home furious the teacher wouldn't let them call me to come get them earlier, despite multiple kids in the class being clearly unwell. Just because my kid is masked & has portable air purifier doesn't mean we want to risk them sitting next to a kid with covid for 6hrs 😡
@MrkStdngr
@DrPops3
Or call ahead of time and ask them if they will be masked. Could have saved myself $350 by skipping my recent cardiologist appointment instead of going in to find an unmasked cardiologist who knows nothing about long covid 🤦♀️
@Michael59503746
Was told I needed to attend in person to a clinic recently, however told me to call them when I got to their car park; doctor then came out in full PPE. Decided I needed to go inside for an ECG but took me through the back staff entrance so I didn't encounter any other patients.
@Mark_Butler_MP
Hi Mark, I'm in my 30s and now having cardiac issues and on heart medication following covid. Your refusal to address the ongoing pandemic will destroy the health of millions for decades to come.
@CharlieHorseToy
@AlboMP
My kid wears a mask and has a portable air purifier on their desk. Still wasn't enough when trapped in an unventilated classroom with 27 other kids, many sick and coughing or with covid positive siblings at home. Did everything we could and they still got covid.
@TRyanGregory
Where I live we had a five day lockdown in early 2020 and later a two week lockdown, and people still try and blame things on lockdown 🤦♀️ Even kids who weren't even born there were somehow affected.
@dgurdasani1
I haven't evaluated for EDS but I have a heap of other common EDS comorbidities - raynauds, rheumatoid arthritis, and my current diagnosis of long covid is about to be updated to mast cell activation disorder and chronic fatigue.
School just emailed to say kid's not allowed to bring a CO2 monitor to school anymore,because they are concerned their commentary indicates a high level of anxiety which has the potential to alarm their peers 🙄 Yep my kid pointing out the lack of ventilation is the problem here.
Infuriating email from school...
Who could have guessed that repeatedly having to ask for doors and windows to be open, in line with the education department ventilation guidelines, would make a small child anxious? 🙄
The only issue I have with masks is that sometimes when walking across the carpark after work I take it off and don't realise it's hooked my earring and I end up losing one. I like the not getting sick part though so happy to sacrifice a few earrings for this benefit 😷
@LettersfromTim
@_PH___PH_
@Welnesschick
Very true. When my son and I had covid, we got through an entire box of 20 RATs until it eventually showed positive on day 5 of symptoms. By that time more than half of his classmates were confirmed + so we knew what it was.
@LadyCaroline69
School is actually in a wildlife corridor for these guys. The biggest risk is coming across a critically endangered ringtail and being so overwhelmed with how cute it is that you end up being late to class.
@psvbluemts
Look at that caption - "standing a distance from his teammates during the anthem" 🤦♀️ so instead of touching shoulders he's what, maybe 25cm away? What a joke 🙄
Kids at school thought it would be funny to "joke" to my kid by coughing and saying they had covid. My kid responded "you might, covid does cause brain damage and you are getting dumber" 😂
@KuspyL
@3TomatoesShort
When I was a kid I was a nerd who adored all my teachers. My kid however, says "what would they know, they won't even wear a mask during a pandemic" 🫢
@NjbBari3
@NSWEducation
@NSWHealth
Or school sent a message about low attendance that mentioned parents taking kids on holidays mid term and absolutely nothing about not having sick kids coming to school to stop the spread of covid, flu, RSV etc 🤦♀️
@maosbot
Considering the arguments I've had with my kids school so far this year, I doubt there's a single teacher at the school capable of teaching that (least of all the science teacher, who said covid ventilation policy was for 2022 only and no longer needed to be followed).
@chrisgj198
@YouAreLobbyLud
Thank you. That's so nice, but I don't think it will be necessary. I don't believe they will actually take it off him. I have told him if anyone even says anything about it to him, to go to the office, tell them to call me, then wait at front school until I get there.
Work meeting today: one school health nurse coughing so much they had to leave the room on multiple occasions. Another complaining of lack of sleep due to feverish kids and she hopes she's not getting sick too because now she feels a sore throat coming on. Neither were masked 🙄
More of the neverending drama from school - kid is supposed to speak at the school assembly on Friday but has been told will need to take off mask so they can hear them clearly 🙄
@Mark_Butler_MP
Sadly that list of meds doesn't include any of the many things I require now thanks to my child bringing covid home from school. Until you start taking steps to stop the spread, ensure clean air in schools and masking in hospitals, it's clear you don't actually care about health.
9yo got in trouble today because they have an "elf on the shelf" in their class and kid pointed out he's not a magical elf, he's polyester and made in china and clearly says so on his tag 😆
@Asher_Wolf
@netflix
Oh. And kids with separated parents will now only be able to watch Netflix at one parents house 🙄 They'll still be able to watch it on a tablet/phone that goes with them between houses, but not on the actual tv at the other parents house 😔
@EchoesOfMoods
💕 Thank you for the kind offer but it's really not necessary. I am well enough at this stage to still be able to work part time so I can afford to buy a few things.
@TaylorLorenz
Just to clarify, my child is not medically vulnerable - I am. Very much part of the issue is them saying he is not immunocompromised so there is no consideration required, completely ignoring the reality that he lives with a medically vulnerable parent.
@Sarah_Colero
At first my long covid "brain fog" felt very similar to my experience having chemo several year ago and over six months it has slowly improved, however some areas have not recovered and are clearly damaged i.e. my ability to do complex maths and biostatistics is gone.
@ivanjayawan
@jljcolorado
The Principal believes he has the authority to direct students that personal items are not to be brought into the classroom. I believe he is failing to meet his obligations to provide safe access to education and am making a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Top filter is from the portable air purifier my kid takes to school, and the bottom is from the one I take to work, which runs 2-3 hours extra per day than kid's one 🤔 Why is the air at school so gross? 😷