Mark H.

Article in today's WFP. I agree with it - MB. government needs to look at what other jurisdictions are doing with reopening schools The province's decision not to reopen schools in any capacity is being questioned by a child psychologist who says students are falling way behind and may lose a year's worth of learning. "We’re now going to be talking six months of children out of school," said Jen Theule, an associate professor in school and clinical psychology at the University of Manitoba. "We’re not talking learning loss, we’ll be re-teaching an entire grade." In-person interactions with teachers and peers are critical in a child’s development, especially for children younger than 10, Theule said. A mother and expert in children’s mental health and education, she questions why creative ideas for resuming classes are missing from the province's plan. "The intensity of the presence of a large number of kids in a school makes social distancing all but impossible," Pallister said Wednesday, before noting the end of the year is fast approaching. He made the comments moments after introducing Manitoba's reopening plan, which includes allowing non-essential businesses to reopen next week. As far as Theule is concerned, there are safe options, and governments across the globe have tested some of them. In mid-April, Denmark reopened schools with drastic changes to the pre-pandemic routine: class sizes were reduced, students are only allowed to play in small groups and they are required to wash their hands hourly. Danish school employees must prioritize outdoor learning, prevent parents from entering schools and ramp up sanitation. In the U.S., President Donald Trump has urged states to reopen schools. In rural Idaho, administrators are mulling asking siblings to sit together on school buses, spaced out from other students. Closer to home, Quebec plans to reopen elementary schools in two weeks in areas where there have been few COVID-19 cases. Classes will be capped at 15 students and those who live with people with health conditions will be barred from attending. One Vancouver school has already welcomed back students with "exceptionally high learning needs" to receive face-to-face instruction. Discussion about any such measures in Manitoba have been secretive, if they have taken place at all. Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen did not agree to an interview this week. Instead, his office provided a general statement that noted the department is working with stakeholders on the file. The Manitoba Teachers’ Society did not provide comment on the subject either, redirecting a query to a quote from president James Bedford in a prepared release: "The safety of students and of all education staff is of the utmost priority, and teachers are committed to ensuring that our students continue to learn during these uncertain times." For parents, common concerns include their children's safety and ability to be asymptomatic carriers, as well as the unknown. "At least if they had more information at this point then they could prepare," said Brenda Brazeau of the Manitoba Association of Parent Councils. A member of a provincial task force on the COVID-19 education response, Brazeau has yet to hear any discussion about what reopening schools could look like. Meanwhile, Theule said it's important Manitobans start to consider their options. "We have to acknowledge teachers’ expertise," she said. "The idea that parents could do this is almost amusing. If all parents could do this, we wouldn't have a public school system." maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

The COVID 19 thread is back. I did not move any of the political posts, I just deleted them. They have already been discussed ad nauseum, over in yonder rambling thread.

Yes, that was allowed even before this announcement.

We don’t know the infection rate for the flu either, there is no way to know that, because most of us stay home and fight it on our own for the most part, so where would medical professionals get the data to compile those stats? I think the flu should not be compared to COVID because the following do not apply to Covid, at least not yet. a) There are flu vaccines that are at least reasonably effective b) Many people have learned what they need to do when cold and flu season comes around, to build up immunity and minimize contact with germs

You need to listen to more youtube experts. It's 5% because they are not testing everyone, and people who died from other causes are being recorded as COVID 19 deaths. There are real heroes out there, putting the true information on youtube. Best get over there and watch some truth before its removed. /sarcasm

The 10 person limit on gatherings was until May 1 - I'm thinking we will hear about that too.

Even if schools do reopen, field trips are all cancelled for this year. So, there is really no point in the Kids Fest being open, as field trips their major source of business.

I find that the #1 way to assess information is how they are presenting it. Listen closely to what they're actually saying. Is it it a 50 minute lecture that could be done in 10 minutes, because they are just saying the same thing in 10 different ways? Are they showing actual information and studies using slides, or are they just reading information and saying 'this is our data'? I watched a video yesterday, from a Dr. Erickson in California. He sounded reasonable, professional and sensible, but he was doing all of the above. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the video is no longer on youtube or MSN this morning. Here's a link to a rebuttal: https://calmatters.org/health/2020/04/debunking-bakersfield-doctors-covid-spread-conclusions/

His fallowers. That’s perfect, right on.

IMO, the Lions need to get their hands on the best OL in the draft. Their line play did improve later in the 2019, but it was still well below par.

The first Premier (during Covid 19) to increase the wages of frontline workers.

Post Covid

Or - until you have the pizza that I make.

Dandelion wine has been doing the trick for me, many tremendous glasses of it.

And, of those careers, which of them are consistently hiring new people?

Interesting. My current experience is similar, due to the pandemic: I spend my day teaching remote classes, recording tutorials and prepping 'work at home' packages, combined with answering texts and phone calls from parents and students. All of this leaves me time for marking and assessment during the day, which I normally do not have. This has freed up my evenings and allowed me to spend more time with our 20 month old daughter (baths, books, new words toys, and diapers). Before, I would do some marking after she went to bed at 8:30. Now, I can read or get some exercise, not to mention have more conversation with my wife. So, I am aware that this is a surreal time right now, but I'm making the best of it while it's here. There are negative aspects that I have mentioned before, but I simply had to stop dwelling on those.

A natural disaster would have the same effect in any of those countries. As would a major recession, where we stopped buying their mass - produced goods. Covid 19 just exposed it more than it ever has been exposed before. The real question is - what are we going to do about it?

When we look back to General Strike of 1919, we can see that it did bring some change for the working class. However, looking at the planet as whole today, it becomes clear that we are shifting back to those conditions. In some countries, the change never did come.

One thing is certain - it's about time meat packing plants stopped flying under the radar. They used to pay higher wages and provide better working conditions - thus they had long term employees. Now, they have 80% - 100% employee turnover every year. And none of their 'savings' have been reflected in the price of meat.

Their last loss was self - inflicted; at this point, I have no reason to believe it won't happen again. We know several Americans who come up here to ice fish every year - they are reasonable and intelligent people. They don't want to vote for Trump, and they don't like the alternatives, so they probably won't vote at all.

Think about what they're doing at work while you're not there - open your eyes!

Interesting. See, I never thought of most of those as conspiracy theories, I have always thought of them as factual stories.

I did a lot of reading on this back in 1999 - even wrote a paper on it for my grade 12 English class. Right up until we reached the year 2000, banking computers were supposed to shut down, the power grid was supposed go down, etc. etc. They said many countries had taken the steps you describe, but it would all be null and void because places like Russia had not upgraded, and any contact with them would compromise our IT systems. Just to clarify - that’s what I was referring to.

Here's my experience with conspiracy theories: First, I'll list a few off the top of my head: 1. All our computers will crash when the year 2000 arrives 2. 911 was an inside job 3. The Titanic didn't really sink, they sunk another ship to claim the insurance on Titanic 4. No one has ever landed on the moon - it was all trick photography There are 100s of others, but I will stop there. Just looking at those four - they have all been disproven My question is simply this: can you give us something that was originally labelled a conspiracy theory, that was later proven to be legit?

The comments below this article are quite entertaining. It's disturbing what people choose to believe, but still good for a laugh (and a half).