Posted By: Francis Koster Published: August 6, 2020

How kids can save online learning

A fierce disorganized debate is raging as our country approaches the time schools traditionally open. Millions of citizens afraid of suffering lifelong damage to their health from the virus are trying to stay home, wearing face masks if they go out, and otherwise avoid being in large groups. There is tension between this group and the folks who desperately want life to go back to something resembling normal with schools in session. Other millions find themselves in the middle, unsure what to do. For many, it feels like the ship is in danger of sinking, and people are looking around for life rafts should they be needed.

Posted By: Francis Koster Published: August 6, 2020

The Uncounted

We are at war with COVID-19.  What is surprising is that the casualty reports are leaving an entire group out.  When we talk about the war on COVID-19, the casualty reports talk about “infected”, “deaths” and “recovered” – but no “wounded”.   Think back to how the casualties of war are stated. In the Vietnam War, there were 3.4 million United States military in Southeast Asia.  47,434 died in combat, and 303,644 were wounded ⁽¹⁾.  In many cases those that were wounded lost arms or legs, or suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and endured lifelong health issues.  To this day the publicly available websites all show them as having been wounded. The same is not true when recording casualties in our war with COVID-19.   As crazy as it sounds, once a patient who was infected with COVID-19 and is added to the state and national data bases, they are automatically moved to the “recovered” column within a month ⁽²⁾. This is terribly misleading to the American public as they try to plan ahead.