Originally Posted by Sunshine69:
The changes in my state, due to Covid, make no sense to me, especially as it relates to childcare.
I and anyone living in my home have to wear a mask all day long but the daycare children don’t, not even the school aged daycare children that are wearing masks all day in school. However, my school aged children have to wear masks all day in my home as long as daycare is running. So only the provider and her family can spread covid, but not the daycare children?
We weren’t supposed to have children from other daycares in our daycare but we are encouraged to take on school-aged children on their remote learning days who are exposed to a school full of kids.
If we fill our full-time slots with part-time school aged kids, we take a beating in loss of income. On top of that, we have to spend more on cleaning supplies and PPE and work more hours sanitizing everything and filling out paperwork to verify that we sanitized everything every day.
The only relief we’re offered is loans to pay back. If I was struggling before, I sure as heck don’t want more loans to repay.
If any member of my household merely has close contact with someone who tested positive, I have to close for mandatory quarantine, even if it’s one of my school-aged children and my daycare is run from my basement and the daycare kids don’t enter my family’s living area. They can be kept completely separate, but I’d still have to inconvenience families and lose income and that’s before any of us even test positive.
People keep saying it’s all going away after November 3. Not sure I believe that but I sure hope they are right!
This confusion is the perfect example of two different and separate "wars" going on.
One being the subject of health and safety for all Americans and the other being the struggle to economically survive.
I mean let's be honest....I am willing to bet that most, if not all of us would not be open if we didn't "NEED" the income. Most of us wouldn't be risking our lives and the lives of our families if we didn't need to put food on the table and keep the lights on.
The health side of it is the rules we are having to deal with. Some are down right silly and illogical at best while others are simply actions I think are imposed to somehow make us feel more confident in continuing to stay open.
Everything is a chain and child care providers are an important link in that chain. That link breaks and a lot of fall out occurs economically for many. Not just the providers but the families using our services so they too can continue to work (pay bills/eat etc).
I don't have any idea what the answer to it all is and I am not necessarily buying that it will all be over after the election, although I feel like ALOT of the info has been politically skewed. I still believe COVID is real. But I certainly am not willing to say that one person's actions or inactions directly caused someone's death.
That's as silly as blaming McDonald's for obesity.
I think everyone has to do their research and do what is right for them personally. The answer will never be a one size fits all. The way to manage COVID correctly is as clear as mud just as the way COVID actually affects each person differently.
On one side we have to protect our health and on the other we must protect our ability to live both economically and freely and each person/family needs to find the balance that is right for them.
I appreciate the stores that went through the trouble of requiring masks and taping off entries etc.. I appreciate the efforts they've made as companies and can't fault them for relaxing a bit on the stringent rules they started with.
The only thing I can do is continue to make decisions based on my/my family's best interests. Shop at stores I trust are following health and safety measures and skip those that aren't. Doesn't mean Joe's Shop down the street is horrible because they aren't enforcing the mask mandate. It just means I probably won't shop there until things are a bit more under control.
This pandemic is the perfect example of how you (general you) can't simply say, THIS is the right thing to do. PERIOD. Because people are showing we do live in a country that allows freedom of choice. We can't complain about that just because some make choices I don't agree with.
Do I wish everyone thought the same way and behaved the same way...some times yes, but most times no. Because I like that we live in a country that allows us all to choose how we want to live and while I understand the argument that safety protocols such as social distancing/wearing mask will help protect everyone, it's the same as the long debated war on vaccinations....Not everyone agrees so rather than shame them or even venture to think or point out they are wrong, I have to simply do what works for me/my family.
There will never be a solid one size fits all answer.....just a gray area where we all have the freedom to choose where we stand in that area while still realizing we can't force others to agree or disagree with us.
Freedom definitely isn't free and it always comes with "fall out" for some but I'd still rather live in this chaos than live in a country that dictates how I should think, feel and act at all times.
That is my rambling 2 cents on this whole thing.
