WALSH: Public School Teachers Are Now Insisting That Public Schools Are Inessential. As A Homeschool Parent, I Agree.

In a stunning demonstration of the kind of heroism and courage we’ve come to expect from our public school teachers, a recent New York Times article declares, “I Won’t Return to the Classroom, and You Shouldn’t Ask Me To.” The author, public school teacher Rebecca Martinson, pleads dramatically, “Please don’t make me risk getting Covid-19 to teach your child.”

Martinson repeatedly claims that she is “prepared” to jump in front of a bullet for the sake of her precious students, but, somehow, asking her to go to work in the face of a disease which an estimated 99.35 percent of all people survive, is too much to bear. And that figure actually understates the absurdity. According to the American Council on Science and Health, the fatality rate for children is .0003 percent while the rate for adults 20-49  is .0092 percent. As CDC data shows, over 60 percent of all COVID-19 deaths have occurred in the 75+ age bracket. Add in the 65-74 demo and you’ve accounted for 80 percent of all deaths. What this all means is that, with students ranging from about 4 to 18, and teachers with an average age of 41, schools are predominantly staffed and populated by people who have an exceedingly low risk of dying from the coronavirus.