50% of Florida’s schools are open for in-person instruction and guess what? No spike!

By Matt Rooney
_

How many times in recent months have we heard a Karen exclaim “you want to turn us into Florida!” for questioning one particular COVID-19 restriction or another. It’s their go-to defense. Of course, if they actually examined what’s going on in Florida (including its significantly lower nursing home death rate relative to New Jersey), they might need to find a new talking point.

Let’s look at the other end of the age spectrum, too. There’s actually a legal fight afoot in Florida over reopening schools for in-person instruction; at the moment, about 50% of the state’s schools are open for business (with safety/health precautions in place) while the rest remain remote. And guess what?

According to an analysis by USA Today published Monday, there hasn’t been the much-discussed and feared “spike” of COVID-19 cases which have kept much of the nation’s public school establishment (including most of New Jersey) closed for remote-only instruction.

“A USA TODAY analysis shows the state’s positive case count among kids ages 5 to 17 declined through late September after a peak in July,” the newspaper reported. “Among the counties seeing surges in overall cases, it’s college-age adults – not schoolchildren – driving the trend, the analysis found.”

Well what do you know!

You may recall that Murphy initially signed off on a plan to return to in-person instruction statewide but, at the 11th hour, his political patrons at the NJEA intervened and pressured him to allow remote instruction.

I’d like to see a New Jersey news outlet ask Murphy and the NJEA why – exactly – New Jersey shouldn’t look at Florida’s experience as reason to get schools back to meeting in-person? After all, Murphy has justified keeping restrictions in place inside New Jersey based upon COVID-19 rates OUTSIDE of New Jersey. Are we only learning from bad news? Not good?

I’ll be waiting awhile to get my wish. The school year will be over and done, I’m sure, before I ever get my answer.

_

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.