I need to take a second on this because the downstream indirect costs of covid really haven’t gotten much coverage. At the peak covid supply and demand of masks boosted the prices considerably long before towns were offering anything to their residents. https://twitter.com/jenn_size/status/1292876141104111616

You might say that masks are cheap but assuming everyone needs more than one and even reusable masks are a recurring cost $5-10 is adds up, especially if you’re a family. Tack on extra delivery costs for trying to avoid grocery stores and you get the point. But there are others

Others like this example which I am sure if not a one off. If students can’t share things (expand this to any community setting) people will need individual things and unfortunately that cost will fall on the user not the host.

Last night I spent some time with my mom who is a teacher discussing how she arrange the room to space the students, bc this task is apparently on the teachers. One thing we repeatedly fell on was the use of those little portable sneeze guards.

But again because this is on the teachers, that is a cost to bear out of pocket. So you see how these things compound, greatly in need in some central oversight that acknowledges moving forward at the current time didn’t think about the expenses to the individual.

And what does this mean for inequities? Well it means wealthier areas who can afford these things will have a leg up. Wealthier students can take the classes they need to graduate while students struggling to get by will have to sit out.

So again, covid hasn’t been the great equalizer. Not even close. It has been a means to spotlight while exacerbating inequities in society. #COVID19