My sister is a teacher. Her district is doing optional online or in person instruction, and the district is looking for teachers to "volunteer" for the in person stuff. They're not getting many. How about fucking pay them? For some reason we love to pretend that the basics of microeconomics don't apply to teachers. I'm sure a temporary 50% hazard pay bump would get a bunch of "volunteers" in short order. I think we're past the altruism phase.“In April, we were called heroes and people were saying we need raises. Now we’re called lazy because we just want to be safe doing our jobs.”
I think most people recognize that there's a selfless streak that drives people into teaching. I think some people further recognize that this selfless streak is lacking in them. Therefore, "selflessness" becomes a binary condition rather than a trait; it doesn't require "more selflessness" to teach for peanuts in a pandemic because "more selflessness" is like "more pregnant" to them.
God it's a mess. My partner's American and most of her family are in the north east. We've stopped watching US news because it's agonising.