APS Outdoor Lunch Needs to Be Optional

[Anonymous]

It's winter time, vaccines are widely available for kids, and families having been dining indoors at restaurants since June 2020, but our kids are forced to eat outside at APS like prisoners. It's really beyond absurd.

My family dines in at family restaurants throughout Arlington, and we often see other APS families (and say hi). The vast majority of families are doing indoor playdates and birthday parties. Why is the burden being put on the least at risk members of this society (kids)? This charade has to stop.

And before you say "that's why we have cases" - COVID is never going away!! Look at Portugal, with 90%+ of people vaccinated. Most of Florida does none of these things and has the least amount of cases in the country right now. There are seasonal surges and these types of nonpharmaceutical interventions don't stop the spread of a highly transmissible virus, as is obvious. And what is the point of doing these procedures?

These Arlington COVID extremists are essentially saying our kids have to do these mitigation methods the rest of our lives, but they can stop when they become adults. There's 0 logic to this disparate (mis-) treatment of children. And newsflash - everyone will get be exposed to COVID repeatedly in their lifetime. Everyone.

This policy is simply appealing only to the most COVID extreme in Arlington. As Anthony Fauci is making clear, COVID will not be eradicated. If you're that concerned about your child getting a case of COVID (which almost everyone will in their lifetime) that you only "feel" safe if they're eating in "light rain" or with frozen hands outdoors, then you're free to have your child eat outside. But the rest of our children need to be allowed to continue doing exactly what the law allows in every other part of society and most are already doing every weekend with friends and family - eating indoors.

[Anonymous]

Huh.

It is optional at the middle school and high school level. So you must be ranting about elementary kids. Have you reached out to your principal? The principal has discretion over this. I'm sure your kid could eat indoors.

Are you upset about this or is your child? My kids could care less. My middle schooler loves eating outdoors in general. More space to spread out he says and it's much easier for them to socialize with each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's winter time, vaccines are widely available for kids, and families having been dining indoors at restaurants since June 2020, but our kids are forced to eat outside at APS like prisoners. It's really beyond absurd.

My family dines in at family restaurants throughout Arlington, and we often see other APS families (and say hi). The vast majority of families are doing indoor playdates and birthday parties. Why is the burden being put on the least at risk members of this society (kids)? This charade has to stop.

And before you say "that's why we have cases" - COVID is never going away!! Look at Portugal, with 90%+ of people vaccinated. Most of Florida does none of these things and has the least amount of cases in the country right now. There are seasonal surges and these types of nonpharmaceutical interventions don't stop the spread of a highly transmissible virus, as is obvious. And what is the point of doing these procedures?

These Arlington COVID extremists are essentially saying our kids have to do these mitigation methods the rest of our lives, but they can stop when they become adults. There's 0 logic to this disparate (mis-) treatment of children. And newsflash - everyone will get be exposed to COVID repeatedly in their lifetime. Everyone.

This policy is simply appealing only to the most COVID extreme in Arlington. As Anthony Fauci is making clear, COVID will not be eradicated. If you're that concerned about your child getting a case of COVID (which almost everyone will in their lifetime) that you only "feel" safe if they're eating in "light rain" or with frozen hands outdoors, then you're free to have your child eat outside. But the rest of our children need to be allowed to continue doing exactly what the law allows in every other part of society and most are already doing every weekend with friends and family - eating indoors.

You were dining indoors with unvaccinated family in June 2020? JFC. That is why our schools were virtual last fall. Nice job.

Sit TF down - you obviously have bad judgement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Huh.

It is optional at the middle school and high school level. So you must be ranting about elementary kids. Have you reached out to your principal? The principal has discretion over this. I'm sure your kid could eat indoors.

Are you upset about this or is your child? My kids could care less. My middle schooler loves eating outdoors in general. More space to spread out he says and it's much easier for them to socialize with each other.

I'm talking about ES kids and when it's cold. If I request my child eats indoors, are kids going to be eating together and socializing though? Or eating by themselves like little disease vectors?

It's very easy to socialize, which is called just talking to the person next to them like they can at any restaurant. Anything less than that is not eating indoors.

[Anonymous]

At Swanson it’s the reverse. Outdoors is optional, but if it’s under 40 degrees everyone must eat inside.

Right now according to my computer it’s 39 degrees and the sun is shining. I’m curious whether they will be outside or in today.

[Anonymous]

Arlington is making kids eat lunch outside in December?

Our FCPS ES kids have been eating indoors all year. Hardly any covid cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's winter time, vaccines are widely available for kids, and families having been dining indoors at restaurants since June 2020, but our kids are forced to eat outside at APS like prisoners. It's really beyond absurd.

My family dines in at family restaurants throughout Arlington, and we often see other APS families (and say hi). The vast majority of families are doing indoor playdates and birthday parties. Why is the burden being put on the least at risk members of this society (kids)? This charade has to stop.

And before you say "that's why we have cases" - COVID is never going away!! Look at Portugal, with 90%+ of people vaccinated. Most of Florida does none of these things and has the least amount of cases in the country right now. There are seasonal surges and these types of nonpharmaceutical interventions don't stop the spread of a highly transmissible virus, as is obvious. And what is the point of doing these procedures?

These Arlington COVID extremists are essentially saying our kids have to do these mitigation methods the rest of our lives, but they can stop when they become adults. There's 0 logic to this disparate (mis-) treatment of children. And newsflash - everyone will get be exposed to COVID repeatedly in their lifetime. Everyone.

This policy is simply appealing only to the most COVID extreme in Arlington. As Anthony Fauci is making clear, COVID will not be eradicated. If you're that concerned about your child getting a case of COVID (which almost everyone will in their lifetime) that you only "feel" safe if they're eating in "light rain" or with frozen hands outdoors, then you're free to have your child eat outside. But the rest of our children need to be allowed to continue doing exactly what the law allows in every other part of society and most are already doing every weekend with friends and family - eating indoors.

You were dining indoors with unvaccinated family in June 2020? JFC. That is why our schools were virtual last fall. Nice job.

Sit TF down - you obviously have bad judgement.

Here comes the morality play. Was dining indoors illegal? Restaurants were freely open.

The same type of mindset that said gay people were horrible people for having sex in the 1980s too, and responsible for AIDS. Disgusting.

Our schools were closed last fall because of our politicians, not because of COVID. That is clear, especially when you look at schools throughout the country and world that were open and cases in their community. But let's not get into that argument again. We know the closed school fanatics were wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's winter time, vaccines are widely available for kids, and families having been dining indoors at restaurants since June 2020, but our kids are forced to eat outside at APS like prisoners. It's really beyond absurd.

My family dines in at family restaurants throughout Arlington, and we often see other APS families (and say hi). The vast majority of families are doing indoor playdates and birthday parties. Why is the burden being put on the least at risk members of this society (kids)? This charade has to stop.

And before you say "that's why we have cases" - COVID is never going away!! Look at Portugal, with 90%+ of people vaccinated. Most of Florida does none of these things and has the least amount of cases in the country right now. There are seasonal surges and these types of nonpharmaceutical interventions don't stop the spread of a highly transmissible virus, as is obvious. And what is the point of doing these procedures?

These Arlington COVID extremists are essentially saying our kids have to do these mitigation methods the rest of our lives, but they can stop when they become adults. There's 0 logic to this disparate (mis-) treatment of children. And newsflash - everyone will get be exposed to COVID repeatedly in their lifetime. Everyone.

This policy is simply appealing only to the most COVID extreme in Arlington. As Anthony Fauci is making clear, COVID will not be eradicated. If you're that concerned about your child getting a case of COVID (which almost everyone will in their lifetime) that you only "feel" safe if they're eating in "light rain" or with frozen hands outdoors, then you're free to have your child eat outside. But the rest of our children need to be allowed to continue doing exactly what the law allows in every other part of society and most are already doing every weekend with friends and family - eating indoors.

You were dining indoors with unvaccinated family in June 2020? JFC. That is why our schools were virtual last fall. Nice job.

Sit TF down - you obviously have bad judgement.

Here comes the morality play. Was dining indoors illegal? Restaurants were freely open.

The same type of mindset that said gay people were horrible people for having sex in the 1980s too, and responsible for AIDS. Disgusting.

Our schools were closed last fall because of our politicians, not because of COVID. That is clear, especially when you look at schools throughout the country and world that were open and cases in their community. But let's not get into that argument again. We know the closed school fanatics were wrong.

Yes, you are amoral. That is clear. And the reason why our schools were virtual.

Sit down and let people who can properly manage risks figure this out.

[Anonymous]

Isn’t that the opposite of prison?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's winter time, vaccines are widely available for kids, and families having been dining indoors at restaurants since June 2020, but our kids are forced to eat outside at APS like prisoners. It's really beyond absurd.

My family dines in at family restaurants throughout Arlington, and we often see other APS families (and say hi). The vast majority of families are doing indoor playdates and birthday parties. Why is the burden being put on the least at risk members of this society (kids)? This charade has to stop.

And before you say "that's why we have cases" - COVID is never going away!! Look at Portugal, with 90%+ of people vaccinated. Most of Florida does none of these things and has the least amount of cases in the country right now. There are seasonal surges and these types of nonpharmaceutical interventions don't stop the spread of a highly transmissible virus, as is obvious. And what is the point of doing these procedures?

These Arlington COVID extremists are essentially saying our kids have to do these mitigation methods the rest of our lives, but they can stop when they become adults. There's 0 logic to this disparate (mis-) treatment of children. And newsflash - everyone will get be exposed to COVID repeatedly in their lifetime. Everyone.

This policy is simply appealing only to the most COVID extreme in Arlington. As Anthony Fauci is making clear, COVID will not be eradicated. If you're that concerned about your child getting a case of COVID (which almost everyone will in their lifetime) that you only "feel" safe if they're eating in "light rain" or with frozen hands outdoors, then you're free to have your child eat outside. But the rest of our children need to be allowed to continue doing exactly what the law allows in every other part of society and most are already doing every weekend with friends and family - eating indoors.

You were dining indoors with unvaccinated family in June 2020? JFC. That is why our schools were virtual last fall. Nice job.

Sit TF down - you obviously have bad judgement.

Here comes the morality play. Was dining indoors illegal? Restaurants were freely open.

The same type of mindset that said gay people were horrible people for having sex in the 1980s too, and responsible for AIDS. Disgusting.

Our schools were closed last fall because of our politicians, not because of COVID. That is clear, especially when you look at schools throughout the country and world that were open and cases in their community. But let's not get into that argument again. We know the closed school fanatics were wrong.

Let's not turn that thread into the school closures thread again. These people are just projecting - if you do something that doesn't meet their definition of COVID morality, you're a bad person and responsible for school closing (even though they advocated them being closed).

And I agree that this mandatory outdoor lunch needs to stop. Kids need to have regular lunch like pre-2020. Socializing with other kids is just as important as trying to avoid a virus that will be here the rest of their lives and vaccines are available for. We just were at a birthday party with 30 kids indoors on Saturday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's winter time, vaccines are widely available for kids, and families having been dining indoors at restaurants since June 2020, but our kids are forced to eat outside at APS like prisoners. It's really beyond absurd.

My family dines in at family restaurants throughout Arlington, and we often see other APS families (and say hi). The vast majority of families are doing indoor playdates and birthday parties. Why is the burden being put on the least at risk members of this society (kids)? This charade has to stop.

And before you say "that's why we have cases" - COVID is never going away!! Look at Portugal, with 90%+ of people vaccinated. Most of Florida does none of these things and has the least amount of cases in the country right now. There are seasonal surges and these types of nonpharmaceutical interventions don't stop the spread of a highly transmissible virus, as is obvious. And what is the point of doing these procedures?

These Arlington COVID extremists are essentially saying our kids have to do these mitigation methods the rest of our lives, but they can stop when they become adults. There's 0 logic to this disparate (mis-) treatment of children. And newsflash - everyone will get be exposed to COVID repeatedly in their lifetime. Everyone.

This policy is simply appealing only to the most COVID extreme in Arlington. As Anthony Fauci is making clear, COVID will not be eradicated. If you're that concerned about your child getting a case of COVID (which almost everyone will in their lifetime) that you only "feel" safe if they're eating in "light rain" or with frozen hands outdoors, then you're free to have your child eat outside. But the rest of our children need to be allowed to continue doing exactly what the law allows in every other part of society and most are already doing every weekend with friends and family - eating indoors.

You were dining indoors with unvaccinated family in June 2020? JFC. That is why our schools were virtual last fall. Nice job.

Sit TF down - you obviously have bad judgement.

Here comes the morality play. Was dining indoors illegal? Restaurants were freely open.

The same type of mindset that said gay people were horrible people for having sex in the 1980s too, and responsible for AIDS. Disgusting.

Our schools were closed last fall because of our politicians, not because of COVID. That is clear, especially when you look at schools throughout the country and world that were open and cases in their community. But let's not get into that argument again. We know the closed school fanatics were wrong.

Yes, you are amoral. That is clear. And the reason why our schools were virtual.

Sit down and let people who can properly manage risks figure this out.

What is the risk of COVID in kids pre-vaccine? Post-vaccine? Have vaccines been available for adults for almost a year now? What is the risk of COVID for adults post-vaccine? What % of adults in Arlington adults are vaccinated?

How long will COVID continue to be here? Oh, for a lifetime.

The people pushing for mandatory outdoor lunch are the same ones who have 0 risk perspective vs. the day-to-day risks anyone faces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Swanson it’s the reverse. Outdoors is optional, but if it’s under 40 degrees everyone must eat inside.

Right now according to my computer it’s 39 degrees and the sun is shining. I’m curious whether they will be outside or in today.

The county standard is 45 degrees so be happy they are willing to stand outside with your kids at 40 degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's winter time, vaccines are widely available for kids, and families having been dining indoors at restaurants since June 2020, but our kids are forced to eat outside at APS like prisoners. It's really beyond absurd.

My family dines in at family restaurants throughout Arlington, and we often see other APS families (and say hi). The vast majority of families are doing indoor playdates and birthday parties. Why is the burden being put on the least at risk members of this society (kids)? This charade has to stop.

And before you say "that's why we have cases" - COVID is never going away!! Look at Portugal, with 90%+ of people vaccinated. Most of Florida does none of these things and has the least amount of cases in the country right now. There are seasonal surges and these types of nonpharmaceutical interventions don't stop the spread of a highly transmissible virus, as is obvious. And what is the point of doing these procedures?

These Arlington COVID extremists are essentially saying our kids have to do these mitigation methods the rest of our lives, but they can stop when they become adults. There's 0 logic to this disparate (mis-) treatment of children. And newsflash - everyone will get be exposed to COVID repeatedly in their lifetime. Everyone.

This policy is simply appealing only to the most COVID extreme in Arlington. As Anthony Fauci is making clear, COVID will not be eradicated. If you're that concerned about your child getting a case of COVID (which almost everyone will in their lifetime) that you only "feel" safe if they're eating in "light rain" or with frozen hands outdoors, then you're free to have your child eat outside. But the rest of our children need to be allowed to continue doing exactly what the law allows in every other part of society and most are already doing every weekend with friends and family - eating indoors.

You were dining indoors with unvaccinated family in June 2020? JFC. That is why our schools were virtual last fall. Nice job.

Sit TF down - you obviously have bad judgement.

Here comes the morality play. Was dining indoors illegal? Restaurants were freely open.

The same type of mindset that said gay people were horrible people for having sex in the 1980s too, and responsible for AIDS. Disgusting.

Our schools were closed last fall because of our politicians, not because of COVID. That is clear, especially when you look at schools throughout the country and world that were open and cases in their community. But let's not get into that argument again. We know the closed school fanatics were wrong.

Yes, you are amoral. That is clear. And the reason why our schools were virtual.

Sit down and let people who can properly manage risks figure this out.

Properly manage risks? People are dining indoors now (without any distancing requirements) and schools are open...riddle me that. You do understand that COVID risk is age stratified right? If a 65 year old can eat indoors, why can't a 7 year old? That 65 year old, even if triple vaxxed, has a higher risk than the 7 year old. This is all illogical and irrational and so are your arguments that eating indoors last summer somehow made schools close. What a jump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Swanson it’s the reverse. Outdoors is optional, but if it’s under 40 degrees everyone must eat inside.

Right now according to my computer it’s 39 degrees and the sun is shining. I’m curious whether they will be outside or in today.

The county standard is 45 degrees so be happy they are willing to stand outside with your kids at 40 degrees.

I am very happy, but I was also pointing out to OP that as with most things this is a school-by-school application of the APS guidance.

[Anonymous]

I am begging, BEGGING, parents and community members to understand how very, very low risk kids are of severe illness from COVID. https://brownstone.org/articles/well-structured-german-study-shows-no-deaths-among-healthy-german-kids-ages-5-to-11/