Keep Healthy Kids in School - Don't Opt-In to APS' Surveillance Testing

[Anonymous]

Please do not sign up for surveillance testing if you want APS healthy kids to stay in school. Surveillance testing is only a way to keep healthy kids out of school.

Look at the story of Georgetown Prep: 100% vaccinated school, and now going remote because of 30 cases. From what people have said online, not 1 person is sick whatsoever and it was caught via surveillance testing. These are 30 asymptomatic, vaccinated kids (i.e., not sick) causing school to shut down. Previously, a case of an illness required symptoms, but that all changed with COVID even though the flu virus spreads asymptomatically too.

This is a virus that is never going away. NEVER. No mainstream scientist is saying that COVID will be eradicated or that herd immunity is possible. Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID in their lifetime. Do you want to lock healthy kids out of schools forever and continually disrupt their education when such rules don’t apply to adults?

Please don’t say:
• Kids under 5 can’t be vaccinated – they have less risk with COVID than the flu, and we never surveillance tested for the flu
• Protect immunocompromised – immunocompromised didn’t start existing in March 2020, they’ve always had issues with bad flu seasons and they should take the same type of precautions
• Protect grandma and grandpa – grandma and grandpa can get vaccinated for a year now; if they’re anti-vaxxers, it’s on them at this point

Most importantly, why are children bearing this burden? We don’t surveillance test anywhere else in society, and unvaccinated kids are at less mortality risk from COVID than vaccinated 40 year olds. And what is the cost of children’s education being constantly disrupted? We aren’t disrupting elderly people’s pickleball games, middle aged people’s dining or millennials' bar nights, all of which are much less important than the youngest generation getting educated.

As of Nov. 17th, FCPS only had 124 opt ins (of 179K students) for surveillance testing. We need to put up similarly minute numbers. Keep healthy kids in school – don’t opt into APS surveillance testing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not sign up for surveillance testing if you want APS healthy kids to stay in school. Surveillance testing is only a way to keep healthy kids out of school.

Look at the story of Georgetown Prep: 100% vaccinated school, and now going remote because of 30 cases. From what people have said online, not 1 person is sick whatsoever and it was caught via surveillance testing. These are 30 asymptomatic, vaccinated kids (i.e., not sick) causing school to shut down. Previously, a case of an illness required symptoms, but that all changed with COVID even though the flu virus spreads asymptomatically too.

This is a virus that is never going away. NEVER. No mainstream scientist is saying that COVID will be eradicated or that herd immunity is possible. Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID in their lifetime. Do you want to lock healthy kids out of schools forever and continually disrupt their education when such rules don’t apply to adults?

Please don’t say:
• Kids under 5 can’t be vaccinated – they have less risk with COVID than the flu, and we never surveillance tested for the flu
• Protect immunocompromised – immunocompromised didn’t start existing in March 2020, they’ve always had issues with bad flu seasons and they should take the same type of precautions
• Protect grandma and grandpa – grandma and grandpa can get vaccinated for a year now; if they’re anti-vaxxers, it’s on them at this point

Most importantly, why are children bearing this burden? We don’t surveillance test anywhere else in society, and unvaccinated kids are at less mortality risk from COVID than vaccinated 40 year olds. And what is the cost of children’s education being constantly disrupted? We aren’t disrupting elderly people’s pickleball games, middle aged people’s dining or millennials' bar nights, all of which are much less important than the youngest generation getting educated.

As of Nov. 17th, FCPS only had 124 opt ins (of 179K students) for surveillance testing. We need to put up similarly minute numbers. Keep healthy kids in school – don’t opt into APS surveillance testing!

LOL, love the totally bizarre anti-testing vibe. So, don't do something that it's completely optional and won't impact you in any way if someone else opts in? Why on earth anyone should care at all if a parent wants to opt in?

Let's do away with masks and quarantining even if positive while we're at it. Down with vax too, amiright?

[Anonymous]

My kid is fully vaccinated and we've never opted in to testing, but I'm not sure why you care about anyone else's kids opting in or out, OP? Are you concerned about going remote again?

[Anonymous]

Lol. Trying to convince others NOT to test?

You are mental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

LOL, love the totally bizarre anti-testing vibe. So, don't do something that it's completely optional and won't impact you in any way if someone else opts in? Why on earth anyone should care at all if a parent wants to opt in?

Let's do away with masks and quarantining even if positive while we're at it. Down with vax too, amiright?

It does affect other kids. See Georgetown Prep, which is going remote for non-sick, asymptomatic kids. If a kid is sick (with actual symptoms), they shouldn't go to school. But otherwise, they should be in school. Same mitigation method we've had with every virus pre-COVID.

COVID will be here forever. Does disrupting kids' education for something that will be here the rest of our lives make any sense, especially when such rules don't apply to adults? No.

And definitely down with masks b/c otherwise you're saying you want kids to mask forever since COVID will be here forever. The true anti-vaxxers are the people wanting kids to do these mitigation methods and vaccinated adults too - the message they're sending is "get vaccinated, but you'll never be able to act like vaccines work."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is fully vaccinated and we've never opted in to testing, but I'm not sure why you care about anyone else's kids opting in or out, OP? Are you concerned about going remote again?

Yes, I think that's the OP's point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

LOL, love the totally bizarre anti-testing vibe. So, don't do something that it's completely optional and won't impact you in any way if someone else opts in? Why on earth anyone should care at all if a parent wants to opt in?

Let's do away with masks and quarantining even if positive while we're at it. Down with vax too, amiright?

It does affect other kids. See Georgetown Prep, which is going remote for non-sick, asymptomatic kids. If a kid is sick (with actual symptoms), they shouldn't go to school. But otherwise, they should be in school. Same mitigation method we've had with every virus pre-COVID.

COVID will be here forever. Does disrupting kids' education for something that will be here the rest of our lives make any sense, especially when such rules don't apply to adults? No.

And definitely down with masks b/c otherwise you're saying you want kids to mask forever since COVID will be here forever. The true anti-vaxxers are the people wanting kids to do these mitigation methods and vaccinated adults too - the message they're sending is "get vaccinated, but you'll never be able to act like vaccines work."

LOL, then you should be posting on the Georgetown Prep board and demand that they stop mandatory screening of all students and staff. I guess your heart bleeds for those children. APS is voluntary, opt-in and only has about 20% opting in the first time around. This is the silliest thing ever. Stick to being anti-vax or anti-mask or something that at least has relevance to APS.

[Anonymous]

We see grandparents regularly who are still at risk, even if vaccinated and boosted. I want to know if my kid is a carrier.

I also have no problem keeping my kid home if they test positive, even if asymptomatic.

Historically schools have closed for flu or norovirus outbreaks and I have no problem with them closing for a significant covid outbreak, as long as it is time bound to address that specific outbreak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We see grandparents regularly who are still at risk, even if vaccinated and boosted. I want to know if my kid is a carrier.

I also have no problem keeping my kid home if they test positive, even if asymptomatic.

Historically schools have closed for flu or norovirus outbreaks and I have no problem with them closing for a significant covid outbreak, as long as it is time bound to address that specific outbreak.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/health/flu-schools-shut-down/index.html

https://nypost.com/2019/11/22/contagious-norovirus-closes-school-for-20000-colorado-students/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not sign up for surveillance testing if you want APS healthy kids to stay in school. Surveillance testing is only a way to keep healthy kids out of school.

Look at the story of Georgetown Prep: 100% vaccinated school, and now going remote because of 30 cases. From what people have said online, not 1 person is sick whatsoever and it was caught via surveillance testing. These are 30 asymptomatic, vaccinated kids (i.e., not sick) causing school to shut down. Previously, a case of an illness required symptoms, but that all changed with COVID even though the flu virus spreads asymptomatically too.

This is a virus that is never going away. NEVER. No mainstream scientist is saying that COVID will be eradicated or that herd immunity is possible. Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID in their lifetime. Do you want to lock healthy kids out of schools forever and continually disrupt their education when such rules don’t apply to adults?

Please don’t say:
• Kids under 5 can’t be vaccinated – they have less risk with COVID than the flu, and we never surveillance tested for the flu
• Protect immunocompromised – immunocompromised didn’t start existing in March 2020, they’ve always had issues with bad flu seasons and they should take the same type of precautions
• Protect grandma and grandpa – grandma and grandpa can get vaccinated for a year now; if they’re anti-vaxxers, it’s on them at this point

Most importantly, why are children bearing this burden? We don’t surveillance test anywhere else in society, and unvaccinated kids are at less mortality risk from COVID than vaccinated 40 year olds. And what is the cost of children’s education being constantly disrupted? We aren’t disrupting elderly people’s pickleball games, middle aged people’s dining or millennials' bar nights, all of which are much less important than the youngest generation getting educated.

As of Nov. 17th, FCPS only had 124 opt ins (of 179K students) for surveillance testing. We need to put up similarly minute numbers. Keep healthy kids in school – don’t opt into APS surveillance testing!

The premise of this post is wrong and risks a disservice to the discussion. More kids have died of COVID than the flu. Both are extremely small risks, and the COVID risk in particular doesn't warrant the extreme measures taken in APS and elsewhere. But it is factually incorrect to say that any kid has "less risk with COVID." It is definitely more risky, just not enough for closing schools, masks, quarantining, etc. When you make the incorrect "less risky" claim it undermines better points around masking, quarantining, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is fully vaccinated and we've never opted in to testing, but I'm not sure why you care about anyone else's kids opting in or out, OP? Are you concerned about going remote again?

Yes, I think that's the OP's point.

NP, we're in ACPS, not APS, but I have the same fears as OP. ACPS is so poorly managed, I could see it being quick to close. My kids are vaccinated, and I'm boosted, but no way are we opting into the optional testing.

[Anonymous]

I'm not in your district, but based on my experience I do not trust schools to be rational. Here is what happened to us: We did a rapid test at home because my teen woke up lethargic, clammy, and seemed flushed. No fever but clearly under the weather. To our shock, the rapid test came back positive. We immediately alerted the school, trying to be good citizens. An hour later we did another rapid that came back negative. We also scheduled PCRs for my kid and the rest of the family. Everything came back negative. My kid never got a fever and was fine by the next morning. My kid's pediatrician said it was a false positive. The help line for the rapid test said it was a false positive. My kid had three negative PCRs total. No other symptoms. Our entire house is vaccinated and the people who can be are boosted.

But the school said that it was a covid positive, refused to reconsider, and forced a 10 day quarantine, without any real support for virtual learning or catching up. So my teen, who is taking a heavy course load, lost ten days of classroom work coming up to finals and will likely end the semester with worse grades. All because I was honest and shared the positive rapid test. I feel awful about it, and certainly will never share a non-PCR test result again.

I just don't trust the schools to be rational. I've since heard of this happening to other families too. So, some schools treat a rapid like a PCR for purposes of excluding a vaccinated child even with multiple negative PCRs, but would never allow a rapid to be allowed to clear a child. It's wholly irrational behavior and I personally will never allow routine testing going forward because I don't feel I can trust the school to be rational with the results of routine testing.

[Anonymous]

We signed my fully vaccinated kid up for the new testing protocol as soon as we heard about it. Wishing you the best, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The premise of this post is wrong and risks a disservice to the discussion. More kids have died of COVID than the flu. Both are extremely small risks, and the COVID risk in particular doesn't warrant the extreme measures taken in APS and elsewhere. But it is factually incorrect to say that any kid has "less risk with COVID." It is definitely more risky, just not enough for closing schools, masks, quarantining, etc. When you make the incorrect "less risky" claim it undermines better points around masking, quarantining, etc.

This is factually correct. See the CDC's data. They estimate almost 500 kids died in the few weeks of the 2019-2020 flu season, which is smaller than annual deaths from COVID in kids. See all the other years too on the CDC"s website - H1N1 is estimated to have killed even 900 to 1800 kids during that short season.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2019-2020.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We signed my fully vaccinated kid up for the new testing protocol as soon as we heard about it. Wishing you the best, OP!

Way for your vaccinated kid to be kept out of school for an asymptomatic virus (i.e., not sick)! And possibly locking other kids out of school. Clown.