If your school is red, are you sending your child tomorrow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if schools are superspreaders or not, but I know for sure my kid got it school right before the break.

Well sure, that’s going to happen. The question for me is, is Covid spread at schools at a statistically higher rate than other settings like workplaces and all the other things that are open and will continue to stay open while schools are closed? If not, than why are we targeting schools based on a community transmission percentage alone. I would understand if a school or classroom needed to close due to a specific staff shortage.

I would however, be in favor of expanding a virtual option if that’s what it took to calm the pro-closers down. I thought some parents would relax a bit when their kid got vaccinated but that doesnt seem to have happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children are in school today. They are in newly red schools and all three said attendance of students and teachers was great yesterday. No subs needed and they noticed maybe 1-2 absent students they know of which is normal after the holidays in any year.

My kid is in unicorn "green" school. Friends said most classes were 1/4 to 1/2 empty.

Small sample size, but I'd wager that's because the following things are correlated:

-We are "green" not because of low rates in our immediate community, but because we are a poorer school with unique communication issues (non-Spanish/non-English language issues) and fewer people are able to PCR test and/or know how to/can easily report

-This same population is also more cautious about sending kids to school during high community spread, as evidenced by the fact that only 35% sent their kids back last spring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sending my kids. I don’t think keeping them home from school will prevent our family from getting omicron. It is everywhere in the community. Unless we literally go nowhere for months, at some point we’ll get it. We got vaxxed and boosted so we didn’t have to worry about the severe disease from covid. My kids need in person school; it is essential for learning and their mental health.

Your kids mental health will be just fine for two weeks. They are home two months in the summer.

Oh my you actually think it will be inly 2 weeks? And then magically they will bring everyone back? We will be virtual till atleast spring.

NP.

Do you think you have any influence over this? I mean, you could make a stink and have influence if they do extend virtual past 2-4 weeks, but your argument is what, exactly?

If if MCPS goes to "short-term" virtual now, they will extend virtual for months, but if they don't go short-term virtual, because parents don't support that, schools will continue in person?

MCPS (or the vast majority of schools) will go virtual regardless, because case rates are too high and only multiplying exponentially right now.

If 2 weeks or 2 months is bad for the mental health of kids, okay. That's a reasonable argument to make. But virtual will happen regardless-- at least those first 2 weeks. There's no way to prevent those first 2 weeks, based on the numbers we are seeing and the metrics laid out, and just the reality of staffing.

Posters almost always mischaracterize growth as exponential. We're not seeing exponential growth in MoCo right now. The growth rate has dropped dramatically and already started to level out. Infection is still happening but not exponentially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. He is vaxxed and masked. He had 1 teacher out today, and he said the sub was a better teacher than the actual one. He spent time learning, working on debate prep for next week, seeing his friends, engaging with the world as a teenager should. And I will keep him doing those things until they lock the school doors, and then I will bang on those doors until they open them again.

I 100% agree with this! My two middle schoolers are vaxxed and masked and getting boosters tomorrow. Teachers were there and engaged. The one sub spent some time talking about the importance of masking. And the science teacher spent a few minutes letting the kids talk about their fears with covid. They need this kind of engagement with their teachers and peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school (JWMS) is solid red with over 6% positivity. DS reported all teachers present and business as usual today. DH is driving him tomorrow, so he is going to school. Now if I only can get him boosted finally (CDC approved, but pharmacies are still not making appointments), I would be happier.

Try again, they’re making appointments now. My DD is also at JW, vaxxed and will be boosted soon. She went to school today. All but one of her teachers were there yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children are in school today. They are in newly red schools and all three said attendance of students and teachers was great yesterday. No subs needed and they noticed maybe 1-2 absent students they know of which is normal after the holidays in any year.

My kid is in unicorn "green" school. Friends said most classes were 1/4 to 1/2 empty.

Small sample size, but I'd wager that's because the following things are correlated:

-We are "green" not because of low rates in our immediate community, but because we are a poorer school with unique communication issues (non-Spanish/non-English language issues) and fewer people are able to PCR test and/or know how to/can easily report

-This same population is also more cautious about sending kids to school during high community spread, as evidenced by the fact that only 35% sent their kids back last spring

Also at a green school and 100% agree with what you wrote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children are in school today. They are in newly red schools and all three said attendance of students and teachers was great yesterday. No subs needed and they noticed maybe 1-2 absent students they know of which is normal after the holidays in any year.

My kid is in unicorn "green" school. Friends said most classes were 1/4 to 1/2 empty.

Small sample size, but I'd wager that's because the following things are correlated:

-We are "green" not because of low rates in our immediate community, but because we are a poorer school with unique communication issues (non-Spanish/non-English language issues) and fewer people are able to PCR test and/or know how to/can easily report

-This same population is also more cautious about sending kids to school during high community spread, as evidenced by the fact that only 35% sent their kids back last spring

My child's school which has the same characteristics (very high rate of FARMS and majority ESOL) is red and most everyone showed up yesterday. They had classes as usual.

If you look at the dashboard closely there is also a green school that is in a wealthy area that has almost no ESOL. Your theories are so bogus and you should just stop stereotyping.

[Anonymous]

I am confused by the data. If the data is from winter break - then supposedly those kids aren't at school or are already over Covid. So I don't understand the percentages on the MCPS chart. And why did the numbers jump so dramatically from tuesday to thursday? Was it because of the testing they did at school yesterday? I guess I need context to understand exactly what we are dealing with.... SIGH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if schools are superspreaders or not, but I know for sure my kid got it school right before the break.

+1 My 6th grader who has worn KN95 masks to school since September got covid at school a week before break, probably from unmasked lunch. Their school was reporting something like 5-15 cases a day, and according to my calculations hit about 8% total positives in the 14 days before break. Kid brought it home and spread it to the rest of the family. The school is in the yellow now, and I’m curious to see whether rates stay low because of the previous surge or whether they rise again.

Maybe it was lunch, but are you confident their mask was properly sealed at all times during the day?

Can’t be sure (which is why I said probably lunch), but I have seen my kid do a very good job of mask wearing for long periods of time so I think she did reasonably well. Either way, her mask-wearing and other precautions worked at school from September until omicron and the surge at her school hit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children are in school today. They are in newly red schools and all three said attendance of students and teachers was great yesterday. No subs needed and they noticed maybe 1-2 absent students they know of which is normal after the holidays in any year.

My kid is in unicorn "green" school. Friends said most classes were 1/4 to 1/2 empty.

Small sample size, but I'd wager that's because the following things are correlated:

-We are "green" not because of low rates in our immediate community, but because we are a poorer school with unique communication issues (non-Spanish/non-English language issues) and fewer people are able to PCR test and/or know how to/can easily report

-This same population is also more cautious about sending kids to school during high community spread, as evidenced by the fact that only 35% sent their kids back last spring

My child's school which has the same characteristics (very high rate of FARMS and majority ESOL) is red and most everyone showed up yesterday. They had classes as usual.

If you look at the dashboard closely there is also a green school that is in a wealthy area that has almost no ESOL. Your theories are so bogus and you should just stop stereotyping.

I believe you, but if you look at the chart closely, you'll see that your two examples are definitely outliers.

The data is problematic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused by the data. If the data is from winter break - then supposedly those kids aren't at school or are already over Covid. So I don't understand the percentages on the MCPS chart. And why did the numbers jump so dramatically from tuesday to thursday? Was it because of the testing they did at school yesterday? I guess I need context to understand exactly what we are dealing with.... SIGH.

The data grew dramatically from Monday to Wednesday because the rate of infections was increasing much faster in early January than it was in late December. It'll slow for sure, but for now, we need to be virtual for a few weeks. It's not March 2020-level for a number of factors, but we need to respond.

[Anonymous]

The data grew dramatically because parents did not report until the first day of school - Wednesday. If you look at the letters sent by schools they will tell you the dates of the positive tests and many were in December during the break and at a time when no one was in the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused by the data. If the data is from winter break - then supposedly those kids aren't at school or are already over Covid. So I don't understand the percentages on the MCPS chart. And why did the numbers jump so dramatically from tuesday to thursday? Was it because of the testing they did at school yesterday? I guess I need context to understand exactly what we are dealing with.... SIGH.

The data grew dramatically from Monday to Wednesday because the rate of infections was increasing much faster in early January than it was in late December. It'll slow for sure, but for now, we need to be virtual for a few weeks. It's not March 2020-level for a number of factors, but we need to respond.

But I don't understand where the data even came from over break. Were people self reporting? And was the Wednesday data due to in school testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children are in school today. They are in newly red schools and all three said attendance of students and teachers was great yesterday. No subs needed and they noticed maybe 1-2 absent students they know of which is normal after the holidays in any year.

My kid is in unicorn "green" school. Friends said most classes were 1/4 to 1/2 empty.

Small sample size, but I'd wager that's because the following things are correlated:

-We are "green" not because of low rates in our immediate community, but because we are a poorer school with unique communication issues (non-Spanish/non-English language issues) and fewer people are able to PCR test and/or know how to/can easily report

-This same population is also more cautious about sending kids to school during high community spread, as evidenced by the fact that only 35% sent their kids back last spring

My child's school which has the same characteristics (very high rate of FARMS and majority ESOL) is red and most everyone showed up yesterday. They had classes as usual.

If you look at the dashboard closely there is also a green school that is in a wealthy area that has almost no ESOL. Your theories are so bogus and you should just stop stereotyping.

I believe you, but if you look at the chart closely, you'll see that your two examples are definitely outliers.

The data is problematic.

That's the point. The data might be helpful 14 days from now when they have been in school for that long, but it's not super helpful right now and making up theories about why certain schools are red and certain ones are green is not helpful to this discussion especially since many of them perpetuate stereotypes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused by the data. If the data is from winter break - then supposedly those kids aren't at school or are already over Covid. So I don't understand the percentages on the MCPS chart. And why did the numbers jump so dramatically from tuesday to thursday? Was it because of the testing they did at school yesterday? I guess I need context to understand exactly what we are dealing with.... SIGH.

The data grew dramatically from Monday to Wednesday because the rate of infections was increasing much faster in early January than it was in late December. It'll slow for sure, but for now, we need to be virtual for a few weeks. It's not March 2020-level for a number of factors, but we need to respond.

But I don't understand where the data even came from over break. Were people self reporting? And was the Wednesday data due to in school testing?

Some staff and families self-reported during the break. In some cases it was because the person had been in school right before the the break but tested positive immediately after the break began. I know of some families that are stuck due to travel and self-reported knowing they would not make it back in time for school to begin. I also know at least one that waited to inform the school until Wednesday when offices opened back up. They didn't know there was a form and just called the attendance secretary on Wednesday. There was no one to call during the break!