Why aren’t schools with high COVID rates masking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

DP - do you think screeching at other people to "hire a babysitter" helps anything? All you're doing here is trying to make yourself feel superior by bashing people online. That's bullying and I guarantee you if you are doing it here, you are doing it in real life and your kids are watching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

DP - do you think screeching at other people to "hire a babysitter" helps anything? All you're doing here is trying to make yourself feel superior by bashing people online. That's bullying and I guarantee you if you are doing it here, you are doing it in real life and your kids are watching.

And I should add you know little to nothing about the people you are bashing. JFC. Use your energies elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m assuming the waiter would like me to take my mask off to eat the food they serve. Have you ever thought that perhaps you’re demonstrably simple minded on all this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

If you dont want to give a waiter Covid, don’t go to a restaurant period. Wearing a mask to and from your table is the most ridiculous trend ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

You don't just suddenly get allergies so that is a huge copout. Are you even listening to this teacher and the consequences of her getting covid. If she pushes back the surgery, you will be the first to complain that your child has weeks of a sub at the start of the school year. If your kid shows new symptoms you get a PCR and keep your kids home. Everyone in the school is responsible for keeping the schools safe and healthy but parents sending their kids to school sick are absolutely to blame. You sound like you wouldn't think twice abotu sending your kids home and little symptoms has nothing to do with it. They can still be highly contagious.

It isn't just about travel. Many of us haven't seen family in two years who are in the US or even local due to the risks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

You don't just suddenly get allergies so that is a huge copout. Are you even listening to this teacher and the consequences of her getting covid. If she pushes back the surgery, you will be the first to complain that your child has weeks of a sub at the start of the school year. If your kid shows new symptoms you get a PCR and keep your kids home. Everyone in the school is responsible for keeping the schools safe and healthy but parents sending their kids to school sick are absolutely to blame. You sound like you wouldn't think twice abotu sending your kids home and little symptoms has nothing to do with it. They can still be highly contagious.

It isn't just about travel. Many of us haven't seen family in two years who are in the US or even local due to the risks.

My DH has had allergies for weeks and just tested positive last night. COVID symptoms can be very mild. It is genuinely hard to tell when you are actually "sick". People are most infectious early in the course of their infection, when they are often presymtomatic. Blaming parents for your COVID case when transmission is as high as it is is is immature and unhelpful, which is par for the course among DCUM posters like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

This is a terrible policy and your problem should be with the hospital policy - not the fact people get and catch covid. Unless you’re extremely ill from covid, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to have a surgery performed. I would complain to the hospital.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

You don't just suddenly get allergies so that is a huge copout. Are you even listening to this teacher and the consequences of her getting covid. If she pushes back the surgery, you will be the first to complain that your child has weeks of a sub at the start of the school year. If your kid shows new symptoms you get a PCR and keep your kids home. Everyone in the school is responsible for keeping the schools safe and healthy but parents sending their kids to school sick are absolutely to blame. You sound like you wouldn't think twice abotu sending your kids home and little symptoms has nothing to do with it. They can still be highly contagious.

It isn't just about travel. Many of us haven't seen family in two years who are in the US or even local due to the risks.

At our svhool there are a number of teachers not masking either, or coming to school with symptoms because it’s really hard to get subs right now. Is that a problem at your school too and have you talked to those teachers about your situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

You don't just suddenly get allergies so that is a huge copout. Are you even listening to this teacher and the consequences of her getting covid. If she pushes back the surgery, you will be the first to complain that your child has weeks of a sub at the start of the school year. If your kid shows new symptoms you get a PCR and keep your kids home. Everyone in the school is responsible for keeping the schools safe and healthy but parents sending their kids to school sick are absolutely to blame. You sound like you wouldn't think twice abotu sending your kids home and little symptoms has nothing to do with it. They can still be highly contagious.

It isn't just about travel. Many of us haven't seen family in two years who are in the US or even local due to the risks.

At our svhool there are a number of teachers not masking either, or coming to school with symptoms because it’s really hard to get subs right now. Is that a problem at your school too and have you talked to those teachers about your situation?

When teachers come to work sick it's their employer's fault. When parents send their kids to school with a runny nose it's because they hate their children. There is a difference here s/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

You don't just suddenly get allergies so that is a huge copout. Are you even listening to this teacher and the consequences of her getting covid. If she pushes back the surgery, you will be the first to complain that your child has weeks of a sub at the start of the school year. If your kid shows new symptoms you get a PCR and keep your kids home. Everyone in the school is responsible for keeping the schools safe and healthy but parents sending their kids to school sick are absolutely to blame. You sound like you wouldn't think twice abotu sending your kids home and little symptoms has nothing to do with it. They can still be highly contagious.

It isn't just about travel. Many of us haven't seen family in two years who are in the US or even local due to the risks.

At our svhool there are a number of teachers not masking either, or coming to school with symptoms because it’s really hard to get subs right now. Is that a problem at your school too and have you talked to those teachers about your situation?

Yes, it’s a problem at my school too. Not many staff members are wearing masks (although some who had stopped wearing masks have recently started wearing them again with the uptick of cases in our building). It’s nearly impossible to get a substitute. I had one scheduled for months for a recent two-day leave and she canceled on me five days before the job. Para educators end up covering teacher absences.

The thing is, there are definitely parents sending unwell children to school. I’m not talking about allergies. Just this week I had one student tell me, “I don’t feel well. My stomach hurts. I just want to go home.” Another student fell asleep yesterday afternoon at his desk. I let him sleep and he eventually woke up after about 40 minutes. Another student told me his mom said he should go to the nurse if he still doesn’t feel well. He asked to go to the health room and his mom came to pick him up after lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

You don't just suddenly get allergies so that is a huge copout. Are you even listening to this teacher and the consequences of her getting covid. If she pushes back the surgery, you will be the first to complain that your child has weeks of a sub at the start of the school year. If your kid shows new symptoms you get a PCR and keep your kids home. Everyone in the school is responsible for keeping the schools safe and healthy but parents sending their kids to school sick are absolutely to blame. You sound like you wouldn't think twice abotu sending your kids home and little symptoms has nothing to do with it. They can still be highly contagious.

It isn't just about travel. Many of us haven't seen family in two years who are in the US or even local due to the risks.

At our svhool there are a number of teachers not masking either, or coming to school with symptoms because it’s really hard to get subs right now. Is that a problem at your school too and have you talked to those teachers about your situation?

When teachers come to work sick it's their employer's fault. When parents send their kids to school with a runny nose it's because they hate their children. There is a difference here s/

Teachers need to set a good example but there are far more students than teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it. Because vaccines have been available to almost all age groups for a long, long time now. Because it’s generally mild for most people, particularly those who are vaccinated.

Perhaps most important, because we need to maintain some capital for requiring masks in the future if a variant emerges that is more harmful to children than this variant. It’s been over two years of disruption. It’s been, what, two months of kids being able to forego masks? Even here, most people don’t have the appetite for restrictions anymore, given the current conditions.

Masking in school reduces some transmission, but thinking that they’re incredibly effective is misinformed.

Please show me evidence for your last statement.

Please show me evidence that they ARE highly effective in K-12 school settings. The burden of proof is on the intervention.

OP, I understand that you're upset, but denigrating people doesn't help. And, as someone pointed out, the school with the highest COVID rate *is* masking. If you're hoping for a return to MCPS-wide mask mandates, you're unlikely to get one now.

Sure, here you go.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mask-mandates-cut-covid-19-spread-in-schools-studies-find/2022/03

I’m not some pro mask hack - I hate wearing a KN95 as much as the next person - but the Pediatrics Duke study shows that schools with universal masking had nearly 90 percent lower infection rates. That seems pretty convincing.

Thanks - I hadn't seen that one before. It's one study, of course, and there are others that don't have results as convincing. Plenty of kids got Omicron during January 2022 here, and we had a mask mandate in place, so there's also that.

Again, the larger point about maintaining political capital for future restrictions is important here. There are many, many people, even in MoCo, who no longer support universal mask mandates. If you want them to cooperate in the future, you can't push them too hard now. Does it suck for some people? Yes. Might it suck even harder in the future if we push mask mandates again now, and people refuse to cooperate with other public health measures? Also yes.

I mean, if MCPS had reopened in-person, or at least *offered* the option back in September 2021, they would have gained some capital with parents who wanted in-person. But they didn't, and partially because of that decision (among others), here we are.

Here’s where I come out: assuming the choice is get covid/my kids get covid or wear a n-95 7 hours a day for years I would get covid. Every time. I would get it twice a year if that was the choice. So there isn’t any data on mask effectiveness that could sway me. I am happy to assume they are 100% effective. I’m still not depriving my kids of fresh air and a normal childhood. And for the record we have not masked anywhere since the mandates lifted and have not gotten covid so this idea that you’ll get it more than once or twice a year seems wrong.

Your children's only access to fresh air comes during the school day? Wow.

If her kids are in before school care, school, after school care and don't get home till 6-7 she has bigger issues than fresh air. Poor kids. They see their parents maybe an hour or two a day and know they aren't really wanted.

This is why your crowd (the restriction/mandate crowd) isn't taken seriously. You think that because you have a WFH/SAHM situation, everybody else should just suck it up and align with you. Your crowd has been a bunch of selfish clowns from day one. And thankfully, leadership has finally tuned you out. Which is why we have all the whining and wailing on this board now.

It has nothing to do with WFH/SAHM situation. If your kids are in care for 12 hours a day and neither parents cannot work out a more reasonable schedule, then why have kids?

I'm one of the PPs who mentioned before/aftercare. I never said my kid was in care for 12 hours a day- where did you get that? But yes it's on the order of 8.5-9 hours total, which is a large portion of the day when they sleep for another 10 hours. Again, you can mask your kid as hard and for as long as you want, I really don't care.

(You know who whose kids were sometimes in care for 12 hours per day at one point- my neighbors' who were both working in hospitals throughout the pandemic. Wouldn't hurt to think a little bit before you spout off next time)

You can easily hire an after school babysitter. Problem solved.

Yes, my kids always mask but they are decent people who understand the impact covid can have on others. You do realize it will be much harder on you if you have to take a week off work because your kids got sick vs. a simple thing like masking. Or, worse, a few weeks off because it cycles through the house at differ times. Or, is your plan to send in your kids sick and not care about the impact it has on others.

Will your kids be teaching your judgmental self how to be decent as well?

I teach them to be responsible. Maybe someone should teach you how to do it as well. Have you ever thought about how your choices might impact others? How that waiter may not be able to work for two weeks if you give them covid? Or the store clerk? Have you considered they may not be able to buy their kids food if they cannot work?

I’m an elementary teacher and as of today, I have 3 students in my classroom who have tested positive for Covid this week. I’m counting on parents to test their children and to keep them home if they’re sick. I’m scheduled to have surgery in 5 weeks, but if I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. I would have to wait six weeks after testing positive and try to get back on the surgery schedule. I need to have surgery in June so I have the summer weeks to recover. To all the parents…if students in your child’s class have Covid, please test your kids and watch to see if they develop any symptoms. Please keep your kids home if they’re not feeling well.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately the rapid tests are not perfect and many people actually have allergies, which makes it impractical to expect people to stay home for any symptom. I have COVID right now and had a sore throat 8 days before the rapid tests were finally positive (also had a negative PCR test somewhere in there). It's simply not possible for most families to keep their kids home for any little symptom. I've seen a LOT of teachers on these boards bashing parents and essentially blaming us for the pandemic. I'm sorry, it's just a terrible time to be needing surgery (also to have a formula-fed baby, to have planned that international trip you planned because you haven't seen your parents in two years... I can go on). A lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things at great cost to them.

You don't just suddenly get allergies so that is a huge copout. Are you even listening to this teacher and the consequences of her getting covid. If she pushes back the surgery, you will be the first to complain that your child has weeks of a sub at the start of the school year. If your kid shows new symptoms you get a PCR and keep your kids home. Everyone in the school is responsible for keeping the schools safe and healthy but parents sending their kids to school sick are absolutely to blame. You sound like you wouldn't think twice abotu sending your kids home and little symptoms has nothing to do with it. They can still be highly contagious.

It isn't just about travel. Many of us haven't seen family in two years who are in the US or even local due to the risks.

At our svhool there are a number of teachers not masking either, or coming to school with symptoms because it’s really hard to get subs right now. Is that a problem at your school too and have you talked to those teachers about your situation?

Yes, it’s a problem at my school too. Not many staff members are wearing masks (although some who had stopped wearing masks have recently started wearing them again with the uptick of cases in our building). It’s nearly impossible to get a substitute. I had one scheduled for months for a recent two-day leave and she canceled on me five days before the job. Para educators end up covering teacher absences.

The thing is, there are definitely parents sending unwell children to school. I’m not talking about allergies. Just this week I had one student tell me, “I don’t feel well. My stomach hurts. I just want to go home.” Another student fell asleep yesterday afternoon at his desk. I let him sleep and he eventually woke up after about 40 minutes. Another student told me his mom said he should go to the nurse if he still doesn’t feel well. He asked to go to the health room and his mom came to pick him up after lunch.

Many parents also have jobs that are important to society. We often either don't have any sick leave and/or have nobody to cover for us when we are out. You will feel a lot better if/when you develop a sense of empathy for the families you serve.