With teachers vaccinated, why are we still talking about hybrid, and not a full return to school?

[Anonymous]

More on how many areas are open:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/schools-reopening-covid-track-teaching/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vaccinating teachers only ensures safety for teachers. The problem is that many parents and grandparents have not been vaccinated yet so if a kid gets COVID at school and brings it home, they may be infecting a multi-generational household (some that may be high risk).

Then those kids can stay virtual. I don't have those concerns for my children.

This is what all of the UMC families I know are saying. They've been with their kids for almost an entire year. They are done!

EVERYONE has been home with their kids for almost a year. Everyone is ready for this stupid virus to go away so that kids can safely be in school, and so that their loved ones will stop dying.

I’m not UMC, but my family has been very very fortunate the past year. I’m not ready for my actions or my selfishness to contribute to any more spread in communities that have been harder hit.

Actually, EVERYONE hasn’t.

—Signed, healthcare worker who has lost a family member (and many patients) to Covid, and thinks schools can open without contributing to spread.

Fortunately, I know that it’s not “selfishness” that spreads viral illness, no matter how much we all love that narrative.

Do you support what this thread is about, which is full opening with no distancing and cohorting? Or do you support following the CDC guidelines?

Well, I'm not reading the OP as saying that, exactly. I think the 6' "rule" has been widely debunked and we have all seen abundant evidence that there is nothing magical about 6' versus 3' versus 10'. That seems to be the area that people get really stuck on, but it is really just one layer of many. The other mitigation efforts that have been outlined here and elsewhere are vastly beyond what I receive as a healthcare worker: cohorting, ventilation, outdoor activity, random/surveillance testing, free symptomatic testing, etc. I have read and reread the plans in APS and I am entirely satisfied that they are sufficient. I have also felt all along that if we open schools 2 days/week, what we create is a nightmare scenario where on the other 2-3 days families are "bubbling" all over the place, sending their kids to alternate childcare sites, etc, and that 5 days/week, with all of the outlined mitigation, actually makes MORE public health sense (to me) than having this weird scenario where we pretend that on the days kids don't attend school they will remain in their households at all times.

I also think PPs have correctly noted that CDC guidance was for all the things workplaces/schools need to do BEFORE people are vaccinated. I am interested to see what is forthcoming based on where things stand, today. That said, I'm also with PPs that this year is just trashed and we really need to collectively get on board with FT, real school this fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The CDC is supposed to issue new guidance on Wednesday regarding the opening of schools, hopefully addressing the 6 ft distance thing. You can eat in a restaurant without 6 ft between people.

Indoor dining is one of the most dangerous things you can do right now, so yeah, sure, let’s emulate that.

You people are bonkers.

Well if the CDC says that schools can have less than 6 feet distancing, are you going to say that they are incorrect?

If a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump its ass when it hops. We can “if” all day long, but it doesn’t change the fact that indoor dining is one of the main causes of spread. Y’all are slowly trying to take every mitigation factor away and won’t stop until it’s 5 days, unspaced with no/optional masks.

Yep. I won’t stop until we’re back in normal school. You’re right there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vaccinating teachers only ensures safety for teachers. The problem is that many parents and grandparents have not been vaccinated yet so if a kid gets COVID at school and brings it home, they may be infecting a multi-generational household (some that may be high risk).

Then those kids can stay virtual. I don't have those concerns for my children.

This is what all of the UMC families I know are saying. They've been with their kids for almost an entire year. They are done!

EVERYONE has been home with their kids for almost a year. Everyone is ready for this stupid virus to go away so that kids can safely be in school, and so that their loved ones will stop dying.

I’m not UMC, but my family has been very very fortunate the past year. I’m not ready for my actions or my selfishness to contribute to any more spread in communities that have been harder hit.

Actually, EVERYONE hasn’t.

—Signed, healthcare worker who has lost a family member (and many patients) to Covid, and thinks schools can open without contributing to spread.

Fortunately, I know that it’s not “selfishness” that spreads viral illness, no matter how much we all love that narrative.

Do you support what this thread is about, which is full opening with no distancing and cohorting? Or do you support following the CDC guidelines?

Well, I'm not reading the OP as saying that, exactly. I think the 6' "rule" has been widely debunked and we have all seen abundant evidence that there is nothing magical about 6' versus 3' versus 10'. That seems to be the area that people get really stuck on, but it is really just one layer of many. The other mitigation efforts that have been outlined here and elsewhere are vastly beyond what I receive as a healthcare worker: cohorting, ventilation, outdoor activity, random/surveillance testing, free symptomatic testing, etc. I have read and reread the plans in APS and I am entirely satisfied that they are sufficient. I have also felt all along that if we open schools 2 days/week, what we create is a nightmare scenario where on the other 2-3 days families are "bubbling" all over the place, sending their kids to alternate childcare sites, etc, and that 5 days/week, with all of the outlined mitigation, actually makes MORE public health sense (to me) than having this weird scenario where we pretend that on the days kids don't attend school they will remain in their households at all times.

I also think PPs have correctly noted that CDC guidance was for all the things workplaces/schools need to do BEFORE people are vaccinated. I am interested to see what is forthcoming based on where things stand, today. That said, I'm also with PPs that this year is just trashed and we really need to collectively get on board with FT, real school this fall.

Wait, you think those things will happen? Maybe cohorting will happen at the ES level but that is all.

[Anonymous]

What cohorting? What testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why we can’t have nice things. The CDC and Fauci have told us why we can’t just get vaccinated and stop following the guidance. It’s been all over the news.

Yeah, two weeks to flatten the curve and all that...

[Anonymous]

Liberal areas are supposed to be the most educated but since the teachers won't teach in person they are going to be the dumbest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vaccinating teachers only ensures safety for teachers. The problem is that many parents and grandparents have not been vaccinated yet so if a kid gets COVID at school and brings it home, they may be infecting a multi-generational household (some that may be high risk).

Parents who are sending their kids back have already assessed that risk and decided that it is not an issue.

Quit using extended families as an excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it is so impossible to re-open schools safely, how come the plurality of schools in the US are open for full-time in person instruction? It's almost a majority for K-5.
https://info.burbio.com/school-tracker-update-feb-8/

UNICEF mapped out back in fall where things were open:
https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f89a8d700c7756971847605/960x0.jpg?fit=scale

There are districts here in the Commonwealth of Virginia that are fully in-person for 4 days:
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/office/reopen-status.shtml

I've said it before and I'll say it again - given the number of families choosing to remain fully remote, it should be possible to get all kids in school who want to be in-person at a 3' spacing (the spacing recommended by the WHO and used in Europe). You don't have to jettison distancing entirely.

VDOE has a layout on it's site for a 3' spacing for classrooms:
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/covid-19/classroom-3-feet-distancing.pdf

My building has over 70% returning. My class and grade level is close to 80%. I wouldn't be able to fit them in my classroom at 3' distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny, I told my mom who lives in a different state in the southeast that kids maybe back in hybrid last week, and then we talked again yesterday and when I clarified hybrid meant 2 days a week for APS she started laughing. She then said teachers in her state have been back since August doing 2 days a week with extended winter break, and since last week 5 days a week. She thinks it could be done as their schools used summer to make space in schools including use of unused space like gyms and cafeterias for classrooms. They do bag lunches and set up cannaopies in outdoor areas with heat for lunch etc. Installed sanitation stations throughout the schools with air purifiers, and isolation room in each school for sick children or staff in portable classroom not in main buildings. Currently working on getting a face recognition app up and running statewide to have parents check and enter temps checked prior to getting on buses.Yes, schools will supply thermometers. So they truly used and are using the money given to make safe space.And I thought Arlington was was progressive......I knew it was far behind New England states we previously lived in,but for the southeast to be figuring out leaves one to ponder.
[

Lower midwest states are on top of it too. As are Florida, Ohio, Texas. The list goes on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it is so impossible to re-open schools safely, how come the plurality of schools in the US are open for full-time in person instruction? It's almost a majority for K-5.
https://info.burbio.com/school-tracker-update-feb-8/

UNICEF mapped out back in fall where things were open:
https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f89a8d700c7756971847605/960x0.jpg?fit=scale

There are districts here in the Commonwealth of Virginia that are fully in-person for 4 days:
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/office/reopen-status.shtml

I've said it before and I'll say it again - given the number of families choosing to remain fully remote, it should be possible to get all kids in school who want to be in-person at a 3' spacing (the spacing recommended by the WHO and used in Europe). You don't have to jettison distancing entirely.

VDOE has a layout on it's site for a 3' spacing for classrooms:
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/covid-19/classroom-3-feet-distancing.pdf

My building has over 70% returning. My class and grade level is close to 80%. I wouldn't be able to fit them in my classroom at 3' distance.

Honest question: what if the put you in the gym and gave you a microphone on a stick to hold for kids when they talk? Is there another creative way to do it?

Our school is a 50-50 split.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to get hybrid going in it's current terrible state. That way, we will all be advocating for 3 feet or less NEXT year when young kids (under 12) still won't have access to a vaccine. They can offer virtual for those still not ready to send their kids, but hopefully next year we'll be able to get back in school more than 2 days a week.

If virtual is offered next year, it should only be through virtual Virginia. None of this hybrid or concurrent ridiculousness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The CDC is supposed to issue new guidance on Wednesday regarding the opening of schools, hopefully addressing the 6 ft distance thing. You can eat in a restaurant without 6 ft between people.

Indoor dining is one of the most dangerous things you can do right now, so yeah, sure, let’s emulate that.

You people are bonkers.

Well if the CDC says that schools can have less than 6 feet distancing, are you going to say that they are incorrect?

If a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump its ass when it hops. We can “if” all day long, but it doesn’t change the fact that indoor dining is one of the main causes of spread. Y’all are slowly trying to take every mitigation factor away and won’t stop until it’s 5 days, unspaced with no/optional masks.

Weong

Indoor dining is not one of the biggest causes of spread. That is a lie not backed by science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it is so impossible to re-open schools safely, how come the plurality of schools in the US are open for full-time in person instruction? It's almost a majority for K-5.
https://info.burbio.com/school-tracker-update-feb-8/

UNICEF mapped out back in fall where things were open:
https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f89a8d700c7756971847605/960x0.jpg?fit=scale

There are districts here in the Commonwealth of Virginia that are fully in-person for 4 days:
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/office/reopen-status.shtml

I've said it before and I'll say it again - given the number of families choosing to remain fully remote, it should be possible to get all kids in school who want to be in-person at a 3' spacing (the spacing recommended by the WHO and used in Europe). You don't have to jettison distancing entirely.

VDOE has a layout on it's site for a 3' spacing for classrooms:
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/covid-19/classroom-3-feet-distancing.pdf

My building has over 70% returning. My class and grade level is close to 80%. I wouldn't be able to fit them in my classroom at 3' distance.

Honest question: what if the put you in the gym and gave you a microphone on a stick to hold for kids when they talk? Is there another creative way to do it?

Our school is a 50-50 split.

I'm trying to picture what you mean here. Are you saying take a class of third graders and spread them out across the entire gym? I'm not sure about the microphone on the stick or how that works with the other students who are still online. (Our gym is being used for lunch periods.)

Our grade level has 109 students returning, which is 78% of the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The CDC is supposed to issue new guidance on Wednesday regarding the opening of schools, hopefully addressing the 6 ft distance thing. You can eat in a restaurant without 6 ft between people.

Indoor dining is one of the most dangerous things you can do right now, so yeah, sure, let’s emulate that.

You people are bonkers.

Well if the CDC says that schools can have less than 6 feet distancing, are you going to say that they are incorrect?

If a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump its ass when it hops. We can “if” all day long, but it doesn’t change the fact that indoor dining is one of the main causes of spread. Y’all are slowly trying to take every mitigation factor away and won’t stop until it’s 5 days, unspaced with no/optional masks.

Weong

Indoor dining is not one of the biggest causes of spread. That is a lie not backed by science.

Not backed by science? I didn’t realize “Science” had chosen a particular side in this battle.