Parents— Act Now to Prevent Daycare/PreK closures

[Anonymous]

A recent DCUM thread was from a preschool teacher that wants to quit in January because people keep sending their kids in sick during the pandemic and it is stressing her out. Daycares pay terribly. PP, you are lucky that anyone wants to work at/run these germ cesspools. Add more burden to them and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you just join one of the ten or so threads already on this and related topics? This one is probably your best bet: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1024207.page

Unfortunately the change.org petition in that thread blends introducing test-to-stay/reducing quarantines with dropping masks. This is a strategic mistake as masks are a political issue and it is clear from the comments on the petition some looneys have signed it. We really need some effort just focused on changing the quarantine rules to be more sensible.

Oh JFC. Can you not think independently without lumping in everyone who agrees with something together? Do you really think masking 2 year olds has ever made sense?

From a strategic perspective, this is not the time to fight to drop mask mandates. I agree masks are probably not doing anything in daycares, and might not be doing much in preK either, but it will be much easier to fight for changes to isolation/quarantine policies if the masks stay for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you just join one of the ten or so threads already on this and related topics? This one is probably your best bet: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1024207.page

Unfortunately the change.org petition in that thread blends introducing test-to-stay/reducing quarantines with dropping masks. This is a strategic mistake as masks are a political issue and it is clear from the comments on the petition some looneys have signed it. We really need some effort just focused on changing the quarantine rules to be more sensible.

Oh JFC. Can you not think independently without lumping in everyone who agrees with something together? Do you really think masking 2 year olds has ever made sense?

From a strategic perspective, this is not the time to fight to drop mask mandates. I agree masks are probably not doing anything in daycares, and might not be doing much in preK either, but it will be much easier to fight for changes to isolation/quarantine policies if the masks stay for now.

Fine fight your own separate battle. I have not met a single person that doesn't roll their eyes at the idea of a 2 yo wearing a mask correctly

[Anonymous]

BTW I really hate this idea that you have to be on a particular side of the political spectrum to question mask requirements for young children. Stop politicizing masking. This should be about the science. And from what I can tell, there's really not enough science to support masking young children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW I really hate this idea that you have to be on a particular side of the political spectrum to question mask requirements for young children. Stop politicizing masking. This should be about the science. And from what I can tell, there's really not enough science to support masking young children.

I mostly agree with you. I can’t imagine masking 2-3 year olds in daycare settings does anything useful to prevent spread. And I am concerned about the impact on speech and social development. But I’m much more immediately concerned about the very strong potential for constant quarantines over the next 2-3 months.

And I think many people are too caught up in a covid mitigation purity test to have honest discussions about the merits and harms of mask mandates on young kids. How quickly does the “Trumper” “death cult” card get pulled when this comes up? Pretty quickly. Yet these people are largely ignoring that the US is the outlier when it comes to mask policies for young kids.

Where I don’t agree is your comment about politicizing masks. Maybe I agree with your main point, but I’ll note many health measures are inherently public policy matters. You’re weighing benefits and harms for different groups of people against one another. e.g., does a small benefit to masks, which might prevent a small number of grandparents from catching covid, justify the harm to kids? I don’t think so, but I do think there’s a legitimate public policy question there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW I really hate this idea that you have to be on a particular side of the political spectrum to question mask requirements for young children. Stop politicizing masking. This should be about the science. And from what I can tell, there's really not enough science to support masking young children.

I mostly agree with you. I can’t imagine masking 2-3 year olds in daycare settings does anything useful to prevent spread. And I am concerned about the impact on speech and social development. But I’m much more immediately concerned about the very strong potential for constant quarantines over the next 2-3 months.

And I think many people are too caught up in a covid mitigation purity test to have honest discussions about the merits and harms of mask mandates on young kids. How quickly does the “Trumper” “death cult” card get pulled when this comes up? Pretty quickly. Yet these people are largely ignoring that the US is the outlier when it comes to mask policies for young kids.

Where I don’t agree is your comment about politicizing masks. Maybe I agree with your main point, but I’ll note many health measures are inherently public policy matters. You’re weighing benefits and harms for different groups of people against one another. e.g., does a small benefit to masks, which might prevent a small number of grandparents from catching covid, justify the harm to kids? I don’t think so, but I do think there’s a legitimate public policy question there.

You're little lecture about public policy is just another way of saying you mostly agree with the other petition but you're too much of a purist to sign it. This is why the right always wins. Everyone on the left wants to go it alone no matter how much common ground they have because nobody else's platform is quite good enough for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW I really hate this idea that you have to be on a particular side of the political spectrum to question mask requirements for young children. Stop politicizing masking. This should be about the science. And from what I can tell, there's really not enough science to support masking young children.

I mostly agree with you. I can’t imagine masking 2-3 year olds in daycare settings does anything useful to prevent spread. And I am concerned about the impact on speech and social development. But I’m much more immediately concerned about the very strong potential for constant quarantines over the next 2-3 months.

And I think many people are too caught up in a covid mitigation purity test to have honest discussions about the merits and harms of mask mandates on young kids. How quickly does the “Trumper” “death cult” card get pulled when this comes up? Pretty quickly. Yet these people are largely ignoring that the US is the outlier when it comes to mask policies for young kids.

Where I don’t agree is your comment about politicizing masks. Maybe I agree with your main point, but I’ll note many health measures are inherently public policy matters. You’re weighing benefits and harms for different groups of people against one another. e.g., does a small benefit to masks, which might prevent a small number of grandparents from catching covid, justify the harm to kids? I don’t think so, but I do think there’s a legitimate public policy question there.

You're little lecture about public policy is just another way of saying you mostly agree with the other petition but you're too much of a purist to sign it. This is why the right always wins. Everyone on the left wants to go it alone no matter how much common ground they have because nobody else's platform is quite good enough for them.

Huh? You’re the one pushing back on just focusing on isolation/quarantine requirements because that isn’t good enough for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW I really hate this idea that you have to be on a particular side of the political spectrum to question mask requirements for young children. Stop politicizing masking. This should be about the science. And from what I can tell, there's really not enough science to support masking young children.

I mostly agree with you. I can’t imagine masking 2-3 year olds in daycare settings does anything useful to prevent spread. And I am concerned about the impact on speech and social development. But I’m much more immediately concerned about the very strong potential for constant quarantines over the next 2-3 months.

And I think many people are too caught up in a covid mitigation purity test to have honest discussions about the merits and harms of mask mandates on young kids. How quickly does the “Trumper” “death cult” card get pulled when this comes up? Pretty quickly. Yet these people are largely ignoring that the US is the outlier when it comes to mask policies for young kids.

Where I don’t agree is your comment about politicizing masks. Maybe I agree with your main point, but I’ll note many health measures are inherently public policy matters. You’re weighing benefits and harms for different groups of people against one another. e.g., does a small benefit to masks, which might prevent a small number of grandparents from catching covid, justify the harm to kids? I don’t think so, but I do think there’s a legitimate public policy question there.

You're little lecture about public policy is just another way of saying you mostly agree with the other petition but you're too much of a purist to sign it. This is why the right always wins. Everyone on the left wants to go it alone no matter how much common ground they have because nobody else's platform is quite good enough for them.

Huh? You’re the one pushing back on just focusing on isolation/quarantine requirements because that isn’t good enough for you.

No hon, you are refusing to sign an existing petition. You have posted on an anonymous message board hoping parents will all just do what you want. Good luck. This is not an effective advocacy method.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW I really hate this idea that you have to be on a particular side of the political spectrum to question mask requirements for young children. Stop politicizing masking. This should be about the science. And from what I can tell, there's really not enough science to support masking young children.

I mostly agree with you. I can’t imagine masking 2-3 year olds in daycare settings does anything useful to prevent spread. And I am concerned about the impact on speech and social development. But I’m much more immediately concerned about the very strong potential for constant quarantines over the next 2-3 months.

And I think many people are too caught up in a covid mitigation purity test to have honest discussions about the merits and harms of mask mandates on young kids. How quickly does the “Trumper” “death cult” card get pulled when this comes up? Pretty quickly. Yet these people are largely ignoring that the US is the outlier when it comes to mask policies for young kids.

Where I don’t agree is your comment about politicizing masks. Maybe I agree with your main point, but I’ll note many health measures are inherently public policy matters. You’re weighing benefits and harms for different groups of people against one another. e.g., does a small benefit to masks, which might prevent a small number of grandparents from catching covid, justify the harm to kids? I don’t think so, but I do think there’s a legitimate public policy question there.

You're little lecture about public policy is just another way of saying you mostly agree with the other petition but you're too much of a purist to sign it. This is why the right always wins. Everyone on the left wants to go it alone no matter how much common ground they have because nobody else's platform is quite good enough for them.

Huh? You’re the one pushing back on just focusing on isolation/quarantine requirements because that isn’t good enough for you.

No hon, you are refusing to sign an existing petition. You have posted on an anonymous message board hoping parents will all just do what you want. Good luck. This is not an effective advocacy method.

What makes you think I didn’t sign it? I just have been taking a different position when I talk to or email policymakers. And I’m frustrated that arguing over masks right now distracts from making more immediate progress on quarantine policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW I really hate this idea that you have to be on a particular side of the political spectrum to question mask requirements for young children. Stop politicizing masking. This should be about the science. And from what I can tell, there's really not enough science to support masking young children.

I mostly agree with you. I can’t imagine masking 2-3 year olds in daycare settings does anything useful to prevent spread. And I am concerned about the impact on speech and social development. But I’m much more immediately concerned about the very strong potential for constant quarantines over the next 2-3 months.

And I think many people are too caught up in a covid mitigation purity test to have honest discussions about the merits and harms of mask mandates on young kids. How quickly does the “Trumper” “death cult” card get pulled when this comes up? Pretty quickly. Yet these people are largely ignoring that the US is the outlier when it comes to mask policies for young kids.

Where I don’t agree is your comment about politicizing masks. Maybe I agree with your main point, but I’ll note many health measures are inherently public policy matters. You’re weighing benefits and harms for different groups of people against one another. e.g., does a small benefit to masks, which might prevent a small number of grandparents from catching covid, justify the harm to kids? I don’t think so, but I do think there’s a legitimate public policy question there.

You're little lecture about public policy is just another way of saying you mostly agree with the other petition but you're too much of a purist to sign it. This is why the right always wins. Everyone on the left wants to go it alone no matter how much common ground they have because nobody else's platform is quite good enough for them.

Huh? You’re the one pushing back on just focusing on isolation/quarantine requirements because that isn’t good enough for you.

No hon, you are refusing to sign an existing petition. You have posted on an anonymous message board hoping parents will all just do what you want. Good luck. This is not an effective advocacy method.

What makes you think I didn’t sign it? I just have been taking a different position when I talk to or email policymakers. And I’m frustrated that arguing over masks right now distracts from making more immediate progress on quarantine policies.

Ok, good luck with this "campaign" of yours consisting of posting on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A recent DCUM thread was from a preschool teacher that wants to quit in January because people keep sending their kids in sick during the pandemic and it is stressing her out. Daycares pay terribly. PP, you are lucky that anyone wants to work at/run these germ cesspools. Add more burden to them and see how it goes.

+1 to all this. Daycare workers are massively underpaid and have had a hard job during the pandemic. And you're demanding their employers remove protections for them?

[Anonymous]

I work for a child development center that has several locations in the DMV. I can tell you that DC is not going to be lightening up on masking or quarantining any time soon. Keep in mind, we work with the only population that still cannot get vaccinated.

We have been open and operating all of our centers since June 2020. From June 2020 until the past couple of months, we had ZERO children (infants through Kindergarten) that we know of that had Covid. We had a few teachers who mostly got it from relatives, and had to only close a class here and there when a teacher tested positive. We did not have to close an entire center at all. The protocols we had put in place were working and prevented outbreaks in our centers.

This all changed starting this fall and with the onset of Omicron. We have had several children with Covid and have closed classes several times, and one instance where we closed an entire center for a few days because four classes were impacted and we had to stop the spread. We had not changed our protocols at all so this variant is obviously a lot more contagious.

Childcare workers and leadership are very worried about this rapid spread and keeping everyone safe. No matter how loud parents complain, I just don't see the guidance changing any time soon. And if we did ease up on these requirements, you're going to see a lot more classrooms and whole centers closing more frequently.

Oh - and you'd be surprised how well the children actually do with the masks. They do remove them to eat and nap, so there are many periods throughout the day where they are unmasked.

But we're all worried that January is going to be a shit show when all the centers that have been closed for the holidays reopen and everyone who travelled comes back. We're all testing, but that is not reliable either. Ugh. Let's hope this variant fizzles out as fast as it blew in.

Stay healthy everone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for a child development center that has several locations in the DMV. I can tell you that DC is not going to be lightening up on masking or quarantining any time soon. Keep in mind, we work with the only population that still cannot get vaccinated.

We have been open and operating all of our centers since June 2020. From June 2020 until the past couple of months, we had ZERO children (infants through Kindergarten) that we know of that had Covid. We had a few teachers who mostly got it from relatives, and had to only close a class here and there when a teacher tested positive. We did not have to close an entire center at all. The protocols we had put in place were working and prevented outbreaks in our centers.

This all changed starting this fall and with the onset of Omicron. We have had several children with Covid and have closed classes several times, and one instance where we closed an entire center for a few days because four classes were impacted and we had to stop the spread. We had not changed our protocols at all so this variant is obviously a lot more contagious.

Childcare workers and leadership are very worried about this rapid spread and keeping everyone safe. No matter how loud parents complain, I just don't see the guidance changing any time soon. And if we did ease up on these requirements, you're going to see a lot more classrooms and whole centers closing more frequently.

Oh - and you'd be surprised how well the children actually do with the masks. They do remove them to eat and nap, so there are many periods throughout the day where they are unmasked.

But we're all worried that January is going to be a shit show when all the centers that have been closed for the holidays reopen and everyone who travelled comes back. We're all testing, but that is not reliable either. Ugh. Let's hope this variant fizzles out as fast as it blew in.

Stay healthy everone!

So, let’s get this straight— kids are going well with masks because they don’t have to wear masks for much of the day. Yet somehow you seem to think they help. Is that right?

I don't really care that much about masks. I mean, I think they're dumb for little kids, as does nearly every public health organization outside the US, but I think there are bigger problems to focus on. However, I do find it frustrating that people aren't willing to look at what is actually going on and acknowledge those masks aren't doing much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work for a child development center that has several locations in the DMV. I can tell you that DC is not going to be lightening up on masking or quarantining any time soon. Keep in mind, we work with the only population that still cannot get vaccinated.

We have been open and operating all of our centers since June 2020. From June 2020 until the past couple of months, we had ZERO children (infants through Kindergarten) that we know of that had Covid. We had a few teachers who mostly got it from relatives, and had to only close a class here and there when a teacher tested positive. We did not have to close an entire center at all. The protocols we had put in place were working and prevented outbreaks in our centers.

This all changed starting this fall and with the onset of Omicron. We have had several children with Covid and have closed classes several times, and one instance where we closed an entire center for a few days because four classes were impacted and we had to stop the spread. We had not changed our protocols at all so this variant is obviously a lot more contagious.

Childcare workers and leadership are very worried about this rapid spread and keeping everyone safe. No matter how loud parents complain, I just don't see the guidance changing any time soon. And if we did ease up on these requirements, you're going to see a lot more classrooms and whole centers closing more frequently.

Oh - and you'd be surprised how well the children actually do with the masks. They do remove them to eat and nap, so there are many periods throughout the day where they are unmasked.

But we're all worried that January is going to be a shit show when all the centers that have been closed for the holidays reopen and everyone who travelled comes back. We're all testing, but that is not reliable either. Ugh. Let's hope this variant fizzles out as fast as it blew in.

Stay healthy everone!

So, let’s get this straight— kids are going well with masks because they don’t have to wear masks for much of the day. Yet somehow you seem to think they help. Is that right?

I don't really care that much about masks. I mean, I think they're dumb for little kids, as does nearly every public health organization outside the US, but I think there are bigger problems to focus on. However, I do find it frustrating that people aren't willing to look at what is actually going on and acknowledge those masks aren't doing much.

She just showed you evidence of success and you say masks don't work.

A sleeping person isn't talking. Their exhalations arent traveling very far. An eating person can be somewhat distanced. But yes, it remains a risk. The thing about risk is we mitigate for it. The daycare will be using measures to make risky activities less risky. Like when you use condoms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work for a child development center that has several locations in the DMV. I can tell you that DC is not going to be lightening up on masking or quarantining any time soon. Keep in mind, we work with the only population that still cannot get vaccinated.

We have been open and operating all of our centers since June 2020. From June 2020 until the past couple of months, we had ZERO children (infants through Kindergarten) that we know of that had Covid. We had a few teachers who mostly got it from relatives, and had to only close a class here and there when a teacher tested positive. We did not have to close an entire center at all. The protocols we had put in place were working and prevented outbreaks in our centers.

This all changed starting this fall and with the onset of Omicron. We have had several children with Covid and have closed classes several times, and one instance where we closed an entire center for a few days because four classes were impacted and we had to stop the spread. We had not changed our protocols at all so this variant is obviously a lot more contagious.

Childcare workers and leadership are very worried about this rapid spread and keeping everyone safe. No matter how loud parents complain, I just don't see the guidance changing any time soon. And if we did ease up on these requirements, you're going to see a lot more classrooms and whole centers closing more frequently.

Oh - and you'd be surprised how well the children actually do with the masks. They do remove them to eat and nap, so there are many periods throughout the day where they are unmasked.

But we're all worried that January is going to be a shit show when all the centers that have been closed for the holidays reopen and everyone who travelled comes back. We're all testing, but that is not reliable either. Ugh. Let's hope this variant fizzles out as fast as it blew in.

Stay healthy everone!

So, let’s get this straight— kids are going well with masks because they don’t have to wear masks for much of the day. Yet somehow you seem to think they help. Is that right?

I don't really care that much about masks. I mean, I think they're dumb for little kids, as does nearly every public health organization outside the US, but I think there are bigger problems to focus on. However, I do find it frustrating that people aren't willing to look at what is actually going on and acknowledge those masks aren't doing much.

She just showed you evidence of success and you say masks don't work.

A sleeping person isn't talking. Their exhalations arent traveling very far. An eating person can be somewhat distanced. But yes, it remains a risk. The thing about risk is we mitigate for it. The daycare will be using measures to make risky activities less risky. Like when you use condoms.

The big Bangladesh study for one. Surely you saw that, didn’t you? No reduction in cases at all when using cloth masks. No reduction in people under 50 when wearing surgical masks.