Daily COVID Numbers for January 10

[Anonymous]

Paint Branch HS was at 90+ cases yesterday.

This was the school with the first Omicron outbreak before Christmas. The one were a high schooler attended school knowing they were positive and set off a firestorm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ESS numbers are so high. It’s a small school.

They also have a large number of Amharic-speaking families, so unless the school had their own materials translated in-house, the early rounds of English/Spanish communications about case reporting may not have been very effective. Many may not have had easy access to tests during the pre- and post-holiday rush.

I suspect these numbers are only now catching up to reality after their surprisingly low post-holiday “green” status.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ESS numbers are so high. It’s a small school.

They also have a large number of Amharic-speaking families, so unless the school had their own materials translated in-house, the early rounds of English/Spanish communications about case reporting may not have been very effective. Many may not have had easy access to tests during the pre- and post-holiday rush.

I suspect these numbers are only now catching up to reality after their surprisingly low post-holiday “green” status.

This is correct.

About 30-35% of ESS families are Ethiopian or Eritrean. As far as I know ESS didn't send out COVID info in Amharic, at least not recently. They don't have an in-house translator, though they have one admin who speaks Amharic and they press her into service sometimes.

The January 9 Community Letter from MCPS was not available in Amharic-- it was a broken link. A mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand these numbers. Blair sent out an email yesterday that there were 42 students and 3 staff members. The numbers here are lower.

The report is just the number of positive cases reported the prior day, I believe. The email you received was likely cumulative.

But dang this is confusing.

No, MCPS reported that Blair had 43, 34, 20, 6 and 7 (last two were Sat/Sun) just from the Jan 5-9 daily reports. As in, first reported on those days, so I don't think any? most? could have aged out by yesterday. That's a cumulative total of 110 cases first reported Jan 5-9, plus 45 Jan 10 = 155.

I know 45 "sounds high," like enough to be a cumulative number, but it's not. It's "only" about 1.5% of the school population at Blair, when basically all schools would be in the 6-15% range if they were still doing cumulative/color-coded charts.

This is the new reality, for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the schools with the big jumps the ones that sent out tests on Friday?

I don't know if there's any correlation-- I just know that ESS (27 cases Jan 10) didn't send out tests until yesterday, so no in that case.

My suspicion is just that there was more communication and understanding by yesterday, combined with kids coming in yesterday with "sniffles" or whatever and being given a test.

[Anonymous]

I'm confused about the reporting. If a kid has covid and is out for 10 days, do they only show up once the first time they report? Or do they show up 10 times, one for each absence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused about the reporting. If a kid has covid and is out for 10 days, do they only show up once the first time they report? Or do they show up 10 times, one for each absence?

I think they just show up once. My ES is only showing 7 cases on 1/10.

[jsteele]

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