A standing ovation for Dr. McKnight
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Anonymous
We don’t have any omicron studies. This is the best we have right now. And I 100% guarantee you there will never be research that shows ALL people who had omicron will be reinfected, as PP said. |
Anonymous
I believe the Imperial College London study, which looked at South African cases, estimated about 10-15%. It's hard to know what that means in the abstract and so I turn to the ancedotal: I know several people who've already had covid twice since November. That isn't a very long time and that concerns me. |
Anonymous
This article has no data or studies cited. No reinfection statistics for context. Just a doctor talking about how there are higher reinfection rates with omicron. What is its purpose other than to make people hysterical? It’s all the school closers have. |
Anonymous
that's what happens when the virus mutates, and this virus will continue to mutate. That's what happened with the Spanish flu - it mutated, became less lethal as it mutated, and is part of the influenza family. But, we don't shut down due to influenza. That's the endemic game for covid. It will be around forever, in some way, shape or form. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/1918flupandemic.htm
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Anonymous
There's no magic guarantee that a virus will mutate into something less lethal. All the virus wants to do is reproduce. Populations tend to somewhat select for less lethal variants... as the more damaging ones tend to kill them or render them too disabled to function. Therefore they either die out or start avoiding the infection. But there's no evolutionary imperative for the virus to become less lethal. |
Anonymous
| Before the Spanish flu mutated into an endemic virus that didn't kill or disable its host it had already mutated several times into other variants of itself that did kill or disable. The question is, do you feel lucky? Or would it behoove you to avoid getting sick? |
Anonymous
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And, btw, here's the latest from NYC. 25% of its students aren't going to school
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/nyc-schools-remote-option |
Anonymous
Look. you kind of have to stop saying that. The "just wait 2 weeks; you'll see!" doesnt hold any water anymore. Every time some sort of children's activity has resumed, it's always been "just wait 2 weeks!" And we always do....and we still havent had those bodies piling up in school hallways. We're at the point, after almost 2 years, we need to put our heads down and muscle through this winter. With limited closures for classrooms or schools. You guys need to accept that. There will not be a system wide school closure. And to be frank, the chicken little sky is falling routine is part of the reason people are so willing to tune you out now. You've cried wolf too many times. (and I know what the response is going to be this post: "you think 800k dead is crying wolf?!?!", but we're talking about schools and students in a highly vaccinated environment. the biggest mistake we made to this pandemic was that we didn't target our mitigations. Right now, our seniors should be under lock and key and our children should be free to live their lives) |
Anonymous
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Endorsements by 2 former BOE members, Durso & Dixon, who were principals, as well, are laden with excuses about difficult times and play the race & gender cards. McKnight is being supported by insiders, and while she may be the right person for the job (jury's still out on that), that kind of insular positioning spells a stay-the-course future.
If there is to be change that gives families agency in the public education of their kids -- transparency of data, engagement prior to decisions, actionable communication, reduction of autocracy, etc. -- whatever contract is offered (to whomever, not just to McKnight) needs to have teeth (incentives/disincentives with regard to the above) and needs not to have the kind of golden parachute that would make a dismissal too burdensome. The last thing we need is for the BOE, already low on oversight for the benefit of the public, not to have any levers to pull if performance is lacking or direction is misguided. |
Anonymous
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McKnight is meeting with the County Council live right now. She just said, “Two years, shame on us if we can’t make in person happen.”
I’m liking her more and more. |
Anonymous
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Shame on us that we can't make test-to-stay happen, vaccination required happen, distanced/outdoor lunch happen, proper ventilation & filtration happen, full-content virtual for those that need it happen...
I get the general exhaustion, but it's a bit of an indictment that they could make no-work-over-winter-break happen instead of hey-this-omicron-thing-looks-a-bit-out-of-control-so-we-might-want-to-take-that-expected-to-be-planning-time-and-actually-make-a-robust-plan happen. |
Anonymous
It’s great that she can say the right things but unfortunately she has proven herself to be incompetent. As a result she cannot actually do what is needed to execute. In-person or virtual, I don’t care. What I do care about is competence. She needs to go. |
Anonymous
They improved ventilation/filtration. Requiring vaccines under EUA is a non-starter, and most kids 12 - 17 in MCPS are already vaccinated. Lunch is very dependent on individual schools and their circumstances. Test to stay, yes, they should have done more on that, for sure. "Virtual for those that need it" should only refer to those quarantined, not those who were nervous about Omicron. Nervous isn't a "need." But really, she's right. |
Anonymous
It’s also been business as usual at my kids high FARM, majority minority middle school…all her teachers are present and teaching and everybody in her friend group is in school. Hoping that it remains this way. She has taken the test several times and so far has always tested negative. |