Soi.....Who is pulling out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

This is so obvious, and yet is met with so much obfuscation!

It's so goofy that this is difficult for you to understand: If the cases are low, there is little to spread. If vaccinations are high, that makes cases lower, meaning there will be less to spread. Delta is not the bogeyman you are making it to be. Delta is still more transmissible, yes, but vaccination rates and case rates still matter a lot.

To add: I don't disagree with any portion of your statement beyond "Vaccination rates are not relevant here."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel quarantine is for unvaxxed only.

Which is all kids under 12. Most of the school system. Why are people so obtuse?

I get that it really sucks to not be able to get younger kids vaccinated. But it also sucks for those kids to get COVID, especially given mounting evidence that the Delta variant is resulting in more, sicker kids. So the travel quarantine—which as another poster notes can be shortened via testing—seems like a reasonable way to help stem spread. Most travel is a choice, and we’re all having to make hard choices right now.

All of that said, I agree that the travel quarantine could be more refined/nuanced than it is. It is silly that you can travel to the VA-TN border, where vaccination rates are likely quite low and COVID-19 rates much higher, but not to Philadelphia or NYC or Boston, where the opposite is the case.

The delta variant is more contagious, but in the past day or so I've seen quotes from pediatric infectious disease specialists saying that the delta variant is not necessarily resulting in a more severe case of COVID than either original COVID or other variants, though it is early.

If that is not correct, can you point to the information on severity?

And before this potentially goes off the rails, I'm not saying I want anyone's kid with underlying health conditions (or anyone else) to get COVID or denying that MIS-C exists.

Well a 5 year old with no underlying conditions just died of Delta…

A 5 year old did die. In northern Georgia, where their vaccination rate is incredibly low, less than 20% in some counties. The articles that I've read also don't tell if the immediate family members were vaccination - just that the dad at the time of the article was coughing from also having covid. And the boy died of a stoke. Not saying covid wasn't the catalyst, but there's also a lot of information missing.

The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

And yet, children are in the vast, vast majority of cases, not at risk of harm. The only people at risk are unvaccinated adults. That's their problem.

If you have 50,000 kids in DCPS and if 100% get Covid, and if the death rate for kids is 0.005%, then 2 or 3 DCPS students will die of COVID. It's a small number, and I (like everybody else) is appropriately 99.995% sure that it won't be my child. But it makes for dramatic headlines. Particularly if that means the number for DC kids regardless of where they go to school is then 6 or 7. Lots of ifs, lots of unknowns. Just saying that a tiny risk seems bigger if the denominator gets large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel quarantine is for unvaxxed only.

Which is all kids under 12. Most of the school system. Why are people so obtuse?

I get that it really sucks to not be able to get younger kids vaccinated. But it also sucks for those kids to get COVID, especially given mounting evidence that the Delta variant is resulting in more, sicker kids. So the travel quarantine—which as another poster notes can be shortened via testing—seems like a reasonable way to help stem spread. Most travel is a choice, and we’re all having to make hard choices right now.

All of that said, I agree that the travel quarantine could be more refined/nuanced than it is. It is silly that you can travel to the VA-TN border, where vaccination rates are likely quite low and COVID-19 rates much higher, but not to Philadelphia or NYC or Boston, where the opposite is the case.

The delta variant is more contagious, but in the past day or so I've seen quotes from pediatric infectious disease specialists saying that the delta variant is not necessarily resulting in a more severe case of COVID than either original COVID or other variants, though it is early.

If that is not correct, can you point to the information on severity?

And before this potentially goes off the rails, I'm not saying I want anyone's kid with underlying health conditions (or anyone else) to get COVID or denying that MIS-C exists.

Well a 5 year old with no underlying conditions just died of Delta…

A 5 year old did die. In northern Georgia, where their vaccination rate is incredibly low, less than 20% in some counties. The articles that I've read also don't tell if the immediate family members were vaccination - just that the dad at the time of the article was coughing from also having covid. And the boy died of a stoke. Not saying covid wasn't the catalyst, but there's also a lot of information missing.

The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

And yet, children are in the vast, vast majority of cases, not at risk of harm. The only people at risk are unvaccinated adults. That's their problem.

If you have 50,000 kids in DCPS and if 100% get Covid, and if the death rate for kids is 0.005%, then 2 or 3 DCPS students will die of COVID. It's a small number, and I (like everybody else) is appropriately 99.995% sure that it won't be my child. But it makes for dramatic headlines. Particularly if that means the number for DC kids regardless of where they go to school is then 6 or 7. Lots of ifs, lots of unknowns. Just saying that a tiny risk seems bigger if the denominator gets large.

DP. And yet the harms of keeping kids out of school are so manifold, certain, and well documented that we have to accept the risk. If Covid had ever only affected kids and did so in the usually mild way it does, we would never, ever, have taken any invasive precautions, even if it had been as contagious as delta from the start. It’s only because we have now been conditioned for a year and a half to think of Covid as an unprecedented threat that must be avoided at all costs that we are freaking out about kids getting infected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel quarantine is for unvaxxed only.

Which is all kids under 12. Most of the school system. Why are people so obtuse?

I get that it really sucks to not be able to get younger kids vaccinated. But it also sucks for those kids to get COVID, especially given mounting evidence that the Delta variant is resulting in more, sicker kids. So the travel quarantine—which as another poster notes can be shortened via testing—seems like a reasonable way to help stem spread. Most travel is a choice, and we’re all having to make hard choices right now.

All of that said, I agree that the travel quarantine could be more refined/nuanced than it is. It is silly that you can travel to the VA-TN border, where vaccination rates are likely quite low and COVID-19 rates much higher, but not to Philadelphia or NYC or Boston, where the opposite is the case.

The delta variant is more contagious, but in the past day or so I've seen quotes from pediatric infectious disease specialists saying that the delta variant is not necessarily resulting in a more severe case of COVID than either original COVID or other variants, though it is early.

If that is not correct, can you point to the information on severity?

And before this potentially goes off the rails, I'm not saying I want anyone's kid with underlying health conditions (or anyone else) to get COVID or denying that MIS-C exists.

Well a 5 year old with no underlying conditions just died of Delta…

A 5 year old did die. In northern Georgia, where their vaccination rate is incredibly low, less than 20% in some counties. The articles that I've read also don't tell if the immediate family members were vaccination - just that the dad at the time of the article was coughing from also having covid. And the boy died of a stoke. Not saying covid wasn't the catalyst, but there's also a lot of information missing.

The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

And yet, children are in the vast, vast majority of cases, not at risk of harm. The only people at risk are unvaccinated adults. That's their problem.

And even more importantly, elementary school aged kids are vastly more likely to get it from their parents then from other kids. Parents, and other adults they spend a lot of time with like teachers, caregivers, etc, are the vector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel quarantine is for unvaxxed only.

Which is all kids under 12. Most of the school system. Why are people so obtuse?

I get that it really sucks to not be able to get younger kids vaccinated. But it also sucks for those kids to get COVID, especially given mounting evidence that the Delta variant is resulting in more, sicker kids. So the travel quarantine—which as another poster notes can be shortened via testing—seems like a reasonable way to help stem spread. Most travel is a choice, and we’re all having to make hard choices right now.

All of that said, I agree that the travel quarantine could be more refined/nuanced than it is. It is silly that you can travel to the VA-TN border, where vaccination rates are likely quite low and COVID-19 rates much higher, but not to Philadelphia or NYC or Boston, where the opposite is the case.

The delta variant is more contagious, but in the past day or so I've seen quotes from pediatric infectious disease specialists saying that the delta variant is not necessarily resulting in a more severe case of COVID than either original COVID or other variants, though it is early.

If that is not correct, can you point to the information on severity?

And before this potentially goes off the rails, I'm not saying I want anyone's kid with underlying health conditions (or anyone else) to get COVID or denying that MIS-C exists.

Well a 5 year old with no underlying conditions just died of Delta…

A 5 year old did die. In northern Georgia, where their vaccination rate is incredibly low, less than 20% in some counties. The articles that I've read also don't tell if the immediate family members were vaccination - just that the dad at the time of the article was coughing from also having covid. And the boy died of a stoke. Not saying covid wasn't the catalyst, but there's also a lot of information missing.

The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

And yet, children are in the vast, vast majority of cases, not at risk of harm. The only people at risk are unvaccinated adults. That's their problem.

If you have 50,000 kids in DCPS and if 100% get Covid, and if the death rate for kids is 0.005%, then 2 or 3 DCPS students will die of COVID. It's a small number, and I (like everybody else) is appropriately 99.995% sure that it won't be my child. But it makes for dramatic headlines. Particularly if that means the number for DC kids regardless of where they go to school is then 6 or 7. Lots of ifs, lots of unknowns. Just saying that a tiny risk seems bigger if the denominator gets large.

I feel like the delta panickers are often deliberately obfuscating or ignoring denominators.

[Anonymous]

1. with schools reopening during the delta phase of the pandemic, it will no longer be true that kids mostly get it from their parents.
2. no-one is really panicking about pediatric fatalities. We are however quite worried about long-covid and other sequelae (neurological, respiratory, cardiac). (POTUS has brought up long-covid today, because he is awesome and doesn't deny inconvenient science.)
3. A poster said 'when cases are low" well they are climbing rapidly. 179 cases over the past 3 days. That's 60/day on average.
4. Everyone keeps saying vaccination rates are high. While they just might be high enough not to overwhelm the hospitals, they're not so high that unvax'ed kids are protected. We haven't even hit 70% nationally yet. and we're at 53.7% in DC. You might feel you're in a great ward 3 or NoVa bubble of high vaccination rates, but you still live with the rest of the DMV, and considering how contagious delta is, you do have to consider the vaccination status of school staff, front desk at the pediatrician or dentist office, whatever gig economy workers you interact with, house cleaners, etc... may or may not be, but they're definitely not 70% vaxx'ed.
5. As vacc'ed parents, we can experience breakthrough infection and pass it to our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. with schools reopening during the delta phase of the pandemic, it will no longer be true that kids mostly get it from their parents.
2. no-one is really panicking about pediatric fatalities. We are however quite worried about long-covid and other sequelae (neurological, respiratory, cardiac). (POTUS has brought up long-covid today, because he is awesome and doesn't deny inconvenient science.)
3. A poster said 'when cases are low" well they are climbing rapidly. 179 cases over the past 3 days. That's 60/day on average.
4. Everyone keeps saying vaccination rates are high. While they just might be high enough not to overwhelm the hospitals, they're not so high that unvax'ed kids are protected. We haven't even hit 70% nationally yet. and we're at 53.7% in DC. You might feel you're in a great ward 3 or NoVa bubble of high vaccination rates, but you still live with the rest of the DMV, and considering how contagious delta is, you do have to consider the vaccination status of school staff, front desk at the pediatrician or dentist office, whatever gig economy workers you interact with, house cleaners, etc... may or may not be, but they're definitely not 70% vaxx'ed.
5. As vacc'ed parents, we can experience breakthrough infection and pass it to our kids.

And it still remains true that the risk of long Covid to kids, based on current science is tiny and largely theoretical compared to the well documented harms and potentially long term effects of school closures. If you come to the conclusion that for your individual child this risk benefit calculation comes out differently, you have the option to keep them home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. with schools reopening during the delta phase of the pandemic, it will no longer be true that kids mostly get it from their parents.
2. no-one is really panicking about pediatric fatalities. We are however quite worried about long-covid and other sequelae (neurological, respiratory, cardiac). (POTUS has brought up long-covid today, because he is awesome and doesn't deny inconvenient science.)
3. A poster said 'when cases are low" well they are climbing rapidly. 179 cases over the past 3 days. That's 60/day on average.
4. Everyone keeps saying vaccination rates are high. While they just might be high enough not to overwhelm the hospitals, they're not so high that unvax'ed kids are protected. We haven't even hit 70% nationally yet. and we're at 53.7% in DC. You might feel you're in a great ward 3 or NoVa bubble of high vaccination rates, but you still live with the rest of the DMV, and considering how contagious delta is, you do have to consider the vaccination status of school staff, front desk at the pediatrician or dentist office, whatever gig economy workers you interact with, house cleaners, etc... may or may not be, but they're definitely not 70% vaxx'ed.
5. As vacc'ed parents, we can experience breakthrough infection and pass it to our kids.

And it still remains true that the risk of long Covid to kids, based on current science is tiny and largely theoretical compared to the well documented harms and potentially long term effects of school closures. If you come to the conclusion that for your individual child this risk benefit calculation comes out differently, you have the option to keep them home.

Largely theoretical? Right, like long-covid in adults was psychosomatic in 2020, like the risk of kids even being infected was theoretical, or like global warming was a figment of Al Gore's imagination in 2006? That kind of "theoretical"? Yeah, not theoretical. Just not convenient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. with schools reopening during the delta phase of the pandemic, it will no longer be true that kids mostly get it from their parents.
2. no-one is really panicking about pediatric fatalities. We are however quite worried about long-covid and other sequelae (neurological, respiratory, cardiac). (POTUS has brought up long-covid today, because he is awesome and doesn't deny inconvenient science.)
3. A poster said 'when cases are low" well they are climbing rapidly. 179 cases over the past 3 days. That's 60/day on average.
4. Everyone keeps saying vaccination rates are high. While they just might be high enough not to overwhelm the hospitals, they're not so high that unvax'ed kids are protected. We haven't even hit 70% nationally yet. and we're at 53.7% in DC. You might feel you're in a great ward 3 or NoVa bubble of high vaccination rates, but you still live with the rest of the DMV, and considering how contagious delta is, you do have to consider the vaccination status of school staff, front desk at the pediatrician or dentist office, whatever gig economy workers you interact with, house cleaners, etc... may or may not be, but they're definitely not 70% vaxx'ed.
5. As vacc'ed parents, we can experience breakthrough infection and pass it to our kids.

And it still remains true that the risk of long Covid to kids, based on current science is tiny and largely theoretical compared to the well documented harms and potentially long term effects of school closures. If you come to the conclusion that for your individual child this risk benefit calculation comes out differently, you have the option to keep them home.

Largely theoretical? Right, like long-covid in adults was psychosomatic in 2020, like the risk of kids even being infected was theoretical, or like global warming was a figment of Al Gore's imagination in 2006? That kind of "theoretical"? Yeah, not theoretical. Just not convenient.

No, it’s theoretical in the sense that the virus has been around for less than two years. Nobody knows if any post viral symptoms, which this virus can cause like many others, will last for more than a few months. Yet you post over and over again about “debilitating lifelong problems” hundreds of DC kids will suffer, without any evidence whatsoever, while minimizing the risks of closing schools (or imposing restrictions that will make it impossible for them to function. And far from the expert consensus we had 15 years ago on global warming, most experts will tell you the risk of ling Covid to kids is very small.

[Anonymous]

Even with schools open the risk of kid to kid transmission is extremely low. People under 20 are 63% less contagious according to Israeli data. The discrepancy is even greater when talking about under 12s. Infections will come from adults. Closing schools and travel restrictions do not make kids safer. Unless adults are locked down there is no reason to lock down kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel quarantine is for unvaxxed only.

Which is all kids under 12. Most of the school system. Why are people so obtuse?

I get that it really sucks to not be able to get younger kids vaccinated. But it also sucks for those kids to get COVID, especially given mounting evidence that the Delta variant is resulting in more, sicker kids. So the travel quarantine—which as another poster notes can be shortened via testing—seems like a reasonable way to help stem spread. Most travel is a choice, and we’re all having to make hard choices right now.

All of that said, I agree that the travel quarantine could be more refined/nuanced than it is. It is silly that you can travel to the VA-TN border, where vaccination rates are likely quite low and COVID-19 rates much higher, but not to Philadelphia or NYC or Boston, where the opposite is the case.

The delta variant is more contagious, but in the past day or so I've seen quotes from pediatric infectious disease specialists saying that the delta variant is not necessarily resulting in a more severe case of COVID than either original COVID or other variants, though it is early.

If that is not correct, can you point to the information on severity?

And before this potentially goes off the rails, I'm not saying I want anyone's kid with underlying health conditions (or anyone else) to get COVID or denying that MIS-C exists.

Well a 5 year old with no underlying conditions just died of Delta…

A 5 year old did die. In northern Georgia, where their vaccination rate is incredibly low, less than 20% in some counties. The articles that I've read also don't tell if the immediate family members were vaccination - just that the dad at the time of the article was coughing from also having covid. And the boy died of a stoke. Not saying covid wasn't the catalyst, but there's also a lot of information missing.

The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

And yet, children are in the vast, vast majority of cases, not at risk of harm. The only people at risk are unvaccinated adults. That's their problem.

If you have 50,000 kids in DCPS and if 100% get Covid, and if the death rate for kids is 0.005%, then 2 or 3 DCPS students will die of COVID. It's a small number, and I (like everybody else) is appropriately 99.995% sure that it won't be my child. But it makes for dramatic headlines. Particularly if that means the number for DC kids regardless of where they go to school is then 6 or 7. Lots of ifs, lots of unknowns. Just saying that a tiny risk seems bigger if the denominator gets large.

It’s nice that you’re cool with three dead children *in our city alone*.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel quarantine is for unvaxxed only.

Which is all kids under 12. Most of the school system. Why are people so obtuse?

I get that it really sucks to not be able to get younger kids vaccinated. But it also sucks for those kids to get COVID, especially given mounting evidence that the Delta variant is resulting in more, sicker kids. So the travel quarantine—which as another poster notes can be shortened via testing—seems like a reasonable way to help stem spread. Most travel is a choice, and we’re all having to make hard choices right now.

All of that said, I agree that the travel quarantine could be more refined/nuanced than it is. It is silly that you can travel to the VA-TN border, where vaccination rates are likely quite low and COVID-19 rates much higher, but not to Philadelphia or NYC or Boston, where the opposite is the case.

The delta variant is more contagious, but in the past day or so I've seen quotes from pediatric infectious disease specialists saying that the delta variant is not necessarily resulting in a more severe case of COVID than either original COVID or other variants, though it is early.

If that is not correct, can you point to the information on severity?

And before this potentially goes off the rails, I'm not saying I want anyone's kid with underlying health conditions (or anyone else) to get COVID or denying that MIS-C exists.

Well a 5 year old with no underlying conditions just died of Delta…

A 5 year old did die. In northern Georgia, where their vaccination rate is incredibly low, less than 20% in some counties. The articles that I've read also don't tell if the immediate family members were vaccination - just that the dad at the time of the article was coughing from also having covid. And the boy died of a stoke. Not saying covid wasn't the catalyst, but there's also a lot of information missing.

The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

And yet, children are in the vast, vast majority of cases, not at risk of harm. The only people at risk are unvaccinated adults. That's their problem.

If you have 50,000 kids in DCPS and if 100% get Covid, and if the death rate for kids is 0.005%, then 2 or 3 DCPS students will die of COVID. It's a small number, and I (like everybody else) is appropriately 99.995% sure that it won't be my child. But it makes for dramatic headlines. Particularly if that means the number for DC kids regardless of where they go to school is then 6 or 7. Lots of ifs, lots of unknowns. Just saying that a tiny risk seems bigger if the denominator gets large.

It’s nice that you’re cool with three dead children *in our city alone*.

DP. Nobody is “cool” with any children’s deaths. But we also can’t keep tens of thousands of kids home to save three lives. Society has never operated on the principle that we must do everything possible to prevent every single death, or we would drop the speed limit to 15 on all roads and ban swimming pools.

[Anonymous]

DC Health needs to step it up and get kids 12 and up vaccinated ASAP. We’re never going to get out of this if folks aren’t vaccinated. And that includes kids who are vaccine eligible. To have some portions of the city at SINGLE digit vaccine rates is a total failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel quarantine is for unvaxxed only.

Which is all kids under 12. Most of the school system. Why are people so obtuse?

I get that it really sucks to not be able to get younger kids vaccinated. But it also sucks for those kids to get COVID, especially given mounting evidence that the Delta variant is resulting in more, sicker kids. So the travel quarantine—which as another poster notes can be shortened via testing—seems like a reasonable way to help stem spread. Most travel is a choice, and we’re all having to make hard choices right now.

All of that said, I agree that the travel quarantine could be more refined/nuanced than it is. It is silly that you can travel to the VA-TN border, where vaccination rates are likely quite low and COVID-19 rates much higher, but not to Philadelphia or NYC or Boston, where the opposite is the case.

The delta variant is more contagious, but in the past day or so I've seen quotes from pediatric infectious disease specialists saying that the delta variant is not necessarily resulting in a more severe case of COVID than either original COVID or other variants, though it is early.

If that is not correct, can you point to the information on severity?

And before this potentially goes off the rails, I'm not saying I want anyone's kid with underlying health conditions (or anyone else) to get COVID or denying that MIS-C exists.

Well a 5 year old with no underlying conditions just died of Delta…

A 5 year old did die. In northern Georgia, where their vaccination rate is incredibly low, less than 20% in some counties. The articles that I've read also don't tell if the immediate family members were vaccination - just that the dad at the time of the article was coughing from also having covid. And the boy died of a stoke. Not saying covid wasn't the catalyst, but there's also a lot of information missing.

The vaccination rates are not relevant here. The point is that Delta has high spread among the unvaccinated, and children are unvaccinated. We could have the scenario that most kids get the virus between now and vaccine approval. If even a small amount of cases are severe, that would still be a substantial number of kids.

And yet, children are in the vast, vast majority of cases, not at risk of harm. The only people at risk are unvaccinated adults. That's their problem.

If you have 50,000 kids in DCPS and if 100% get Covid, and if the death rate for kids is 0.005%, then 2 or 3 DCPS students will die of COVID. It's a small number, and I (like everybody else) is appropriately 99.995% sure that it won't be my child. But it makes for dramatic headlines. Particularly if that means the number for DC kids regardless of where they go to school is then 6 or 7. Lots of ifs, lots of unknowns. Just saying that a tiny risk seems bigger if the denominator gets large.

It’s nice that you’re cool with three dead children *in our city alone*.

DP. Nobody is “cool” with any children’s deaths. But we also can’t keep tens of thousands of kids home to save three lives. Society has never operated on the principle that we must do everything possible to prevent every single death, or we would drop the speed limit to 15 on all roads and ban swimming pools.

Not to mention that there is no evidence the school closures prevented any deaths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. with schools reopening during the delta phase of the pandemic, it will no longer be true that kids mostly get it from their parents.
2. no-one is really panicking about pediatric fatalities. We are however quite worried about long-covid and other sequelae (neurological, respiratory, cardiac). (POTUS has brought up long-covid today, because he is awesome and doesn't deny inconvenient science.)
3. A poster said 'when cases are low" well they are climbing rapidly. 179 cases over the past 3 days. That's 60/day on average.
4. Everyone keeps saying vaccination rates are high. While they just might be high enough not to overwhelm the hospitals, they're not so high that unvax'ed kids are protected. We haven't even hit 70% nationally yet. and we're at 53.7% in DC. You might feel you're in a great ward 3 or NoVa bubble of high vaccination rates, but you still live with the rest of the DMV, and considering how contagious delta is, you do have to consider the vaccination status of school staff, front desk at the pediatrician or dentist office, whatever gig economy workers you interact with, house cleaners, etc... may or may not be, but they're definitely not 70% vaxx'ed.
5. As vacc'ed parents, we can experience breakthrough infection and pass it to our kids.

And it still remains true that the risk of long Covid to kids, based on current science is tiny and largely theoretical compared to the well documented harms and potentially long term effects of school closures. If you come to the conclusion that for your individual child this risk benefit calculation comes out differently, you have the option to keep them home.

Largely theoretical? Right, like long-covid in adults was psychosomatic in 2020, like the risk of kids even being infected was theoretical, or like global warming was a figment of Al Gore's imagination in 2006? That kind of "theoretical"? Yeah, not theoretical. Just not convenient.

Al Gore? Climate change? Lady, you are getting hysterical.