Why doesn't MCPS seem to have a covid plan for the fall?

[Anonymous]

a report by two Duke University scientists who reviewed data from March through June 2021 in 100 school districts and 14 charter schools in North Carolina found that wearing masks effectively prevented the transmission of the virus in schools and on buses even without physical distancing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rumors we will know details on Friday from admin. Lots of rumors right now though. Most agree hybrid sucked the most and was ineffective.

That's the issue. Such poor communication by MCPS so it fuels the rumor mill. They should state their plans clearly, even if it's "We'll release our plan on XX date".

Nope nope nope. MCPS is not responsible for DCUM rumormongering. DCUM posters are responsible for DCUM rumormongering.

The best way to counter rumor-mongering is with facts. If MCPS had a public plan, it would be easy to refer to that.

Was it only a week ago that DCUM was going on for pages of hatred about the video MCPS sent out about the upcoming school year?

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/988157.page

Oh, and all those threads disparaging a mask requirement.

[Anonymous]

spudmqueen wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rumors we will know details on Friday from admin. Lots of rumors right now though. Most agree hybrid sucked the most and was ineffective.

That's the issue. Such poor communication by MCPS so it fuels the rumor mill. They should state their plans clearly, even if it's "We'll release our plan on XX date".

Nope nope nope. MCPS is not responsible for DCUM rumormongering. DCUM posters are responsible for DCUM rumormongering.

Its August 9th and school is starting in a few weeks. Its not unreasonable to ask MCPS to provide a plan on how they plan to keep our kids safe and healthy. A good education is great but its not particularly helpful if you have a dead child.

+1 this is eroding my trust in MCPS. I hope they consider SOCIAL DISTANCING before declaring all full time school for all

Social what now? How would that work? They’ve already declared full time in-person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a report by two Duke University scientists who reviewed data from March through June 2021 in 100 school districts and 14 charter schools in North Carolina found that wearing masks effectively prevented the transmission of the virus in schools and on buses even without physical distancing.

This is irrelevant now. The variant predominantly in circulation at the time span of the study was different: less infectious, lower viral load. The delta variant is 200% more infectious and we now know it is airborne, not droplet-transmitted, and requires only fleeting instead of prolonged contact to transmit. The 15 minutes nonsense no longer applies. The Australian taxi driver who started their delta outbreak passed it to like 50 people just by walking by them.

I'm not saying there should be continued DL. There is no will for it and that ship sailed. But likely the reason MCPS seems to have no plan is that there is no plan that will work. At 100% capacity 5 days a week, cohorts are not possible, and physical distancing is security theater given that the HVAC will just be blowing particles all over the room. Cloth masks poorly worn are not really effective for delta but KN95 is not coming. Contact tracing is pointless because the exposures are going to be constant and the symptoms of delta are so variable that unless they're testing every single student and staff member every single day, they simply aren't going to catch enough cases to matter so really we should just bury our heads in the sand or it's going to be basically constantly having 25% of a school in quarantine at any given time. We are going to be in a sea of virus in every school, particularly every ES, by the end of September. Probably better just to act like an ostrich and let it burn through.

As the chief engineer said in Jurassic Park before he got eaten by a velociraptor, "Hold onto your butts."

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if this is a helpful data point or not…but Tucson unified started two weeks ago and has had over 200 in school cases including 14 “outbreaks” (defined as more than one case in school that appear linked). Obviously their vaccination stats are lower than ours. Arizona has a ban on mask mandates but the article I saw said that Tucson Unified is defying the governor and has a mask mandate in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a report by two Duke University scientists who reviewed data from March through June 2021 in 100 school districts and 14 charter schools in North Carolina found that wearing masks effectively prevented the transmission of the virus in schools and on buses even without physical distancing.

And, how large were the schools and what beyond masks was done? How many transmissions were there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a report by two Duke University scientists who reviewed data from March through June 2021 in 100 school districts and 14 charter schools in North Carolina found that wearing masks effectively prevented the transmission of the virus in schools and on buses even without physical distancing.

And, how large were the schools and what beyond masks was done? How many transmissions were there?

And, were schools hybrid?

[Anonymous]

I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

[Anonymous]

Because nobody is going to close schools, it’s too costly and unpopular. We already know that it’s not like there are dead bodies in the streets and other zombie apocalypse things, so it will remain open (but sick people will be quarantined of course).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because nobody is going to close schools, it’s too costly and unpopular. We already know that it’s not like there are dead bodies in the streets and other zombie apocalypse things, so it will remain open (but sick people will be quarantined of course).

With no testing, we don't know who is sick and no there will not be quarantining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

Except masking, none of the CDC recommendation will happen. Yo don't sound safety conscious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

The CDC recommends not using mitigation measures that will interfere with five-day in-person school. In other words, that itself is a CDC recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

I know it's frustrating but MCPS couldn't have predicted that there'd be a new surge of an even more contagious variant that affects children at a higher rate when they made those statements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

I know it's frustrating but MCPS couldn't have predicted that there'd be a new surge of an even more contagious variant that affects children at a higher rate when they made those statements.

Okay? Nothing should change regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools remained open last year through out the country. Right now red states with a high case rates are not even questioning the opening of schools for in-person. What is wrong with the DC area patents? Our area has high vaccination rate plus people are in general cautious. Why can’t we just let our kids go to school ? Why do we have to make this so difficult for mcps that they think about backtracking in person school?
Kids have been in camps all summer. In groups of 25. Yes the counselors were vaccinated and the kids remained safe. We have to try to give our kids a normal school year .. as normal as possible. Stop the hysteria and fear mongering.

I think we all want the same thing. We all want the schools to open! Here’s the difference. Those of us who want a plan and/or want some safety mitigation think if we make schools safer and create thoughtful contingency plans, then schools will actually have a better chance of staying open because transmission will be reduced and mitigated. Others of you just want to open no matter what and think if we plan too much or pay too much attention to safety that somehow this will get in the way of opening. I personally see this POV as irresponsible and lacking in care for our students, school staff and community at large. Communicating protocols in an unprecedented time =/= backtracking in person school!

I don't disagree with the need for a plan, but you are SO condescending that I doubt whatever plan they have would satisfy you. If you are purporting to speak for the "plan" proponents, I'll take my chances with no plan.

Because, yes, putting out a plan months in advance gives people like you the chance to pick it apart and throw a fit when it's not exponentially more restrictive than the CDC or whatever.

MCPS is not following CDC recommendations outside of masking.

I was referring to last school year, when Dr. Gayles mysteriously recommending guidelines that were more restrictive than freaking CHOP, with *zero* justification, and a bunch of us had to fight tooth and nail to get them to change, against the very loud voices of many parents who thought more restrictive than CHOP was better. Again, with no justification.

And you were fighting to be less protective, with no justification. But you think you are right because that’s how you approach everything in life.

Yes, you have me all figured out.

I expect that public health officials have data to support their policy positions. I happily supported the metrics published by the CHOP Policy Lab, because they’re experts and had data to support their position. If Dr. Gayles knew something that they didn’t, he should have said so. Being more restrictive around COVID had negative consequences for other things, and an acknowledgement of that would have been great.