MCPS Community COVID update
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Anonymous
That’s definitely not true. |
Anonymous
At best it means you might be contagious. And the probability drops rapidly after a few days. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2783099 |
Anonymous
I'm not sure you can rely on a study from early 2020 that measures contagiousness, given that subsequent variants are more transmissible. Nonetheless, the ship has sailed when it comes to staying home as long as you have a positive test. First, tests are no longer free, so it's a big ask to expect people to test daily for a week or more. My healthy 20-year-old had COVID with a rebound on day 8 and tested positive for almost 14 days. When it comes to schooling, we have to balance public health concerns with children's needs and education. In most cases, 5 days of isolation would not mean missing a week of school. Personally, I am grateful for those who test and take any measure to avoid spreading COVID when they know they are positive, but I'm not judging someone up for sending their symptom-free kid to school on Day 4. |
Anonymous
I agree with most of this. As far as the study goes, yes, I'm aware the study is old. However, you can't rely on any more recent studies either because nobody is doing contact tracing anymore. All the recent studies conflate either test positivity or viral shedding with contagiousness. Neither of those tell you whether you can actually infect somebody. It's a pretty important question though. Recall they were making people isolate for 14 days at the time. |
Anonymous
Exactly- I want to know how long to stay home for if positive. Sure, I could send DC back with a mask when they "feel better", but they still need to eat lunch. Would the school make a special arrangement for lunch if I ask? Or would that open a can of worms? |
Anonymous
This. I'll keep my kid home with a fever or a sore throat/bad cough. I'm not testing and I'm not keeping my kid home for a simple cough/runny nose. |
Anonymous
You can still get tests for free at the library. |
Anonymous
This is ignorance that has caused so much anxiety about this disease!! I have been exposed so many times to positive covid people and never got sick. Even most recently I saw my niece at her home. She was feeling under the weather. We had lunch together, gave kisses and hugs, and had a nice time. After I left, she tested positive and alerted me. I'm 65 by the way. Didn't get sick. There have been many other cases where I didn't catch it. It isn't as contagious as you think it is. The one time I got sick was when I was exposed to my daughter...but we were in the car together for a long time. I attribute it to that. Small space for long period of time. Classrooms are not like that and are safe in my opinion. |
Anonymous
DP. I am in favor of testing if you have symptoms, but I think more people would test if tests were free and easy to access. People like the PP act as if there are unlimited tests available 24 hours a day at public libraries. Here is today's updated list, and you will see that tests are not available at many locations: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library/covid-test-kits.html Aspen Hill - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Brigadier General Charles E. McGee - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Chevy Chase - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Connie Morella - ENDED - 9/14/2023 Damascus Davis - NO KITS - NO MASKS - 9/14/2023 - NO KITS - NO MASKS - 9/14/2023 Gaithersburg - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Germantown - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Kensington Park - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Little Falls - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Long Branch Maggie Nightingale Marilyn J. Praisner Olney Potomac Quince Orchard - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Rockville Memorial - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 Twinbrook Wheaton - NO KITS - NO MASKS - 9/14/2023 White Oak - NO KITS - 9/14/2023 |
Anonymous
This assertion that covid-19 is so difficult to catch is just not based on facts. You have been lucky a couple of times, including that time when you saw your niece in her home. That doesn't mean it was unlikely for you to get covid from close prolonged contact with someone who was testing positive. Some lucky school classrooms have good ventilation with a sufficient number of air changes per hour to make transmission less likely. Some school classrooms are packed with 38 students, no windows and an old HVAC system that cannot bring in sufficient fresh air (example from by DD's school). There are studies showing classroom transmission and how that transmission meant that kids brought home covid-19 to their vulnerable family members. You know that the rate of babies (<6mos) hospitalized with covid are close to the hospitalization rates for senior citizens this summer. There is a surge right now, which many of us can see in the data released by the county and from the stories of friends that have recently tested positive. In the last 2 weeks, my DD has had 2 friends test positive from different extracurricular activities and 1 teacher test positive. These are only the positive tests she knows about! So many aren't testing and aren't recognizing that they even might have covid-19. I know we'd like the pandemic to be over and to be able to live like it was 2019, but we can't get to a healthier tomorrow by denying that covid is still around. Ventilate, Vaccinate, and Mask when you can. Doing just that, would cut transmission drastically and save so many lives. |
Anonymous
The pandemic is over. What did you think post-covid would look like? The virus was obviously not going to go away, and neither the vaccine nor infection provide sterilizing immunity (as we knew long ago). What you're seeing now is the normal, endemic rate of covid infections. |
Anonymous
So? Still not testing. |
Anonymous
You are highly mistaken. Access to and cost are NOT the reason people are not testing. |
Anonymous
A one-person World Health Organization has entered the chat |
Anonymous
Even the WHO says it’s no longer a public health emergency. |