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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

No, she's not doing everything she can if she doesn't even have mandatory testing and quarantining.

Mandatory testing is unlikely to ever happen in MCPS. They couldn’t even get enough buy-in to do effective pooled testing last spring. People shrieked bloody murder at the idea of self-testing, and they’ll never have the qualified staff or the time to do regular testing of every single kid in every school.

I don't know whether pooled testing is or is not effective, but just a note about last year. Both of my kids' schools made it very difficult to opt into testing. There was no Google Form, so you had to either print, sign, scan, and email back or have access to "digital signature" software. It was prohibitive. If they did opt-out or even a Google Form, I think you'd have much better uptake.

+1

[Anonymous]

There is a plan. School starts August 30th and masks are required. Other than that it’s business as usual.

[Anonymous]

We got a note this afternoon that MCPS would be giving information on reopening on Friday (I assume via announcement/email) and that our school would follow up with school-specific information/details on Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If they weren't looking abroad, they can look at certain states now. They have to airlift people out for hospital beds.

Are you referring to states that have very low vaccination rates and governors/legislatures that have forbidden mask requirements?

No, I am not referring to that as it is meant less in schools. I am looking at what is going on in other countries. With summer travel, we know it will be a hidden issue till a few kids die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Oh, the hell they couldn't have. India was on fire with this already at that time.

If they weren't looking abroad, they can look at certain states now. They have to airlift people out for hospital beds.

Those states have leaders forbidding mask mandates and low vaccination rates. Completely different here.

Masks help, vaccines help but it’s not perfect and many kids are not vaccinated so talking about vaccines when the bulk of the school population may be unvaccinated is pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Masks help, vaccines help but it’s not perfect and many kids are not vaccinated so talking about vaccines when the bulk of the school population may be unvaccinated is pointless.

Masks help a lot. Vaccines help a lot, including by protecting the unvaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Masks help, vaccines help but it’s not perfect and many kids are not vaccinated so talking about vaccines when the bulk of the school population may be unvaccinated is pointless.

Masks help a lot. Vaccines help a lot, including by protecting the unvaccinated.

Unfortunately the bolded is proving to be untrue. We expected vaccines to get us to herd immunity, but this batch of vaccines won't, because of the emergence of a variant that partially evades them - Delta. Because Delta can infect vaccinated people EASILY, this means that unvaccinated people living among them ARE NOT PROTECTED. The only thing that can protect them is their own vaccine! This is the best argument to get vaccinated, actually: only your own vaccine can save you.

Yes, it helps to have so many vaccinated people, of course. It means our medical resources can be reserved for the unvaccinated.
But no, unvaccinated people are not protected in the sense that if they get infected, they are just as likely if not more likely to have complications from Covid, or die, than before. Also, they are at extremely high risk of infection, because, I repeat, Delta circulates freely when you don't mask, whether you're vaccinated or not.

And that's not all. Virologists around the world expect a more dangerous variant to emerge in the next few months. Statistically, it is a high probability event, simply because we are putting too much pressure on this virus, and it has to mutate and become more transmissible, and possibly more virulent, as time progresses in order to survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Masks help, vaccines help but it’s not perfect and many kids are not vaccinated so talking about vaccines when the bulk of the school population may be unvaccinated is pointless.

Masks help a lot. Vaccines help a lot, including by protecting the unvaccinated.

Unfortunately the bolded is proving to be untrue. We expected vaccines to get us to herd immunity, but this batch of vaccines won't, because of the emergence of a variant that partially evades them - Delta. Because Delta can infect vaccinated people EASILY, this means that unvaccinated people living among them ARE NOT PROTECTED. The only thing that can protect them is their own vaccine! This is the best argument to get vaccinated, actually: only your own vaccine can save you.

Yes, it helps to have so many vaccinated people, of course. It means our medical resources can be reserved for the unvaccinated.
But no, unvaccinated people are not protected in the sense that if they get infected, they are just as likely if not more likely to have complications from Covid, or die, than before. Also, they are at extremely high risk of infection, because, I repeat, Delta circulates freely when you don't mask, whether you're vaccinated or not.

And that's not all. Virologists around the world expect a more dangerous variant to emerge in the next few months. Statistically, it is a high probability event, simply because we are putting too much pressure on this virus, and it has to mutate and become more transmissible, and possibly more virulent, as time progresses in order to survive.

No, it's not. Breakthrough infections are very rare. The vaccines provide a lot of protection against infection - not 100%, but a lot. They are very highly effective vaccines.

As for future dangerous variants - first of all, your teleological explanation is completely unscientific. That's not how evolution works. Also, are you proposing that MCPS close schools now, based on dangerous variants that might emerge in the next few months?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Masks help, vaccines help but it’s not perfect and many kids are not vaccinated so talking about vaccines when the bulk of the school population may be unvaccinated is pointless.

Masks help a lot. Vaccines help a lot, including by protecting the unvaccinated.

Unfortunately the bolded is proving to be untrue. We expected vaccines to get us to herd immunity, but this batch of vaccines won't, because of the emergence of a variant that partially evades them - Delta. Because Delta can infect vaccinated people EASILY, this means that unvaccinated people living among them ARE NOT PROTECTED. The only thing that can protect them is their own vaccine! This is the best argument to get vaccinated, actually: only your own vaccine can save you.

Yes, it helps to have so many vaccinated people, of course. It means our medical resources can be reserved for the unvaccinated.
But no, unvaccinated people are not protected in the sense that if they get infected, they are just as likely if not more likely to have complications from Covid, or die, than before. Also, they are at extremely high risk of infection, because, I repeat, Delta circulates freely when you don't mask, whether you're vaccinated or not.

And that's not all. Virologists around the world expect a more dangerous variant to emerge in the next few months. Statistically, it is a high probability event, simply because we are putting too much pressure on this virus, and it has to mutate and become more transmissible, and possibly more virulent, as time progresses in order to survive.

No, it's not. Breakthrough infections are very rare. The vaccines provide a lot of protection against infection - not 100%, but a lot. They are very highly effective vaccines.

As for future dangerous variants - first of all, your teleological explanation is completely unscientific. That's not how evolution works. Also, are you proposing that MCPS close schools now, based on dangerous variants that might emerge in the next few months?

Sorry, I know you don't know me from Adam, but this is my field and I'm telling you the truth.
Breakthrough infections are very common, and under-reported because thankfully most are very mild.
Vaccines save lives. We must all be vaccinated, this isn't up for debate. However immunity wanes after 5-6 months. Everyone will need boosters. Watch out for yourself after the 6 months mark, because it's likely you won't be eligible for a booster yet.
And sadly I'm also right on the variant emergence front. This IS how evolution works... in viruses.

Finally - I feel like screaming and stamping my feet - I don't want schools to close! I want unmasked activities to be outdoors, and kids to wear masks that are manufactured to health agency standards - the most readily available one sized for kids are the Korean KF94s. These two actions have the potential to see us through the year (or at least, through a variant like Delta), without closings!!!

But I realize that I'm in the very tiny sane minority, that lunches will be indoors, that kids will go to school with ridiculous excuses for masks, and therefore...

I predict school closures. It didn't have to be this way. But it will be, because people are too slow to understand and react.

[Anonymous]

Are you the person who's been posting as a self-identified virologist since March 2020? If so - yeah, no, I'm not believing you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Masks help, vaccines help but it’s not perfect and many kids are not vaccinated so talking about vaccines when the bulk of the school population may be unvaccinated is pointless.

Masks help a lot. Vaccines help a lot, including by protecting the unvaccinated.

Unfortunately the bolded is proving to be untrue. We expected vaccines to get us to herd immunity, but this batch of vaccines won't, because of the emergence of a variant that partially evades them - Delta. Because Delta can infect vaccinated people EASILY, this means that unvaccinated people living among them ARE NOT PROTECTED. The only thing that can protect them is their own vaccine! This is the best argument to get vaccinated, actually: only your own vaccine can save you.

Yes, it helps to have so many vaccinated people, of course. It means our medical resources can be reserved for the unvaccinated.
But no, unvaccinated people are not protected in the sense that if they get infected, they are just as likely if not more likely to have complications from Covid, or die, than before. Also, they are at extremely high risk of infection, because, I repeat, Delta circulates freely when you don't mask, whether you're vaccinated or not.

And that's not all. Virologists around the world expect a more dangerous variant to emerge in the next few months. Statistically, it is a high probability event, simply because we are putting too much pressure on this virus, and it has to mutate and become more transmissible, and possibly more virulent, as time progresses in order to survive.

No, it's not. Breakthrough infections are very rare. The vaccines provide a lot of protection against infection - not 100%, but a lot. They are very highly effective vaccines.

As for future dangerous variants - first of all, your teleological explanation is completely unscientific. That's not how evolution works. Also, are you proposing that MCPS close schools now, based on dangerous variants that might emerge in the next few months?

Sorry, I know you don't know me from Adam, but this is my field and I'm telling you the truth.
Breakthrough infections are very common, and under-reported because thankfully most are very mild.
Vaccines save lives. We must all be vaccinated, this isn't up for debate. However immunity wanes after 5-6 months. Everyone will need boosters. Watch out for yourself after the 6 months mark, because it's likely you won't be eligible for a booster yet.
And sadly I'm also right on the variant emergence front. This IS how evolution works... in viruses.

Finally - I feel like screaming and stamping my feet - I don't want schools to close! I want unmasked activities to be outdoors, and kids to wear masks that are manufactured to health agency standards - the most readily available one sized for kids are the Korean KF94s. These two actions have the potential to see us through the year (or at least, through a variant like Delta), without closings!!!

But I realize that I'm in the very tiny sane minority, that lunches will be indoors, that kids will go to school with ridiculous excuses for masks, and therefore...

I predict school closures. It didn't have to be this way. But it will be, because people are too slow to understand and react.

...followed by school re-openings.

[Anonymous]

there are no more beds in the pediatric hospitals in Mississippi. Large numbers of kids are on ventilators. But they still don’t want to wear masks in schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Masks help, vaccines help but it’s not perfect and many kids are not vaccinated so talking about vaccines when the bulk of the school population may be unvaccinated is pointless.

Masks help a lot. Vaccines help a lot, including by protecting the unvaccinated.

Unfortunately the bolded is proving to be untrue. We expected vaccines to get us to herd immunity, but this batch of vaccines won't, because of the emergence of a variant that partially evades them - Delta. Because Delta can infect vaccinated people EASILY, this means that unvaccinated people living among them ARE NOT PROTECTED. The only thing that can protect them is their own vaccine! This is the best argument to get vaccinated, actually: only your own vaccine can save you.

Yes, it helps to have so many vaccinated people, of course. It means our medical resources can be reserved for the unvaccinated.
But no, unvaccinated people are not protected in the sense that if they get infected, they are just as likely if not more likely to have complications from Covid, or die, than before. Also, they are at extremely high risk of infection, because, I repeat, Delta circulates freely when you don't mask, whether you're vaccinated or not.

And that's not all. Virologists around the world expect a more dangerous variant to emerge in the next few months. Statistically, it is a high probability event, simply because we are putting too much pressure on this virus, and it has to mutate and become more transmissible, and possibly more virulent, as time progresses in order to survive.

No, it's not. Breakthrough infections are very rare. The vaccines provide a lot of protection against infection - not 100%, but a lot. They are very highly effective vaccines.

As for future dangerous variants - first of all, your teleological explanation is completely unscientific. That's not how evolution works. Also, are you proposing that MCPS close schools now, based on dangerous variants that might emerge in the next few months?

Here's the flaw in your response:
Vaccines are highly effective .................But they lose.effectiveness past the 6 month mark. I don't know about you but my 6 month mark is in September. It's going to be shit show if they don't allow a booster to all adults in September or October. I suspect they will do just that unless children are able to be vaccinated by that time (which seems more unlikely)
If less adults take the Fall Booster, which is also probable, you can't count t on the vaccine to keep schools open

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Here's the flaw in your response:
Vaccines are highly effective .................But they lose.effectiveness past the 6 month mark. I don't know about you but my 6 month mark is in September. It's going to be shit show if they don't allow a booster to all adults in September or October. I suspect they will do just that unless children are able to be vaccinated by that time (which seems more unlikely)
If less adults take the Fall Booster, which is also probable, you can't count t on the vaccine to keep schools open

[citation needed]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Here's the flaw in your response:
Vaccines are highly effective .................But they lose.effectiveness past the 6 month mark. I don't know about you but my 6 month mark is in September. It's going to be shit show if they don't allow a booster to all adults in September or October. I suspect they will do just that unless children are able to be vaccinated by that time (which seems more unlikely)
If less adults take the Fall Booster, which is also probable, you can't count t on the vaccine to keep schools open

[citation needed]

Is there something wrong with your Google??
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/28/pfizers-ceo-says-covid-vaccine-effectiveness-drops-to-84percent-after-six-months.html