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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

Even with masks its still an issue. People didn't want to curb their behavior so this is what happens. Kids can get vaccinated and masks along aren't going to cut it. I just hope they saved some vents for kids up here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

Even with masks its still an issue. People didn't want to curb their behavior so this is what happens. Kids can get vaccinated and masks along aren't going to cut it. I just hope they saved some vents for kids up here.

Don't you get bored typing out the same sentence over and over and over again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

So, according to Pfizer's CEO, the effectiveness drops from the upper 90%s to 84%. In other words, after 6 months, it's still a highly effective vaccine.

[Anonymous]

So, now one of the vaccine creators is saying that there will be no herd immunity since even those who are vaccinated can spread the virus. It's a pandemic. We will all get infected. That's how pandemics work. How are schools to manage this without getting blame? I don't know. Tough choices. I have to wonder if a full lock down/schools closing is the only way. Obviously, it won't happen though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Its not poibtless. It reduces risk but not eliminates it. That ship has sailed if it was ever even a possibility to contain this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, now one of the vaccine creators is saying that there will be no herd immunity since even those who are vaccinated can spread the virus. It's a pandemic. We will all get infected. That's how pandemics work. How are schools to manage this without getting blame? I don't know. Tough choices. I have to wonder if a full lock down/schools closing is the only way. Obviously, it won't happen though.

That is not how pandemics work. Did you get the H1N1 flu in 2009? I didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, now one of the vaccine creators is saying that there will be no herd immunity since even those who are vaccinated can spread the virus. It's a pandemic. We will all get infected. That's how pandemics work. How are schools to manage this without getting blame? I don't know. Tough choices. I have to wonder if a full lock down/schools closing is the only way. Obviously, it won't happen though.

That is not how pandemics work. Did you get the H1N1 flu in 2009? I didn't.

Np. I didn’t get it. I don’t even remember being scared of it or anything being different. It was my first year out of college and I had a ton of fun. I took vaccine when offered. I wish this was like that.

[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.

Makes sense. Israel had one of the highest vaccination rate but is dealing with a rise in cases and hospitalizations. Breakthrough infections with Delta do seem to be common than with other variants. That’s worrisome since kids are unvaccinated and vaccinated teachers and parents can easily get the kids infected. Masks might make a difference if worn properly. However, as much as I would like to see my kids go to school I anticipate school closures and eventually remote learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, now one of the vaccine creators is saying that there will be no herd immunity since even those who are vaccinated can spread the virus. It's a pandemic. We will all get infected. That's how pandemics work. How are schools to manage this without getting blame? I don't know. Tough choices. I have to wonder if a full lock down/schools closing is the only way. Obviously, it won't happen though.

To what end? If we're all going to get infected (and we will over the next couple of years), why close schools? It's a futile measure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, now one of the vaccine creators is saying that there will be no herd immunity since even those who are vaccinated can spread the virus. It's a pandemic. We will all get infected. That's how pandemics work. How are schools to manage this without getting blame? I don't know. Tough choices. I have to wonder if a full lock down/schools closing is the only way. Obviously, it won't happen though.

To what end? If we're all going to get infected (and we will over the next couple of years), why close schools? It's a futile measure.

It isn't futile if we can forestall children from getting infected until after they're vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, now one of the vaccine creators is saying that there will be no herd immunity since even those who are vaccinated can spread the virus. It's a pandemic. We will all get infected. That's how pandemics work. How are schools to manage this without getting blame? I don't know. Tough choices. I have to wonder if a full lock down/schools closing is the only way. Obviously, it won't happen though.

To what end? If we're all going to get infected (and we will over the next couple of years), why close schools? It's a futile measure.

It isn't futile if we can forestall children from getting infected until after they're vaccinated.

Most MS and HS students are eligible for vaccinations. So what's the logic in holding them back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

So, according to Pfizer's CEO, the effectiveness drops from the upper 90%s to 84%. In other words, after 6 months, it's still a highly effective vaccine.

No.
Pfizer CEO says the vaccines effectiveness steadily drclines EVERY MONTH
Their data only goes to 6 months. 20% drop in protection from hospitalization up to that 6th month mark but declines steadily perhaps until zero . No one knows yet.

And kids are heading back right as adults vaccine effectiveness is waning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

So, according to Pfizer's CEO, the effectiveness drops from the upper 90%s to 84%. In other words, after 6 months, it's still a highly effective vaccine.

No.
Pfizer CEO says the vaccines effectiveness steadily drclines EVERY MONTH
Their data only goes to 6 months. 20% drop in protection from hospitalization up to that 6th month mark but declines steadily perhaps until zero . No one knows yet.

And kids are heading back right as adults vaccine effectiveness is waning.

Which doesn't seem to stop you from misstating speculation as certainty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

So, according to Pfizer's CEO, the effectiveness drops from the upper 90%s to 84%. In other words, after 6 months, it's still a highly effective vaccine.

No.
Pfizer CEO says the vaccines effectiveness steadily drclines EVERY MONTH
Their data only goes to 6 months. 20% drop in protection from hospitalization up to that 6th month mark but declines steadily perhaps until zero . No one knows yet.

And kids are heading back right as adults vaccine effectiveness is waning.

Good, as they should be.