Why aren’t schools with high COVID rates masking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it.

Hmmm … citation for this?

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm
“As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021."

And now they're all getting the new strain. Immunity doesn't last. Vaccines don't seem to a great job in preventing longterm effects. Most sane people would therefore conclude that not getting a highly contagious virus that can have long-term effects is worth wearing a mask to do.

Meh. Just keep getting more shots. Two wasn’t good enough. Three didn’t cut it. Maybe four will do the trick?

You keep getting them. Hard no for us. Two and done.

You do you. I don’t care if you wear a mask. I don’t care if you get the shots.

Clearly you care or you would not be posting here. You want to bully everyone into no precautions like you and pretend everything is ok. It’s sad the values people like you are teaching the next generation. No wonder so many kids have mental health issues. We can look to the parents in some cases, not all as some parents do care about their kids and get them help. You should learn from them.

I know it's not always clear which posts were made by which poster, but when has any poster "bullied" anyone into no precautions? The vast majority of people who are opposed to mask mandates or quarantines are perfectly fine with other people choosing to wear masks or deciding to keep their kids home. They're opposed to others trying to force different choices on them.

So really, I don't care if you wear mask. I also really don't care if you get vaccinated. I used to care about the latter, until vaccine efficacy against infection dropped substantially and until hospital capacity was no longer threatened. But that's not the case anymore. If you'd rather accept the increased risk of COVID than get a simple shot, that's your choice.

If you are perfectly fine with it, then why post about it here. Almost everyone in this area has had two shots. The risk of hospitalization with the new variants is pretty low regardless and its very low for kids so bullying others into taking repeated shots makes no sense. And, no matter how many you take, in order to control this we need multiple layers of mitigation. Vaccines alone aren't going to stop this and that's been proven. Regular mandatory testing would make more sense than quarantining especially during a surge.

You really don't care about anyone but yourself and even then its quesitonable if you even care about yourself.

I'm fine with people choosing to wear masks. I'm fine with people choosing to test themselves and isolate themselves when positive. I'm fine with people choosing to get or not get vaccinated.

But this thread, and several others on COVID, weren't predicated on allowing individuals to make personal choices. The OP here was proposing a mask mandate in MCPS schools, taking away personal choice. Even if your post, you were proposing mandatory testing, again removing personal choice.

And you're right that vaccines aren't going to stop the spread. Obviously nothing is going to stop the spread, so that's a ridiculous goal. The goal is reducing illness, and the vaccines are very good at that. If you're willing to get them. If you've rather roll the dice and go up against COVID without protection, that's fine too. You'd probably be fine.

"Personal choice" is a really odd frame-up to take about what is actually a public health issue.

For one thing, we don't typically give minor children a lot of personal choices. Do we let them choose whether to come to school armed?

We do not.

Do we let them choose whether to eat candy for breakfast or oatmeal?

Hopefully, we do not.

We also don't let them *choose* their classes, (beyond a few electives), we don't let them "choose" to shower, or brush their teeth--but apparently giving them the *choice* of spreading a virus or not is totes cool.

We don't give their teachers the *choice" to arm themselves, but we give them an option not to wear masks, and indeed, to say whatever they please about masks, to our kids.

It's so strange you think taking basic public health measures is a choice.
.

Very true but many of these deniers say one thing and do another. I think they're paid to post this bunk.

That explains why that poster that denies that Covid is here to stay is always posting in the middle of the night about how Covid would just "go away" if people just wore masks. How much do you think she's getting paid?

She's me, dude. And I'm paid a great deal. But not to post here..

Again, it's so strange you think taking public health measures are a " choice. "

It's even more strange that our elected officials make policy decisions based on how much people like you have threatened them.

Nobody is being threatened (outside of the ballot box). You’re extraordinarily similar-minded. Public health officials are demonstrating flexibility so that if a mask mandate (or other) was truly needed again, they’d have the credibility to make the case. Keeping people unnecessarily masked now for this version of Covid would ruin any influence they have going forward.

You must be such a wonk to believe nonsense like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it.

Hmmm … citation for this?

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm
“As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021."

And now they're all getting the new strain. Immunity doesn't last. Vaccines don't seem to a great job in preventing longterm effects. Most sane people would therefore conclude that not getting a highly contagious virus that can have long-term effects is worth wearing a mask to do.

Meh. Just keep getting more shots. Two wasn’t good enough. Three didn’t cut it. Maybe four will do the trick?

You keep getting them. Hard no for us. Two and done.

You do you. I don’t care if you wear a mask. I don’t care if you get the shots.

Clearly you care or you would not be posting here. You want to bully everyone into no precautions like you and pretend everything is ok. It’s sad the values people like you are teaching the next generation. No wonder so many kids have mental health issues. We can look to the parents in some cases, not all as some parents do care about their kids and get them help. You should learn from them.

I know it's not always clear which posts were made by which poster, but when has any poster "bullied" anyone into no precautions? The vast majority of people who are opposed to mask mandates or quarantines are perfectly fine with other people choosing to wear masks or deciding to keep their kids home. They're opposed to others trying to force different choices on them.

So really, I don't care if you wear mask. I also really don't care if you get vaccinated. I used to care about the latter, until vaccine efficacy against infection dropped substantially and until hospital capacity was no longer threatened. But that's not the case anymore. If you'd rather accept the increased risk of COVID than get a simple shot, that's your choice.

If you are perfectly fine with it, then why post about it here. Almost everyone in this area has had two shots. The risk of hospitalization with the new variants is pretty low regardless and its very low for kids so bullying others into taking repeated shots makes no sense. And, no matter how many you take, in order to control this we need multiple layers of mitigation. Vaccines alone aren't going to stop this and that's been proven. Regular mandatory testing would make more sense than quarantining especially during a surge.

You really don't care about anyone but yourself and even then its quesitonable if you even care about yourself.

I'm fine with people choosing to wear masks. I'm fine with people choosing to test themselves and isolate themselves when positive. I'm fine with people choosing to get or not get vaccinated.

But this thread, and several others on COVID, weren't predicated on allowing individuals to make personal choices. The OP here was proposing a mask mandate in MCPS schools, taking away personal choice. Even if your post, you were proposing mandatory testing, again removing personal choice.

And you're right that vaccines aren't going to stop the spread. Obviously nothing is going to stop the spread, so that's a ridiculous goal. The goal is reducing illness, and the vaccines are very good at that. If you're willing to get them. If you've rather roll the dice and go up against COVID without protection, that's fine too. You'd probably be fine.

"Personal choice" is a really odd frame-up to take about what is actually a public health issue.

For one thing, we don't typically give minor children a lot of personal choices. Do we let them choose whether to come to school armed?

We do not.

Do we let them choose whether to eat candy for breakfast or oatmeal?

Hopefully, we do not.

We also don't let them *choose* their classes, (beyond a few electives), we don't let them "choose" to shower, or brush their teeth--but apparently giving them the *choice* of spreading a virus or not is totes cool.

We don't give their teachers the *choice" to arm themselves, but we give them an option not to wear masks, and indeed, to say whatever they please about masks, to our kids.

It's so strange you think taking basic public health measures is a choice.
.

Very true but many of these deniers say one thing and do another. I think they're paid to post this bunk.

That explains why that poster that denies that Covid is here to stay is always posting in the middle of the night about how Covid would just "go away" if people just wore masks. How much do you think she's getting paid?

She's me, dude. And I'm paid a great deal. But not to post here..

Again, it's so strange you think taking public health measures are a " choice. "

It's even more strange that our elected officials make policy decisions based on how much people like you have threatened them.

Nobody is being threatened (outside of the ballot box). You’re extraordinarily similar-minded. Public health officials are demonstrating flexibility so that if a mask mandate (or other) was truly needed again, they’d have the credibility to make the case. Keeping people unnecessarily masked now for this version of Covid would ruin any influence they have going forward.

Masks work, but mask mandates don't. Here's why. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/briefing/masks-mandates-us-covid.html

Basically if you need to mask, do it and do it consistently. One way masking works. But don't expect public policy for masking to make a difference. It doesn't for the reasons stated in the article.

How do we properly virtue signal without fighting for mask mandates, regardless of whether they work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The comparison to the flu shot is dumb. Did you get a flu shot under emergency authorization? Did you have to go back for a flu shot booster 5 months later? And then another one 5 months after that? With no knowledge of when you'd need another one? And you really wouldn't have questioned this at all?

Our ped recommended we wait and get a booster for our kids at the end of the summer- he seemed to think anyone getting it now would need another late fall.

So, you’re saying you don’t know how vaccinations and the immune system work and you refuse to learn.

Vaccine schedules are spaced out because the immune system needs to respond to the first shot before getting the next. If you didn’t know the 2-3 week gap between the first and second shots in the primary schedule meant we’d almost certainly need a booster, then you weren’t paying attention.

You see some of this play out with the flu vaccines. While they are unusually annual, kids getting flu shots for the first time need two shots spaced apart.

And the flu vaccine wanes in efficacy over time as well, but we only need protection from the flu for about 6 months out of the year. If the flu was able to efficiently spread in the summer, you probably would see some people get two flu shots a year.

I don’t think we’re going to keep doing twice-a-year Covid shots. At least, not recommended for everyone. But you should have expected the booster shot would come up in the first year.

No one really knows anything at this point, I think that is part of the point.

While it doesn’t seem to be a concern among US scientists/public health officials that I’ve seen, experts elsewhere have expressed caution about repeated boosters. We really have no idea how many will be needed or the effects on the immune system. Heck, the folks at Phizer and cdc didn’t know when the first booster would be needed either, but you think laypeople should have expected a booster within the first year? Ok.

[Anonymous]

^^^ eta, and if they did know, that should have been laid out in the beginning to the general public. The messaging around boosters is partly what has led to the poor uptake. It was originally marketed as a two shot regimen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The comparison to the flu shot is dumb. Did you get a flu shot under emergency authorization? Did you have to go back for a flu shot booster 5 months later? And then another one 5 months after that? With no knowledge of when you'd need another one? And you really wouldn't have questioned this at all?

Our ped recommended we wait and get a booster for our kids at the end of the summer- he seemed to think anyone getting it now would need another late fall.

So, you’re saying you don’t know how vaccinations and the immune system work and you refuse to learn.

Vaccine schedules are spaced out because the immune system needs to respond to the first shot before getting the next. If you didn’t know the 2-3 week gap between the first and second shots in the primary schedule meant we’d almost certainly need a booster, then you weren’t paying attention.

You see some of this play out with the flu vaccines. While they are unusually annual, kids getting flu shots for the first time need two shots spaced apart.

And the flu vaccine wanes in efficacy over time as well, but we only need protection from the flu for about 6 months out of the year. If the flu was able to efficiently spread in the summer, you probably would see some people get two flu shots a year.

I don’t think we’re going to keep doing twice-a-year Covid shots. At least, not recommended for everyone. But you should have expected the booster shot would come up in the first year.

No one really knows anything at this point, I think that is part of the point.

While it doesn’t seem to be a concern among US scientists/public health officials that I’ve seen, experts elsewhere have expressed caution about repeated boosters. We really have no idea how many will be needed or the effects on the immune system. Heck, the folks at Phizer and cdc didn’t know when the first booster would be needed either, but you think laypeople should have expected a booster within the first year? Ok.

I don't think *laypersons* should have expected a booster in the first year, but experts did. The public messaging has been a mess. I suspect they didn't want to tell people early that they'd probably need a third shot because they were worried it would discourage people from getting the first two shots. Of course that decision came back to bite them, just like their early remarks around masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it.

Hmmm … citation for this?

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm
“As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021."

And now they're all getting the new strain. Immunity doesn't last. Vaccines don't seem to a great job in preventing longterm effects. Most sane people would therefore conclude that not getting a highly contagious virus that can have long-term effects is worth wearing a mask to do.

Meh. Just keep getting more shots. Two wasn’t good enough. Three didn’t cut it. Maybe four will do the trick?

You keep getting them. Hard no for us. Two and done.

You do you. I don’t care if you wear a mask. I don’t care if you get the shots.

Clearly you care or you would not be posting here. You want to bully everyone into no precautions like you and pretend everything is ok. It’s sad the values people like you are teaching the next generation. No wonder so many kids have mental health issues. We can look to the parents in some cases, not all as some parents do care about their kids and get them help. You should learn from them.

I know it's not always clear which posts were made by which poster, but when has any poster "bullied" anyone into no precautions? The vast majority of people who are opposed to mask mandates or quarantines are perfectly fine with other people choosing to wear masks or deciding to keep their kids home. They're opposed to others trying to force different choices on them.

So really, I don't care if you wear mask. I also really don't care if you get vaccinated. I used to care about the latter, until vaccine efficacy against infection dropped substantially and until hospital capacity was no longer threatened. But that's not the case anymore. If you'd rather accept the increased risk of COVID than get a simple shot, that's your choice.

If you are perfectly fine with it, then why post about it here. Almost everyone in this area has had two shots. The risk of hospitalization with the new variants is pretty low regardless and its very low for kids so bullying others into taking repeated shots makes no sense. And, no matter how many you take, in order to control this we need multiple layers of mitigation. Vaccines alone aren't going to stop this and that's been proven. Regular mandatory testing would make more sense than quarantining especially during a surge.

You really don't care about anyone but yourself and even then its quesitonable if you even care about yourself.

I'm fine with people choosing to wear masks. I'm fine with people choosing to test themselves and isolate themselves when positive. I'm fine with people choosing to get or not get vaccinated.

But this thread, and several others on COVID, weren't predicated on allowing individuals to make personal choices. The OP here was proposing a mask mandate in MCPS schools, taking away personal choice. Even if your post, you were proposing mandatory testing, again removing personal choice.

And you're right that vaccines aren't going to stop the spread. Obviously nothing is going to stop the spread, so that's a ridiculous goal. The goal is reducing illness, and the vaccines are very good at that. If you're willing to get them. If you've rather roll the dice and go up against COVID without protection, that's fine too. You'd probably be fine.

I feel the exact same as this PP.

No more mandates, for sure. No mask mandates, no vaccine mandates. There is no justification anymore as long as our hospitals are not overwhelmed.

Let people make their own choices. This is not China, thankfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because most people have already had it.

Hmmm … citation for this?

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm
“As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021."

And now they're all getting the new strain. Immunity doesn't last. Vaccines don't seem to a great job in preventing longterm effects. Most sane people would therefore conclude that not getting a highly contagious virus that can have long-term effects is worth wearing a mask to do.

Meh. Just keep getting more shots. Two wasn’t good enough. Three didn’t cut it. Maybe four will do the trick?

You keep getting them. Hard no for us. Two and done.

You do you. I don’t care if you wear a mask. I don’t care if you get the shots.

Clearly you care or you would not be posting here. You want to bully everyone into no precautions like you and pretend everything is ok. It’s sad the values people like you are teaching the next generation. No wonder so many kids have mental health issues. We can look to the parents in some cases, not all as some parents do care about their kids and get them help. You should learn from them.

I know it's not always clear which posts were made by which poster, but when has any poster "bullied" anyone into no precautions? The vast majority of people who are opposed to mask mandates or quarantines are perfectly fine with other people choosing to wear masks or deciding to keep their kids home. They're opposed to others trying to force different choices on them.

So really, I don't care if you wear mask. I also really don't care if you get vaccinated. I used to care about the latter, until vaccine efficacy against infection dropped substantially and until hospital capacity was no longer threatened. But that's not the case anymore. If you'd rather accept the increased risk of COVID than get a simple shot, that's your choice.

If you are perfectly fine with it, then why post about it here. Almost everyone in this area has had two shots. The risk of hospitalization with the new variants is pretty low regardless and its very low for kids so bullying others into taking repeated shots makes no sense. And, no matter how many you take, in order to control this we need multiple layers of mitigation. Vaccines alone aren't going to stop this and that's been proven. Regular mandatory testing would make more sense than quarantining especially during a surge.

You really don't care about anyone but yourself and even then its quesitonable if you even care about yourself.

I'm fine with people choosing to wear masks. I'm fine with people choosing to test themselves and isolate themselves when positive. I'm fine with people choosing to get or not get vaccinated.

But this thread, and several others on COVID, weren't predicated on allowing individuals to make personal choices. The OP here was proposing a mask mandate in MCPS schools, taking away personal choice. Even if your post, you were proposing mandatory testing, again removing personal choice.

And you're right that vaccines aren't going to stop the spread. Obviously nothing is going to stop the spread, so that's a ridiculous goal. The goal is reducing illness, and the vaccines are very good at that. If you're willing to get them. If you've rather roll the dice and go up against COVID without protection, that's fine too. You'd probably be fine.

I feel the exact same as this PP.

No more mandates, for sure. No mask mandates, no vaccine mandates. There is no justification anymore as long as our hospitals are not overwhelmed.

Let people make their own choices. This is not China, thankfully.

No more vaccine mandates? At all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The comparison to the flu shot is dumb. Did you get a flu shot under emergency authorization? Did you have to go back for a flu shot booster 5 months later? And then another one 5 months after that? With no knowledge of when you'd need another one? And you really wouldn't have questioned this at all?

Our ped recommended we wait and get a booster for our kids at the end of the summer- he seemed to think anyone getting it now would need another late fall.

So, you’re saying you don’t know how vaccinations and the immune system work and you refuse to learn.

Vaccine schedules are spaced out because the immune system needs to respond to the first shot before getting the next. If you didn’t know the 2-3 week gap between the first and second shots in the primary schedule meant we’d almost certainly need a booster, then you weren’t paying attention.

You see some of this play out with the flu vaccines. While they are unusually annual, kids getting flu shots for the first time need two shots spaced apart.

And the flu vaccine wanes in efficacy over time as well, but we only need protection from the flu for about 6 months out of the year. If the flu was able to efficiently spread in the summer, you probably would see some people get two flu shots a year.

I don’t think we’re going to keep doing twice-a-year Covid shots. At least, not recommended for everyone. But you should have expected the booster shot would come up in the first year.

No one really knows anything at this point, I think that is part of the point.

While it doesn’t seem to be a concern among US scientists/public health officials that I’ve seen, experts elsewhere have expressed caution about repeated boosters. We really have no idea how many will be needed or the effects on the immune system. Heck, the folks at Phizer and cdc didn’t know when the first booster would be needed either, but you think laypeople should have expected a booster within the first year? Ok.

I don't think *laypersons* should have expected a booster in the first year, but experts did. The public messaging has been a mess. I suspect they didn't want to tell people early that they'd probably need a third shot because they were worried it would discourage people from getting the first two shots. Of course that decision came back to bite them, just like their early remarks around masks.

Agreed- “fully vaccinated” was a poor choice of words if a third shot was to be needed that soon. I’m really not sure the experts knew- probably some did.