Covid Update from Central Office

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'know, I really want my kid in in-person school. She's vaccinated, we're boosted, the whole family is going to get COVID eventually, and I'm not too worried about us. What I DON'T want is to watch the slow but accelerating collapse of our educational infrastructure for reasons that were completely predictable and obvious, and it feels like that's what's happening.

Because of an "unexpected" (seriously?) lack of bus drivers, you've got kids who live too far to walk whose shift worker parents couldn't scramble to find a carpool last minute getting - not in-person learning, not virtual learning - nothing. MCPS dropped the ball and now those kids are getting nothing. You've got other kids who live with young, unvaccinated siblings or frail, elderly grandparents who are being forced to risk their family's well-being for the privilege of sitting in a cafeteria all day doing asynchronous busy-work.

Meanwhile staffing shortages continue to grow, so we're barreling toward closures and virtual anyway, but in the most chaotic and disruptive way possible. (The new quarantine guidelines might help, won't be it fun to see if that can outrun the exponential spread of Omicron before it flames out? I can't wait!)

I would have taken 2-weeks of virtual to slow the spread over this (although we all know half of y'all would have gone to the Bahamas and ruined it for us anyway). I would have taken DCPS' test-to-stay program over this - in fact I'd still take it! Instead we got a terrible "case-by-case assessment" of schools once they reach 5% that backfired spectacularly because it didn't account for the exponential spread of the virus that we all knew was happening.

And now we get, "Oh...don't worry...we're doing something else...we won't tell you exactly what, just that it's definitely not what we were doing yesterday, BOY do we have terrible ideas sometimes, lol! Also no, we won't release positivity data anymore, because then you'd know how bad our idea was." I mean...Jesus. I get wanting in-person. I want in-person. But HOW can anyone think this is an acceptable way to run things?

The "exponential" spread part is over. It's been leveling out in MoCo and regionally. It'll likely grow (and recede), but it's already ripped through a lot of the public over December. You're not going to get multiple days of "doubling" (or more) on an extended basis.

DP. Fingers crossed that you are right. But this also means that we could’ve switched to DL for two weeks and don’t start the paranoid shit about not ever coming back.

How is the worst over when Hogan just said that the worst is yet to come

Do you have a data to back this up? I've seen several posts like tbis, nkne with data, and based on current pisitives, it doesn't look like we're done with peak yet.

We’re not at or done with peak, but the ‘exponential’ growth is no longer exponential.

Again, Data please or this is hearsay. I'm under the impressikn that the exponential growth that you are talking about slowed down because holiday travel is over and there are less people needing PCR, there are also more people using rapid tests now or even people who can't get tested because there aren't any rapid tests available, with the weather these past few days, I don't think people with symptoms would want to line up outside for PCR. All of these are anecdotal, the only reason why I think this is still spreading is because I know more people in my circle now that were infected, which I've never experienced before.

Of course it is still spreading. That doesn’t mean it’s spreading exponentially, whereby cases are doubling (or more) every day or two.

Ok, so this is also anecdotal. Got it.

Here you go. It's flattened (and was never truly exponential).

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/data/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are so happy to see this update! Upgrade your masks everyone and go to school!

Only complete idiots think this is good news. Enjoy your kid’s subpar education for the remainder of the year, stuffed into auditoriums with no teachers. But they are socializing! (If you actually talked to your kid, you’d know the kids are absolutely miserable in the buildings right now)

This is what I’m hearing. And not even enough teachers to stuff them in the auditorium. It’s fundamentally unsafe.

They don't talk to their kids. They just want them out of their hair.

I talk to my kids a lot. They want to be in school.
I also work out of the house. So no one is ever “in my hair.”

Don’t you get sick of trotting out the same stupid line over and over again?

My kids "want" to eat crap and no vegetables and stay up until midnight. But I'm a parent and I know better.

Try again.

I think we need you to try again. This was a really stupid response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are so happy to see this update! Upgrade your masks everyone and go to school!

Only complete idiots think this is good news. Enjoy your kid’s subpar education for the remainder of the year, stuffed into auditoriums with no teachers. But they are socializing! (If you actually talked to your kid, you’d know the kids are absolutely miserable in the buildings right now)

This is what I’m hearing. And not even enough teachers to stuff them in the auditorium. It’s fundamentally unsafe.

They don't talk to their kids. They just want them out of their hair.

I talk to my kids a lot. They want to be in school.
I also work out of the house. So no one is ever “in my hair.”

Don’t you get sick of trotting out the same stupid line over and over again?

My kids "want" to eat crap and no vegetables and stay up until midnight. But I'm a parent and I know better.

Try again.

DP... my HS/MS kids want to be in school, and so do I, not because I want them "out of my hair" but because being out is detrimental to their overall well being, while covid is no longer detrimental to their physical health since they are vaxxed.

We have already been exposed to covid. It was mild for us. If you are not vaxxed I can see why you would be concerned. For those not vaxxed or who are immunocompromised, you can always go virtual.

Is “exposed to covid” a euphemism now for having covid?

IDK.. because the test results haven't come back yet. In any case, if we are all positive, then it is mild for us, and for the majority of vaxxed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'know, I really want my kid in in-person school. She's vaccinated, we're boosted, the whole family is going to get COVID eventually, and I'm not too worried about us. What I DON'T want is to watch the slow but accelerating collapse of our educational infrastructure for reasons that were completely predictable and obvious, and it feels like that's what's happening.

Because of an "unexpected" (seriously?) lack of bus drivers, you've got kids who live too far to walk whose shift worker parents couldn't scramble to find a carpool last minute getting - not in-person learning, not virtual learning - nothing. MCPS dropped the ball and now those kids are getting nothing. You've got other kids who live with young, unvaccinated siblings or frail, elderly grandparents who are being forced to risk their family's well-being for the privilege of sitting in a cafeteria all day doing asynchronous busy-work.

Meanwhile staffing shortages continue to grow, so we're barreling toward closures and virtual anyway, but in the most chaotic and disruptive way possible. (The new quarantine guidelines might help, won't be it fun to see if that can outrun the exponential spread of Omicron before it flames out? I can't wait!)

I would have taken 2-weeks of virtual to slow the spread over this (although we all know half of y'all would have gone to the Bahamas and ruined it for us anyway). I would have taken DCPS' test-to-stay program over this - in fact I'd still take it! Instead we got a terrible "case-by-case assessment" of schools once they reach 5% that backfired spectacularly because it didn't account for the exponential spread of the virus that we all knew was happening.

And now we get, "Oh...don't worry...we're doing something else...we won't tell you exactly what, just that it's definitely not what we were doing yesterday, BOY do we have terrible ideas sometimes, lol! Also no, we won't release positivity data anymore, because then you'd know how bad our idea was." I mean...Jesus. I get wanting in-person. I want in-person. But HOW can anyone think this is an acceptable way to run things?

The "exponential" spread part is over. It's been leveling out in MoCo and regionally. It'll likely grow (and recede), but it's already ripped through a lot of the public over December. You're not going to get multiple days of "doubling" (or more) on an extended basis.

DP. Fingers crossed that you are right. But this also means that we could’ve switched to DL for two weeks and don’t start the paranoid shit about not ever coming back.

How is the worst over when Hogan just said that the worst is yet to come

Do you have a data to back this up? I've seen several posts like tbis, nkne with data, and based on current pisitives, it doesn't look like we're done with peak yet.

We’re not at or done with peak, but the ‘exponential’ growth is no longer exponential.

Again, Data please or this is hearsay. I'm under the impressikn that the exponential growth that you are talking about slowed down because holiday travel is over and there are less people needing PCR, there are also more people using rapid tests now or even people who can't get tested because there aren't any rapid tests available, with the weather these past few days, I don't think people with symptoms would want to line up outside for PCR. All of these are anecdotal, the only reason why I think this is still spreading is because I know more people in my circle now that were infected, which I've never experienced before.

Of course it is still spreading. That doesn’t mean it’s spreading exponentially, whereby cases are doubling (or more) every day or two.

Ok, so this is also anecdotal. Got it.

Here you go. It's flattened (and was never truly exponential).

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/data/

What exactly flattened?

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile, Baltimore County is going virtual next week:

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-county-school-students-january-10-at-home/38698856?fbclid=IwAR0-HON87KniPDqfShAhGtIiHKLwZ_3gFkpz5a2nJDH0Pel6xTHgh3proyM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are so happy to see this update! Upgrade your masks everyone and go to school!

Only complete idiots think this is good news. Enjoy your kid’s subpar education for the remainder of the year, stuffed into auditoriums with no teachers. But they are socializing! (If you actually talked to your kid, you’d know the kids are absolutely miserable in the buildings right now)

This is what I’m hearing. And not even enough teachers to stuff them in the auditorium. It’s fundamentally unsafe.

They don't talk to their kids. They just want them out of their hair.

I talk to my kids a lot. They want to be in school.
I also work out of the house. So no one is ever “in my hair.”

Don’t you get sick of trotting out the same stupid line over and over again?

My kids "want" to eat crap and no vegetables and stay up until midnight. But I'm a parent and I know better.

Try again.

DP... my HS/MS kids want to be in school, and so do I, not because I want them "out of my hair" but because being out is detrimental to their overall well being, while covid is no longer detrimental to their physical health since they are vaxxed.

We have already been exposed to covid. It was mild for us. If you are not vaxxed I can see why you would be concerned. For those not vaxxed or who are immunocompromised, you can always go virtual.

Is “exposed to covid” a euphemism now for having covid?

IDK.. because the test results haven't come back yet. In any case, if we are all positive, then it is mild for us, and for the majority of vaxxed.

What if it isn't mild for your family? What if you spread it to someone else who got really sick? Who cares right? What happens when you get it 2-3 times. What about community spread?

[Anonymous]

Has MoCo gone DeSantis on us? This is not making any sense to me (Red School +s popping up daily).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are so happy to see this update! Upgrade your masks everyone and go to school!

Only complete idiots think this is good news. Enjoy your kid’s subpar education for the remainder of the year, stuffed into auditoriums with no teachers. But they are socializing! (If you actually talked to your kid, you’d know the kids are absolutely miserable in the buildings right now)

This is what I’m hearing. And not even enough teachers to stuff them in the auditorium. It’s fundamentally unsafe.

They don't talk to their kids. They just want them out of their hair.

I talk to my kids a lot. They want to be in school.
I also work out of the house. So no one is ever “in my hair.”

Don’t you get sick of trotting out the same stupid line over and over again?

My kids "want" to eat crap and no vegetables and stay up until midnight. But I'm a parent and I know better.

Try again.

The issue wasn’t about what YOU think is better for them, the issue was PP was trying to say that my kids were lying to me about what they want.
No need to try again when you missed the point entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has MoCo gone DeSantis on us? This is not making any sense to me (Red School +s popping up daily).

Because schools is where you draw the "DeSantis" line. Every other institution in MoCo is open without restrictions, but can't be having the kids going to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me crystallize this - the current policy position that is unspoken, but how we are clearly operating if you can read between the lines or just see what is in front of you is that we all get it. The wave will be "over" when it has interacted with nearly all of us, skipping or maybe asymptomatically touching some recent vax'd people.

You can choose *maybe* when you get it, but not if you get it. Closing schools just may change the when, not the if. So my position is that schools should not close if the only movement closure does is shift the "when" to a different point.

Those who are pushing school closures at this point really only have a few defensible positions:

1. Hospital capacity - local health dept can insist on school and other closures if needed. Should not be BOE driven and school should not be only thing closed.
2. School staffing - too many teachers, busses, etc out to function. (Sidenote- how much COVID leave exists and how much is that driving the total days out per positive test)


Anything else, really shouldn't drive schools to be closed. Too many kids out? That stinks, but we are in a pandemic, increased absences due to illness are to be expected. Dangerous environment? I hate to say it, but refer to the if / when analysis I posited above. The dangerous environment theory was better suited for waves that wouldn't hit everyone as there was a chance of missing the wave. Waiting for meds, sub 5 vaccines, etc? We would need a clear public health assessment of the goals, the benchmarks and what closure of school would achieve to get engagement to close for these things. I don't think there is the will or capability for this at this stage, and if there were, it should not be led by schools closing before other businesses.

You can also choose how many times you get it. Do you want to get it when there is a new variant of concern or do you just want to get as few as possible? Each time is a systemic attack to cardiovascular, neurological, endocrine systems. Not sure how many people can stay healthy after few years of repeated infections.

How would you choose how you get Omicron or not? I posit there is one way - near perfect isolation for several months right now. Absent that, I don't think there is a lot of choice with this variant.

Not 100% will get omicron. They predicted 60-80%. So 20-40% can avoid it by hunkering down in January and maybe February. Then next variant… how many variants a year would you like to get?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me crystallize this - the current policy position that is unspoken, but how we are clearly operating if you can read between the lines or just see what is in front of you is that we all get it. The wave will be "over" when it has interacted with nearly all of us, skipping or maybe asymptomatically touching some recent vax'd people.

You can choose *maybe* when you get it, but not if you get it. Closing schools just may change the when, not the if. So my position is that schools should not close if the only movement closure does is shift the "when" to a different point.

Those who are pushing school closures at this point really only have a few defensible positions:

1. Hospital capacity - local health dept can insist on school and other closures if needed. Should not be BOE driven and school should not be only thing closed.
2. School staffing - too many teachers, busses, etc out to function. (Sidenote- how much COVID leave exists and how much is that driving the total days out per positive test)


Anything else, really shouldn't drive schools to be closed. Too many kids out? That stinks, but we are in a pandemic, increased absences due to illness are to be expected. Dangerous environment? I hate to say it, but refer to the if / when analysis I posited above. The dangerous environment theory was better suited for waves that wouldn't hit everyone as there was a chance of missing the wave. Waiting for meds, sub 5 vaccines, etc? We would need a clear public health assessment of the goals, the benchmarks and what closure of school would achieve to get engagement to close for these things. I don't think there is the will or capability for this at this stage, and if there were, it should not be led by schools closing before other businesses.

You can also choose how many times you get it. Do you want to get it when there is a new variant of concern or do you just want to get as few as possible? Each time is a systemic attack to cardiovascular, neurological, endocrine systems. Not sure how many people can stay healthy after few years of repeated infections.

How would you choose how you get Omicron or not? I posit there is one way - near perfect isolation for several months right now. Absent that, I don't think there is a lot of choice with this variant.

Not 100% will get omicron. They predicted 60-80%. So 20-40% can avoid it by hunkering down in January and maybe February. Then next variant… how many variants a year would you like to get?

It's still going to be circulating after February. How long do you plan to hunker down for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are so happy to see this update! Upgrade your masks everyone and go to school!

Only complete idiots think this is good news. Enjoy your kid’s subpar education for the remainder of the year, stuffed into auditoriums with no teachers. But they are socializing! (If you actually talked to your kid, you’d know the kids are absolutely miserable in the buildings right now)

This is what I’m hearing. And not even enough teachers to stuff them in the auditorium. It’s fundamentally unsafe.

They don't talk to their kids. They just want them out of their hair.

I talk to my kids a lot. They want to be in school.
I also work out of the house. So no one is ever “in my hair.”

Don’t you get sick of trotting out the same stupid line over and over again?

My kids "want" to eat crap and no vegetables and stay up until midnight. But I'm a parent and I know better.

Try again.

DP... my HS/MS kids want to be in school, and so do I, not because I want them "out of my hair" but because being out is detrimental to their overall well being, while covid is no longer detrimental to their physical health since they are vaxxed.

We have already been exposed to covid. It was mild for us. If you are not vaxxed I can see why you would be concerned. For those not vaxxed or who are immunocompromised, you can always go virtual.

Yeah, that's ableist AF. Why not make schools safer so *all* kids can be in person. Amazing how uber-privileged will trash virtual and then when people have legitimate health concerns, instead of fighting for safer mitigation, they are more than willing to shunt those (who are already at a disadvantage) to a platform that they view as less than.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me crystallize this - the current policy position that is unspoken, but how we are clearly operating if you can read between the lines or just see what is in front of you is that we all get it. The wave will be "over" when it has interacted with nearly all of us, skipping or maybe asymptomatically touching some recent vax'd people.

You can choose *maybe* when you get it, but not if you get it. Closing schools just may change the when, not the if. So my position is that schools should not close if the only movement closure does is shift the "when" to a different point.

Those who are pushing school closures at this point really only have a few defensible positions:

1. Hospital capacity - local health dept can insist on school and other closures if needed. Should not be BOE driven and school should not be only thing closed.
2. School staffing - too many teachers, busses, etc out to function. (Sidenote- how much COVID leave exists and how much is that driving the total days out per positive test)


Anything else, really shouldn't drive schools to be closed. Too many kids out? That stinks, but we are in a pandemic, increased absences due to illness are to be expected. Dangerous environment? I hate to say it, but refer to the if / when analysis I posited above. The dangerous environment theory was better suited for waves that wouldn't hit everyone as there was a chance of missing the wave. Waiting for meds, sub 5 vaccines, etc? We would need a clear public health assessment of the goals, the benchmarks and what closure of school would achieve to get engagement to close for these things. I don't think there is the will or capability for this at this stage, and if there were, it should not be led by schools closing before other businesses.

You can also choose how many times you get it. Do you want to get it when there is a new variant of concern or do you just want to get as few as possible? Each time is a systemic attack to cardiovascular, neurological, endocrine systems. Not sure how many people can stay healthy after few years of repeated infections.

How would you choose how you get Omicron or not? I posit there is one way - near perfect isolation for several months right now. Absent that, I don't think there is a lot of choice with this variant.

Not 100% will get omicron. They predicted 60-80%. So 20-40% can avoid it by hunkering down in January and maybe February. Then next variant… how many variants a year would you like to get?

It's still going to be circulating after February. How long do you plan to hunker down for?

Lower community transmission means less chance to get. And most people will build herd immunity toward omicron then so that will protect the uninflected people. That’s just how it works. But herd immunity doesn’t work for the next variant which evades omicron immunity. Hide when tsunami comes and come out when waves are calmer. That’ll be my strategy to catch as few variants as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They need to close already. It is OBVIOUS that a few more weeks of this will kill off more people in hospitals, not just the adult unvaccinated we love to hate, but the elderly (there's a thread today by someone who just her mother to Covid), the fragile, even young children. And it's not just Covid patients: all of you who are injured in accidents or who have acute health problems that need hospital care will have such lousy case that hospitals requested and received lawsuit protection from Hogan. Chemo patients whose lives depend on timely treatment are not receiving care right now. Important surgeries have been canceled.

Do you want to extend this suffering and death even more by refusing to close schools? When we KNOW that Omicron arrives and recedes rapidly and we would only need to close schools for a few weeks?

It's unconscionable.

What are you talking about? There is no evidence that closing the schools alone--without other broader closures--would have any impact on general community spread at all. In fact, in all the studies of which I am aware, the efficacy of school closures, even in conjunction with other closures/restrictions, is contested. So why is it "unconscionable" to oppose measures that do nothing to combat "suffering and death."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, Baltimore County is going virtual next week:

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-county-school-students-january-10-at-home/38698856?fbclid=IwAR0-HON87KniPDqfShAhGtIiHKLwZ_3gFkpz5a2nJDH0Pel6xTHgh3proyM

Well, some places are doing the sensible thing.