Schools with positive cases thread - post here

[Anonymous]

My kid's class had an exposure. You know what? It wasn't that big of deal. We got him tested and he's fine. We wish we could get him back in class ASAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's class had an exposure. You know what? It wasn't that big of deal. We got him tested and he's fine. We wish we could get him back in class ASAP.

“My kid was fine so it’s no big deal”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's class had an exposure. You know what? It wasn't that big of deal. We got him tested and he's fine. We wish we could get him back in class ASAP.

“My kid was fine so it’s no big deal”

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about this case at our school - ITDS. We got a note today saying a student was exposed on the 3rd, has been sick since the 5th but was out of school. Has Covid. 10 day quarantine for the whole grade would have ended today under their protocol but I am assuming they just now found out from the family? And they say we don't need to quarantine now. I am baffled because for the past 10 days it could have been circulating in the grade. How does this make sense? It seems insanely selfish on the part of the sick kid's family to either not have tested or notified for TEN days. And my kid said someone in their grade went home after vomiting twice today. Isn't that a possible symptom of covid in kids?

I think they basically meant to say that the kid self quarantined without disclosure and it's too late/not productive to lock down the grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Positive case at SWS

Now up to two.

Really? I've only gotten a notification about one case.

A notification went out last night and a second one today around 11:30.

Weird. I only have the 9/13 message

The second email was sent from a different account. But I think it’s the same one case. “A person last at the school on September 10.” (Though it’s only a matter of time before there are many more.)

[Anonymous]

5 new cases at CHML announced just today, so PP seems to have been right about problems there…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Positive case at SWS

Now up to two.

Really? I've only gotten a notification about one case.

A notification went out last night and a second one today around 11:30.

Weird. I only have the 9/13 message

The second email was sent from a different account. But I think it’s the same one case. “A person last at the school on September 10.” (Though it’s only a matter of time before there are many more.)

The notice has a different date.

[Anonymous]

Can we try and figure something out here? It’s been bothering me.

The notices about positive cases often come many days after the notice says the person was “last in the building.” I’ve had several people complain to me that this represents a la if transparency from DCPS. And at first I agreed with them. But then my partner pointed something out and now I don’t know what to think.

Basically, my partner’s argument is that this is what happens:
Day 1- person present in school building
Day 2- person gets Covid test
Day 3-5- person receives positive result (varies based on lab backlog), alerts school
Day 4-7- Contact tracing and close contacts alerted and quarantined
Day 5-8- Notice to school community if positive

Their argument is this is why it takes 5+ days to alert the community. They can’t alert before there is a positive test because otherwise lots of the notices would be withdrawn when it turned out it wasn’t Covid. And preference is given to informing close contacts, which makes sense. It’s not a conspiracy to inform communities late, it’s just the process takes a while.

This makes sense to me even though DCPS has a terrible track record with communication. Seems they could shorten the process if they used rapid antigen tests to ascertain positives, instead of relying on PCR tests that must be processed in a lab. Don’t know if that’s feasible though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we try and figure something out here? It’s been bothering me.

The notices about positive cases often come many days after the notice says the person was “last in the building.” I’ve had several people complain to me that this represents a la if transparency from DCPS. And at first I agreed with them. But then my partner pointed something out and now I don’t know what to think.

Basically, my partner’s argument is that this is what happens:
Day 1- person present in school building
Day 2- person gets Covid test
Day 3-5- person receives positive result (varies based on lab backlog), alerts school
Day 4-7- Contact tracing and close contacts alerted and quarantined
Day 5-8- Notice to school community if positive

Their argument is this is why it takes 5+ days to alert the community. They can’t alert before there is a positive test because otherwise lots of the notices would be withdrawn when it turned out it wasn’t Covid. And preference is given to informing close contacts, which makes sense. It’s not a conspiracy to inform communities late, it’s just the process takes a while.

This makes sense to me even though DCPS has a terrible track record with communication. Seems they could shorten the process if they used rapid antigen tests to ascertain positives, instead of relying on PCR tests that must be processed in a lab. Don’t know if that’s feasible though.

I agree that this is likely the reason for the amount of time it takes to notify parents of a case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we try and figure something out here? It’s been bothering me.

The notices about positive cases often come many days after the notice says the person was “last in the building.” I’ve had several people complain to me that this represents a la if transparency from DCPS. And at first I agreed with them. But then my partner pointed something out and now I don’t know what to think.

Basically, my partner’s argument is that this is what happens:
Day 1- person present in school building
Day 2- person gets Covid test
Day 3-5- person receives positive result (varies based on lab backlog), alerts school
Day 4-7- Contact tracing and close contacts alerted and quarantined
Day 5-8- Notice to school community if positive

Their argument is this is why it takes 5+ days to alert the community. They can’t alert before there is a positive test because otherwise lots of the notices would be withdrawn when it turned out it wasn’t Covid. And preference is given to informing close contacts, which makes sense. It’s not a conspiracy to inform communities late, it’s just the process takes a while.


Your partner sounds very reasonable and like they have some experience with managing complex communication cycles. What you may also want to note is that the Antigen tests are not nearly as reliable and often produce a false negative. You can look up more about how CDC recommends they are used in community settings at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/resources/antigen-tests-guidelines.html#anchor_1631295290762. (My read (as a total lay person) is that antigen tests are good if a person is symptomatic and test positive. If you are symptomatic and test negative, it really shouldn't be used to demonstrate you are free of COVID. For those folks going to concerts and events using rapid antigen tests for admission...watch out, that is not up to CDC standard guidance.)

Back to the communications lags- I would also say that weekends/holidays tend to extend the notice windows because people are not all working at 100% capacity to crank out the notices.




This makes sense to me even though DCPS has a terrible track record with communication. Seems they could shorten the process if they used rapid antigen tests to ascertain positives, instead of relying on PCR tests that must be processed in a lab. Don’t know if that’s feasible though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about this case at our school - ITDS. We got a note today saying a student was exposed on the 3rd, has been sick since the 5th but was out of school. Has Covid. 10 day quarantine for the whole grade would have ended today under their protocol but I am assuming they just now found out from the family? And they say we don't need to quarantine now. I am baffled because for the past 10 days it could have been circulating in the grade. How does this make sense? It seems insanely selfish on the part of the sick kid's family to either not have tested or notified for TEN days. And my kid said someone in their grade went home after vomiting twice today. Isn't that a possible symptom of covid in kids?

I think they basically meant to say that the kid self quarantined without disclosure and it's too late/not productive to lock down the grade level.

I'm less concerned with needing to "lock down the grade level" than just testing those likeliest to be impacted. It's just not that hard unless DCPS just doesn't want to know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about this case at our school - ITDS. We got a note today saying a student was exposed on the 3rd, has been sick since the 5th but was out of school. Has Covid. 10 day quarantine for the whole grade would have ended today under their protocol but I am assuming they just now found out from the family? And they say we don't need to quarantine now. I am baffled because for the past 10 days it could have been circulating in the grade. How does this make sense? It seems insanely selfish on the part of the sick kid's family to either not have tested or notified for TEN days. And my kid said someone in their grade went home after vomiting twice today. Isn't that a possible symptom of covid in kids?

I think they basically meant to say that the kid self quarantined without disclosure and it's too late/not productive to lock down the grade level.

I'm less concerned with needing to "lock down the grade level" than just testing those likeliest to be impacted. It's just not that hard unless DCPS just doesn't want to know

The Department of Health rules don't allow schools to test in lieu of quarantining. I'm not at DCPS but at a charter. Someone posted earlier that DC needs a "test to stay" program. That would reduce quarantines while identifying whether close contacts are getting infected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's class had an exposure. You know what? It wasn't that big of deal. We got him tested and he's fine. We wish we could get him back in class ASAP.

“My kid was fine so it’s no big deal”

+1

It's rare for kids to have problems with coronavirus. That was true with original coronavirus, and it's true of Delta. Delta is way more contagious, so more people will get it, but it doesn't result in any different outcomes for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we try and figure something out here? It’s been bothering me.

The notices about positive cases often come many days after the notice says the person was “last in the building.” I’ve had several people complain to me that this represents a la if transparency from DCPS. And at first I agreed with them. But then my partner pointed something out and now I don’t know what to think.

Basically, my partner’s argument is that this is what happens:
Day 1- person present in school building
Day 2- person gets Covid test
Day 3-5- person receives positive result (varies based on lab backlog), alerts school
Day 4-7- Contact tracing and close contacts alerted and quarantined
Day 5-8- Notice to school community if positive

Their argument is this is why it takes 5+ days to alert the community. They can’t alert before there is a positive test because otherwise lots of the notices would be withdrawn when it turned out it wasn’t Covid. And preference is given to informing close contacts, which makes sense. It’s not a conspiracy to inform communities late, it’s just the process takes a while.

This makes sense to me even though DCPS has a terrible track record with communication. Seems they could shorten the process if they used rapid antigen tests to ascertain positives, instead of relying on PCR tests that must be processed in a lab. Don’t know if that’s feasible though.

Yes this is right.

The problem is that DCPS has no actual testing plan. They mostly send people home and tell them to get tested.

What they SHOULD do is have a big stack of rapid tests at every school, and the second someone has a symptom they should be rapid tested, PCR tested, and then sent home.
If rapid-positive, they have COVID. And then you know.
If rapid-negative, people can relax at least a little, and wait for the PCR test to confirm.

But since DCPS has terrible horrible worthless planning capacity (what do they actually do with the 400 people in central office anyway?!) they didn't buy rapid tests and they didn't arrange for more PCR tests.

Boo. Call the mayor and tell her to fire the Chancellor and nominate someone who is actually good at managing an organization that needs managing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, at this stage some might feel better just testing their kids every other day. I'm not judging that choice. I'm just saying that is the only thing in your control.

You KNOW DCPS isn't going to get it together. Some of you suspect this is a deliberate cover-up. Aside from writing to your reps, the near-term solution is testing frequently.

Call your council member and tell them that DCPS needs a better testing plan stat. Council has the authority to fix this.