When will quarantine / mandatory absence from school stop for Covid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course at some point we will get to that point but obviously we’re nowhere close to there now. Were you ready for us to be there 2 weeks ago, just prior to your son catching covid? Would you have been ok with every kid in his class who caught covid coming in 2 days later, if they felt better, or the next day, if mom and dad are out of sick leave? No, probably not. Most of us want people who are in the most contagious part of covid to stay home.

DP, But I don’t get this post. If you agree that we’ll stop doing extended quarantine and isolation periods for Covid at some point, why not now? We’ve got vaccines and booster, so kids (who were already at low risk) are well protected. What do you think is going to change in a month/year/decade?

I won’t care anymore when 1) we have a vaccine for kids under 5 and 2) when we have a treatment (or way to prevent) long covid.

We’ll have a vaccine for kids under 5 in June.

Long Covid isn’t what you seem to think it is. As the recent studies show, there's no indication there is anything physiologically wrong with the vast majority of people that say they have long Covid. While I'm sure there's some element of truth to long Covid, as post-viral syndrome, is a well-known phenomenon, there's also clearly a psychological component.

Just like PTSD in soldiers. No big deal. All in their heads. Ignore it. Not you so why care is people are impacted?
Long covid patients will clog up health care, but who needs health care? Not you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop testing. We never test for COVID and send our kid to school only when healthy. That means if he has a sore throat one day he stays home, but if he feels better the next, he goes to school. Nobody can make you test. Time to get back to normalcy.

Don’t tell, don’t tell is the only way to get back to normalcy.

No one ever told the school when their child had the flu. If you called at all, you would just say your kid was sick and wouldn’t be going in. We’re well overdue to treat Covid the same way.

Yes because sick teachers are irrelevant to schools. We only send our children to school to get them out of the house. It makes no difference if there is no teacher in the classroom. They are not important. Just get the kids out of sight.

I would hope teachers would choose to get vaccinated/boosted, so even if they are exposed they’re likely to have mild symptoms that would allow them to continue to work. Just like everyone— teachers included— did in the past.

How did so many people forget that it’s normal to get sick from time-to-time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop testing. We never test for COVID and send our kid to school only when healthy. That means if he has a sore throat one day he stays home, but if he feels better the next, he goes to school. Nobody can make you test. Time to get back to normalcy.

Don’t tell, don’t tell is the only way to get back to normalcy.

No one ever told the school when their child had the flu. If you called at all, you would just say your kid was sick and wouldn’t be going in. We’re well overdue to treat Covid the same way.

Yes because sick teachers are irrelevant to schools. We only send our children to school to get them out of the house. It makes no difference if there is no teacher in the classroom. They are not important. Just get the kids out of sight.

I’m pretty sure you’re a troll but I’ll bite - Teachers are dealing with similarly mild symptoms too and/or their own otherwise healthy kids quarantined. My DS’s math teacher was home for nearly two weeks because her kids were Covid positive. She was incredibly frustrated because one of her kids was completely asymptomatic and the other had only mild symptoms. We’ve had several teachers out for a full week who’ve said they felt fine and could have returned to work earlier save for the mandatory quarantine. As with any other illness, teachers who feel really unwell can and should stay home …. But if they feel well and have little to no symptoms, why not return to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course at some point we will get to that point but obviously we’re nowhere close to there now. Were you ready for us to be there 2 weeks ago, just prior to your son catching covid? Would you have been ok with every kid in his class who caught covid coming in 2 days later, if they felt better, or the next day, if mom and dad are out of sick leave? No, probably not. Most of us want people who are in the most contagious part of covid to stay home.

DP, But I don’t get this post. If you agree that we’ll stop doing extended quarantine and isolation periods for Covid at some point, why not now? We’ve got vaccines and booster, so kids (who were already at low risk) are well protected. What do you think is going to change in a month/year/decade?

I won’t care anymore when 1) we have a vaccine for kids under 5 and 2) when we have a treatment (or way to prevent) long covid.

We’ll have a vaccine for kids under 5 in June.

Long Covid isn’t what you seem to think it is. As the recent studies show, there's no indication there is anything physiologically wrong with the vast majority of people that say they have long Covid. While I'm sure there's some element of truth to long Covid, as post-viral syndrome, is a well-known phenomenon, there's also clearly a psychological component.

Just like PTSD in soldiers. No big deal. All in their heads. Ignore it. Not you so why care is people are impacted?
Long covid patients will clog up health care, but who needs health care? Not you.

Right, like PTSD. It’s important to acknowledge the cause. Pretending long Covid is some mysterious, unusual, and severe physiological condition will simply feed the anxiety that leads to most cases of long covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop testing. We never test for COVID and send our kid to school only when healthy. That means if he has a sore throat one day he stays home, but if he feels better the next, he goes to school. Nobody can make you test. Time to get back to normalcy.

Don’t tell, don’t tell is the only way to get back to normalcy.

No one ever told the school when their child had the flu. If you called at all, you would just say your kid was sick and wouldn’t be going in. We’re well overdue to treat Covid the same way.

Yes because sick teachers are irrelevant to schools. We only send our children to school to get them out of the house. It makes no difference if there is no teacher in the classroom. They are not important. Just get the kids out of sight.

I am the PP who said I send my healthy kid to school but don't test. It's not about getting my kid out of the house. He is in high school, so no issues about child care lol. It's about normalcy and learning. I am not keeping a healthy kid home from school to miss important classes. We are done with the learning loss. You are free to keep your healthy child home and or make them wear a mask. Most people are done with this and more and more are joining the ranks of people wanting normalcy. Wear your N95 and leave us be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop testing. We never test for COVID and send our kid to school only when healthy. That means if he has a sore throat one day he stays home, but if he feels better the next, he goes to school. Nobody can make you test. Time to get back to normalcy.

Don’t tell, don’t tell is the only way to get back to normalcy.

No one ever told the school when their child had the flu. If you called at all, you would just say your kid was sick and wouldn’t be going in. We’re well overdue to treat Covid the same way.

Yes because sick teachers are irrelevant to schools. We only send our children to school to get them out of the house. It makes no difference if there is no teacher in the classroom. They are not important. Just get the kids out of sight.

I’m pretty sure you’re a troll but I’ll bite - Teachers are dealing with similarly mild symptoms too and/or their own otherwise healthy kids quarantined. My DS’s math teacher was home for nearly two weeks because her kids were Covid positive. She was incredibly frustrated because one of her kids was completely asymptomatic and the other had only mild symptoms. We’ve had several teachers out for a full week who’ve said they felt fine and could have returned to work earlier save for the mandatory quarantine. As with any other illness, teachers who feel really unwell can and should stay home …. But if they feel well and have little to no symptoms, why not return to school?

I don’t think she’s a troll. I think she’s the poster that wants masks, distancing, and isolation/quarantines to continue until Covid “goes away.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course at some point we will get to that point but obviously we’re nowhere close to there now. Were you ready for us to be there 2 weeks ago, just prior to your son catching covid? Would you have been ok with every kid in his class who caught covid coming in 2 days later, if they felt better, or the next day, if mom and dad are out of sick leave? No, probably not. Most of us want people who are in the most contagious part of covid to stay home.

DP, But I don’t get this post. If you agree that we’ll stop doing extended quarantine and isolation periods for Covid at some point, why not now? We’ve got vaccines and booster, so kids (who were already at low risk) are well protected. What do you think is going to change in a month/year/decade?

I won’t care anymore when 1) we have a vaccine for kids under 5 and 2) when we have a treatment (or way to prevent) long covid.

We’ll have a vaccine for kids under 5 in June.

Long Covid isn’t what you seem to think it is. As the recent studies show, there's no indication there is anything physiologically wrong with the vast majority of people that say they have long Covid. While I'm sure there's some element of truth to long Covid, as post-viral syndrome, is a well-known phenomenon, there's also clearly a psychological component.

Just like PTSD in soldiers. No big deal. All in their heads. Ignore it. Not you so why care is people are impacted?
Long covid patients will clog up health care, but who needs health care? Not you.

Your overreaction makes it hard to take your post seriously. While long Covid is concerning, it’s not a majority of cases. We don’t keep kids in quarantine because of strep though strep is linked to longer term illness in a minority of kids. We don’t keep kids home for five days with a stomach virus even though you can shed stomach virus for up to two weeks. Keep sick kids home and when symptoms disappear send them to school.

[Anonymous]

It might change when schools require Covid vaccinations and boosters. Basically, schools don't want to be sued for spread of Covid when not everyone is required to be vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course at some point we will get to that point but obviously we’re nowhere close to there now. Were you ready for us to be there 2 weeks ago, just prior to your son catching covid? Would you have been ok with every kid in his class who caught covid coming in 2 days later, if they felt better, or the next day, if mom and dad are out of sick leave? No, probably not. Most of us want people who are in the most contagious part of covid to stay home.

DP, But I don’t get this post. If you agree that we’ll stop doing extended quarantine and isolation periods for Covid at some point, why not now? We’ve got vaccines and booster, so kids (who were already at low risk) are well protected. What do you think is going to change in a month/year/decade?

I won’t care anymore when 1) we have a vaccine for kids under 5 and 2) when we have a treatment (or way to prevent) long covid.

We’ll have a vaccine for kids under 5 in June.

Long Covid isn’t what you seem to think it is. As the recent studies show, there's no indication there is anything physiologically wrong with the vast majority of people that say they have long Covid. While I'm sure there's some element of truth to long Covid, as post-viral syndrome, is a well-known phenomenon, there's also clearly a psychological component.

Just like PTSD in soldiers. No big deal. All in their heads. Ignore it. Not you so why care is people are impacted?
Long covid patients will clog up health care, but who needs health care? Not you.

Your overreaction makes it hard to take your post seriously. While long Covid is concerning, it’s not a majority of cases. We don’t keep kids in quarantine because of strep though strep is linked to longer term illness in a minority of kids. We don’t keep kids home for five days with a stomach virus even though you can shed stomach virus for up to two weeks. Keep sick kids home and when symptoms disappear send them to school.

Exactly. And we are getting there slowly. There will be holdouts like the PP. Let them fret with their N95s. Policies will only get less strict and they will just have to cope.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher (vaccinated/boosted). I had three students out this past week with Covid (all three of these students do not wear masks). I also have families who have stopped the in-school testing for their children (these students don’t wear masks at school). My situation may not be something that comes to mind with many of you. I am scheduled to have surgery in less than four weeks. If I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. My surgeon wanted to operate sooner, but I wanted to wait until school was over. It’s a surgery with a long recovery and I need the summer to recuperate. I am doing everything I can while in the classroom (including wearing a proper mask) to avoid testing positive. It doesn’t matter if I’m asymptomatic. A positive test result means I can’t have surgery in June.

Sometimes testing is about protecting others who may have situations you know nothing about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher (vaccinated/boosted). I had three students out this past week with Covid (all three of these students do not wear masks). I also have families who have stopped the in-school testing for their children (these students don’t wear masks at school). My situation may not be something that comes to mind with many of you. I am scheduled to have surgery in less than four weeks. If I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. My surgeon wanted to operate sooner, but I wanted to wait until school was over. It’s a surgery with a long recovery and I need the summer to recuperate. I am doing everything I can while in the classroom (including wearing a proper mask) to avoid testing positive. It doesn’t matter if I’m asymptomatic. A positive test result means I can’t have surgery in June.

Sometimes testing is about protecting others who may have situations you know nothing about.

Of course and I sympathize with your situation and for those in similar scenarios. That said, it’s unlikely you could have surgery with any illness. A flu, a stomach bug, a fever would likely postpone any major procedure. Also you seem to infer that those who are getting Covid aren’t abiding by mask wearing or vaccinated. I assure you that’s not my experience. In fact my kids school still predominantly masks and Covid cases are on the rise across the board (kids who mask / kids who don’t mask). Lastly, while in school testing is great if it’s uniformly administered, but if only a small percentage of kids are part of the pool all it does is focus on the small percentage of kids. Our school had a less than 10% participation rate and it was primarily for kids in lower grades. Given all of this, it doesn’t make sense to keep every positive kid out of school when they are symptom free if there are so many kids who like are asymptomatic and show up regardless - the parents aren’t testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher (vaccinated/boosted). I had three students out this past week with Covid (all three of these students do not wear masks). I also have families who have stopped the in-school testing for their children (these students don’t wear masks at school). My situation may not be something that comes to mind with many of you. I am scheduled to have surgery in less than four weeks. If I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. My surgeon wanted to operate sooner, but I wanted to wait until school was over. It’s a surgery with a long recovery and I need the summer to recuperate. I am doing everything I can while in the classroom (including wearing a proper mask) to avoid testing positive. It doesn’t matter if I’m asymptomatic. A positive test result means I can’t have surgery in June.

Sometimes testing is about protecting others who may have situations you know nothing about.

Of course and I sympathize with your situation and for those in similar scenarios. That said, it’s unlikely you could have surgery with any illness. A flu, a stomach bug, a fever would likely postpone any major procedure. Also you seem to infer that those who are getting Covid aren’t abiding by mask wearing or vaccinated. I assure you that’s not my experience. In fact my kids school still predominantly masks and Covid cases are on the rise across the board (kids who mask / kids who don’t mask). Lastly, while in school testing is great if it’s uniformly administered, but if only a small percentage of kids are part of the pool all it does is focus on the small percentage of kids. Our school had a less than 10% participation rate and it was primarily for kids in lower grades. Given all of this, it doesn’t make sense to keep every positive kid out of school when they are symptom free if there are so many kids who like are asymptomatic and show up regardless - the parents aren’t testing.

My school had a large number of students participating in the testing. At one point, 83% of my class was being tested weekly. When staffing was low, they tested a random sample from each class. However, on most weeks, all students whose families have requested testing are tested. This is now 16 of my students who are tested weekly.

About the kids who predominant mask… the masks come off when students eat breakfast in the classroom, when they have a snack, drink from their water bottle, and when eating lunch. Many of the kids who wear masks don’t wear them properly in school (only covers their mouth, not their nose, etc). Fewer students are wearing masks at all these days.

The thing with testing positive for Covid is that there is a six week waiting period before surgery can happen. In reality, nothing can be rescheduled in six weeks, because it takes months to get on a surgery schedule. If I test positive before my surgery date, I would likely be able to get back on the surgery schedule at the end of August. This means I would miss the first six weeks of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher (vaccinated/boosted). I had three students out this past week with Covid (all three of these students do not wear masks). I also have families who have stopped the in-school testing for their children (these students don’t wear masks at school). My situation may not be something that comes to mind with many of you. I am scheduled to have surgery in less than four weeks. If I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. My surgeon wanted to operate sooner, but I wanted to wait until school was over. It’s a surgery with a long recovery and I need the summer to recuperate. I am doing everything I can while in the classroom (including wearing a proper mask) to avoid testing positive. It doesn’t matter if I’m asymptomatic. A positive test result means I can’t have surgery in June.

Sometimes testing is about protecting others who may have situations you know nothing about.

Of course and I sympathize with your situation and for those in similar scenarios. That said, it’s unlikely you could have surgery with any illness. A flu, a stomach bug, a fever would likely postpone any major procedure. Also you seem to infer that those who are getting Covid aren’t abiding by mask wearing or vaccinated. I assure you that’s not my experience. In fact my kids school still predominantly masks and Covid cases are on the rise across the board (kids who mask / kids who don’t mask). Lastly, while in school testing is great if it’s uniformly administered, but if only a small percentage of kids are part of the pool all it does is focus on the small percentage of kids. Our school had a less than 10% participation rate and it was primarily for kids in lower grades. Given all of this, it doesn’t make sense to keep every positive kid out of school when they are symptom free if there are so many kids who like are asymptomatic and show up regardless - the parents aren’t testing.

My school had a large number of students participating in the testing. At one point, 83% of my class was being tested weekly. When staffing was low, they tested a random sample from each class. However, on most weeks, all students whose families have requested testing are tested. This is now 16 of my students who are tested weekly.

About the kids who predominant mask… the masks come off when students eat breakfast in the classroom, when they have a snack, drink from their water bottle, and when eating lunch. Many of the kids who wear masks don’t wear them properly in school (only covers their mouth, not their nose, etc). Fewer students are wearing masks at all these days.

The thing with testing positive for Covid is that there is a six week waiting period before surgery can happen. In reality, nothing can be rescheduled in six weeks, because it takes months to get on a surgery schedule. If I test positive before my surgery date, I would likely be able to get back on the surgery schedule at the end of August. This means I would miss the first six weeks of school.

Is it possible for you to take a leave of absence now to avoid cutting it so close? Even with masks and testing you could catch Covid. This seems like a far more reasonable solution for your particular situation. But as a practice, no, it would make no sense to quarantine otherwise healthy kids for the unusual scenario you are in. And outside of Covid, you would still be facing the threat of flu and other ailments that could affect your surgery. Talk to your administration about a leave of absence for medical reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It might change when schools require Covid vaccinations and boosters. Basically, schools don't want to be sued for spread of Covid when not everyone is required to be vaccinated.

After all, think of all the money they pay out over lawsuits about the flu!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher (vaccinated/boosted). I had three students out this past week with Covid (all three of these students do not wear masks). I also have families who have stopped the in-school testing for their children (these students don’t wear masks at school). My situation may not be something that comes to mind with many of you. I am scheduled to have surgery in less than four weeks. If I test positive for Covid, I can’t have surgery. My surgeon wanted to operate sooner, but I wanted to wait until school was over. It’s a surgery with a long recovery and I need the summer to recuperate. I am doing everything I can while in the classroom (including wearing a proper mask) to avoid testing positive. It doesn’t matter if I’m asymptomatic. A positive test result means I can’t have surgery in June.

Sometimes testing is about protecting others who may have situations you know nothing about.

As someone with immediate family members with complicated medical conditions, I’m fairly sympathetic to those, but I’m pretty confused by what sort of surgery would have such a long recovery period that you couldn’t wait 2 weeks after school and still be able to work in the fall. One of my family members was jogging less than 3 months after a liver transplant, and there aren’t a lot of procedures with longer recovery times than that.