Gov Hogan announcement re schools this week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just bought a few things and rearranged a space in our loft for DD to work this school year. It’s clear to me in person school is a long-shot. Get your kid set up for success now. Regardless of what happens, they will scribe spending lots of time learning at home.

That may (or may not) solve the problems for your individual child. However, if it's up to the individual parents of the 166,000 students in MCPS to solve or not solve the problems for their children, then there will be a lot of children whose problems simply will not get solved.

So "make sure that your child has what they need" is an insufficient, inadequate response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland is *not* trending well.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/896224.page

I hope he announces something county specific tied to test positivity and new cases per million per day.

I hope he shuts it all down.

I hope he shuts down the bars and the inside eating/drinking at restaurants.

Yes. He also needs to shut down the gyms (and I say that as someone who could be classified as a gym rat. Close the damn gyms.)

+1000 but I don't think he will because he doesn't want to piss off Ocean City businesses or lose out on tourism $.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of Maryland’s numbers are increasing (positivity rate, hospitalizations, deaths), not declining as rapid,u as before, bu to de you get below 5 percent, that is inevitable.

We need to be as low as some of the New England states -- 2% positivity rate and less than 30 new cases per million per day. That's the spot where you can control this thing with test-quarantine-contact trace.

We are too high.

No, the positivity rate has never been that low in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought I read in another thread that the official announcement for MCPS in the fall is aug 6. Did I get that wrong?

BOE is meeting that day but zero chance they have a plan ready to go. They will kick the can down the road just like they did all spring. Fire Jack Smith and vote out the BOE!

I think the official announcement for fall plan is Aug 14 or 16?

Which is why it makes no sense to make parents decide by Aug. 7.

I've been thinking about that. There is no way that I can make an informed decision on August 7. So, what happens if I just don't make a decision? What happens if lots of parents just don't make a decision?

I think by default your kids will be placed in the full DL option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of Maryland’s numbers are increasing (positivity rate, hospitalizations, deaths), not declining as rapid,u as before, bu to de you get below 5 percent, that is inevitable.

Maryland's new cases per day are very much increasing.



Deaths lag by about 4 weeks. Our death rates will rise, and hospitalization rates will rise sooner.

Are you slow about everything or just feign stupidity with respect to covid? After four months of this, you must realize that the number of positive cases is meaningless because it is dependent on how many tests are given. The number that is relevant is percent of tests positive.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with PP. If you go to coronavirus.maryland.gov, you will see that Maryland just administered 28K tests per day. It used to be less than 5K. Catching more cases is only natural. The positivity rate has been stable, NOT increasing. In MoCo positivity rate continues to drop, not as fast as before, but that's expected as positivity rate dips below 4%.

[Anonymous]

I’ll add that given Maryland’s low numbers, it is a travesty that most districts aren’t offering a hybrid option. Fully a third of Maryland students didn’t participate in dl in the fall. If Hogan is willing to allow most businesses to open, the schools should be open too, with appropriate safety protocols.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll add that given Maryland’s low numbers, it is a travesty that most districts aren’t offering a hybrid option. Fully a third of Maryland students didn’t participate in dl in the fall. If Hogan is willing to allow most businesses to open, the schools should be open too, with appropriate safety protocols.

Or Hogan could not allow many business to open, specifically in order to allow schools to open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought I read in another thread that the official announcement for MCPS in the fall is aug 6. Did I get that wrong?

BOE is meeting that day but zero chance they have a plan ready to go. They will kick the can down the road just like they did all spring. Fire Jack Smith and vote out the BOE!

I think the official announcement for fall plan is Aug 14 or 16?

Which is why it makes no sense to make parents decide by Aug. 7.

I've been thinking about that. There is no way that I can make an informed decision on August 7. So, what happens if I just don't make a decision? What happens if lots of parents just don't make a decision?

I think by default your kids will be placed in the full DL option.

If so, there will be no practical effect to not deciding, until that far-off, sincerely-hoped-for day finally arrives when MCPS says that they will begin to open school on X date. At which point we will all have much more of the information necessary for making an informed decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree with PP. If you go to coronavirus.maryland.gov, you will see that Maryland just administered 28K tests per day. It used to be less than 5K. Catching more cases is only natural. The positivity rate has been stable, NOT increasing. In MoCo positivity rate continues to drop, not as fast as before, but that's expected as positivity rate dips below 4%.

While positivity rates are mostly level in many counties, they are quickly rising in others. It's only a matter of time before the rate starts to increase overall. If Hogan doesn't do something statewide, we're all going to pay the price for the counties that aren't doing their part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree with PP. If you go to coronavirus.maryland.gov, you will see that Maryland just administered 28K tests per day. It used to be less than 5K. Catching more cases is only natural. The positivity rate has been stable, NOT increasing. In MoCo positivity rate continues to drop, not as fast as before, but that's expected as positivity rate dips below 4%.

While positivity rates are mostly level in many counties, they are quickly rising in others. It's only a matter of time before the rate starts to increase overall. If Hogan doesn't do something statewide, we're all going to pay the price for the counties that aren't doing their part.

Not really.

https://twitter.com/MDHealthDept/status/1284857370154356738/photo/1

There's a bit of an upward trend in Kent County (population 20,000) and Worcester County. I do think that Hogan should shut the bars, statewide but especially in Ocean City.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree with PP. If you go to coronavirus.maryland.gov, you will see that Maryland just administered 28K tests per day. It used to be less than 5K. Catching more cases is only natural. The positivity rate has been stable, NOT increasing. In MoCo positivity rate continues to drop, not as fast as before, but that's expected as positivity rate dips below 4%.

No. In Maryland, we are having to test more and more and more to keep that positivity rate under 5%. That means that cases are increasing.

Look at this graph showing positivity rate and number of tests. See how we have been able to keep the positivity rate below 5%.... only by testing more and more people. The past month there's a rise in number of tests.



The reason we have to keep testing more and more people to get a 5% positivity rate is that cases are climbing!

Low positivity is an indiciation that your state is doing a good job of trying to catch all the cases. But the other factor you need to consider is how many cases there are, in fact, in your state.

The number of cases in MD is RISING. It isn't rising because we are testing more. It is rising because more people are getting the virus.

These are the goals we want to look for: Positivity rate of 2% AND new cases per million of 30 per day, or fewer. If we have 5% positivity rate that isn't stable in the long run.

[Anonymous]

You guys have to stop focusing on JUST the positivity rate. Think about it. If we truly had very few cases in our state, then increasing testing should send our positivity rate to less than 1% The more you test, the lower it would go, because there just aren't a lot of cases anymore.

But that's not what is happening. The more we test the more cases we are finding. Cases that shouldn't be out there.

Don't tell me "hospitalizations and deaths are stable". Sure they are. Because a month ago we had a lot fewer new cases per day. We just came out of a lockdown. And spread right now is happening in young people who don't get that sick.

But in another 4 weeks we will see hospitalizations rise again as the 20-30 year olds spread it to their employers and aunts and uncles and the custodians at their workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland is *not* trending well.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/896224.page

I hope he announces something county specific tied to test positivity and new cases per million per day.

I hope he shuts it all down.

I hope he shuts down the bars and the inside eating/drinking at restaurants.

Yes. He also needs to shut down the gyms (and I say that as someone who could be classified as a gym rat. Close the damn gyms.)

Exactly. It is absolutely beyond insane that people are going to bars in Ocean City and our children are not getting an education as a result. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll add that given Maryland’s low numbers, it is a travesty that most districts aren’t offering a hybrid option. Fully a third of Maryland students didn’t participate in dl in the fall. If Hogan is willing to allow most businesses to open, the schools should be open too, with appropriate safety protocols.

Exactly.