How few coronavirus cases before schools reopen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't have schools that open and stay open unless they can be open without cases and transmission. That's just the hard truth. So I would say if you have community spread (meaning they can't trace and contain each outbreak) and an infection rate more than 2% or so, you won't be able to have schools that STAY open. Because they'll just be closing all the time for quarantine as they find out about positives among students and teachers.

There are a lot of countries that achieved that goal, but we're not among them. We have community spread and high infection rates everywhere.

There's also a scenario where we could have rapid, widely available testing and so if you had a positive case in a school you could test everyone else, isolate the positives, and move on. But this is America and so don't hold your breath. With a week turnaround on testing, there's no way you could keep a school open when you had cases. It's not like you could say sure, just keep coming to school while we wait for your tests.

There actually are rapid tests available. MedStar urgent care among others has 20 minute tests. Sure DC could buy those? I think they should actually do rapid pooled saliva testing and then send the class home for the day if there’s a positive and sort it out from there. Would be cheaper, safer and preserve tests too.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand teachers, or at least the outspoken ones on social media. As a professional, if I felt that my job was putting me at risk, my first thought would be how can I do my job as safely and effectively as possible, not how can I be completely safe without regard for the people I serve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand teachers, or at least the outspoken ones on social media. As a professional, if I felt that my job was putting me at risk, my first thought would be how can I do my job as safely and effectively as possible, not how can I be completely safe without regard for the people I serve.

Please include principals in this. They also only want virtual leaning for now.

[Anonymous]

Supposedly, according to our charter and the mayor, these decisions are all up to the health dept. You should be asking them. I am not sure what they're looking for, but they did say that above 1.0 R number is too high and so is community transmission.

I don't know how their criteria compares to other cities but this is where we should be looking. It's not all about feelings of perceived risk.

[Anonymous]

All we can do is wish your child and family well. Be blessed. Some of us don’t want to take a chance with The Corona. We trust in DCPS to look at best practices in other jurisdictions. Keep distance learning going until at least the emergency order is ended in October, if not until January.

All the major jurisdictions in the area should do the same thing. Distance learning. Wear masks, too. Contain the virus.

However, make distance learning more engaging. Train teachers to teach better or bring in some mass produced applications or videos. Some kids do better with virtual learning as long as there is adequate supervision at home. Give kids the freedom to take some subjects at the time of day that works best for them and their families.

You realize that teaching may be more of a gift or passion. Admit that some teachers are not so good and need help.

Now the real problem is how do families work and pay their bills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't have schools that open and stay open unless they can be open without cases and transmission. That's just the hard truth. So I would say if you have community spread (meaning they can't trace and contain each outbreak) and an infection rate more than 2% or so, you won't be able to have schools that STAY open. Because they'll just be closing all the time for quarantine as they find out about positives among students and teachers.

There are a lot of countries that achieved that goal, but we're not among them. We have community spread and high infection rates everywhere.

There's also a scenario where we could have rapid, widely available testing and so if you had a positive case in a school you could test everyone else, isolate the positives, and move on. But this is America and so don't hold your breath. With a week turnaround on testing, there's no way you could keep a school open when you had cases. It's not like you could say sure, just keep coming to school while we wait for your tests.

But it’s totally cool for bars and gyms and farmers markets to be open?

Farmers Markets are pretty low risk I think. Open bars are crazy. In places where restaurants have re-opened, they have a lot of rolling closures as positives come in among staff. And those are groups of what, 20? So a school is like a giant restaurant with the same customers every day. You can open them, but they'll just end up closed as they have positives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand teachers, or at least the outspoken ones on social media. As a professional, if I felt that my job was putting me at risk, my first thought would be how can I do my job as safely and effectively as possible, not how can I be completely safe without regard for the people I serve.

Please include principals in this. They also only want virtual leaning for now.

+1. It is BOTH teachers and administrators who do not really seem to be taking into account the serious educational/socialization losses to students if schools just end up closed for 1.5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't have schools that open and stay open unless they can be open without cases and transmission. That's just the hard truth. So I would say if you have community spread (meaning they can't trace and contain each outbreak) and an infection rate more than 2% or so, you won't be able to have schools that STAY open. Because they'll just be closing all the time for quarantine as they find out about positives among students and teachers.

There are a lot of countries that achieved that goal, but we're not among them. We have community spread and high infection rates everywhere.

There's also a scenario where we could have rapid, widely available testing and so if you had a positive case in a school you could test everyone else, isolate the positives, and move on. But this is America and so don't hold your breath. With a week turnaround on testing, there's no way you could keep a school open when you had cases. It's not like you could say sure, just keep coming to school while we wait for your tests.

There actually are rapid tests available. MedStar urgent care among others has 20 minute tests. Sure DC could buy those? I think they should actually do rapid pooled saliva testing and then send the class home for the day if there’s a positive and sort it out from there. Would be cheaper, safer and preserve tests too.

Yeah that would be great but I don't think the capacity for that exists, even if we had the will and the funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Supposedly, according to our charter and the mayor, these decisions are all up to the health dept. You should be asking them. I am not sure what they're looking for, but they did say that above 1.0 R number is too high and so is community transmission.

I don't know how their criteria compares to other cities but this is where we should be looking. It's not all about feelings of perceived risk.

And yet child care centers are allowed to be open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't have schools that open and stay open unless they can be open without cases and transmission. That's just the hard truth. So I would say if you have community spread (meaning they can't trace and contain each outbreak) and an infection rate more than 2% or so, you won't be able to have schools that STAY open. Because they'll just be closing all the time for quarantine as they find out about positives among students and teachers.

There are a lot of countries that achieved that goal, but we're not among them. We have community spread and high infection rates everywhere.

There's also a scenario where we could have rapid, widely available testing and so if you had a positive case in a school you could test everyone else, isolate the positives, and move on. But this is America and so don't hold your breath. With a week turnaround on testing, there's no way you could keep a school open when you had cases. It's not like you could say sure, just keep coming to school while we wait for your tests.

But it’s totally cool for bars and gyms and farmers markets to be open?

Well, I don't happen to think it is, but I'm not in charge. I think bars and indoor dining and gyms and all other non-essential indoor retail should be closed. Then we might be able to open schools.

I don't know what the actual metric that DCPS is using, but I'd say you need to have transmission under control, meaning that at least 60 percent of new cases can be traced to known cases. That would mean that you could identify new outbreaks and suppress them. That requires widespread testing with rapid results, plus effective contact tracing and quarantine support. The R0 must be less than 1. New cases should be declining for at least two weeks. Under those circumstances, I'd be comfortable reopening schools in person. (I'm a parent, and not a teacher.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren’t that many people in DC who have coronavirus. The numbers actually look pretty good. How low does the caseload have to go before in-person schooling begins full time? Has the city said?

Why do you keep posting this? The numbers are getting worse. Why is that so hard to understand?

No reopening anywhere until we've had 36 months of no new cases AND everyone in the country has been vaccinated, including every last homesteader in rural Alaska. To suggest anything less means you're OK with killing your kids and teachers!

That’s obviously absurd. Grocery stores are open. Are you killing grocery store workers so you can buy paper towels?

Right! People on this board do not care about grocery store workers probably because they do not personally know anyone who works such a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers union going to say zero.

This is why there will be no in person school for the 20/21 school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Supposedly, according to our charter and the mayor, these decisions are all up to the health dept. You should be asking them. I am not sure what they're looking for, but they did say that above 1.0 R number is too high and so is community transmission.

I don't know how their criteria compares to other cities but this is where we should be looking. It's not all about feelings of perceived risk.

+1

I also read that the metrics that they are concerned about include community spread (the number of cases that cannot be traced to a known source) and the R0. Both of those seem like reasonable things to care about. Widespread community transmission means that it's probably a matter of weeks, at most, before positive cases start popping up in schools and quarantines start shutting things down again. People haven't thought through the logistics of rolling quarantines and closures that will inevitably happen when kids and teachers start testing positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Supposedly, according to our charter and the mayor, these decisions are all up to the health dept. You should be asking them. I am not sure what they're looking for, but they did say that above 1.0 R number is too high and so is community transmission.

I don't know how their criteria compares to other cities but this is where we should be looking. It's not all about feelings of perceived risk.

And yet child care centers are allowed to be open.

I can't say I understand this. At first I thought it's only for essential workers (ie, desperate need) but now it's all daycares, under reduced conditions. Are daycare providers that different than teachers? Doesn't seem like it. What justification is offered here?

[Anonymous]

Daycare providers are not unionized. They will not get paid unless they are working.