Have you sign-up for weekly asymptomatic testing at APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And from that linked article:

Dr McClean said schools had been "majorly disrupted" over the past two years and at this point, there was a need to balance the impact on children's education with the need to control Covid-19 infection rates.

"We reached the stage in the pandemic now with the vaccination programme having reached 90% of the adult population, and other restrictions being lifted, that we can no longer justify an approach where really we're harming children by sending them home from school.

A-freakin-men! Kids should not be suffering the brunt of the consequences of continued restrictions caused by a portion of the American populace that refuses to vaccinate. If the illness has no worse outcomes than the flu for vaccinated adults and children under 12, then why are we continuing to quarantine contacts in schools? The DC metro area has a high enough vaccination rate that our hospitals and ICU's aren't overrun with covid cases. Our goal this year should be educating students, not preventing spread of Covid at all costs. That ship has sailed.

Actually..https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/09/13/the-covid-19-surge-is-overwhelming-emergency-rooms-across-virginia/

Southwest Virginia 6 hours away by car! 2 hospitalizations "with" COVID in Arlington County, 3 in Fairfax.

You people really don't want this to end. It is pathetic.

[Anonymous]

My kids got tested yesterday- easy. No complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And from that linked article:

Dr McClean said schools had been "majorly disrupted" over the past two years and at this point, there was a need to balance the impact on children's education with the need to control Covid-19 infection rates.

"We reached the stage in the pandemic now with the vaccination programme having reached 90% of the adult population, and other restrictions being lifted, that we can no longer justify an approach where really we're harming children by sending them home from school.

A-freakin-men! Kids should not be suffering the brunt of the consequences of continued restrictions caused by a portion of the American populace that refuses to vaccinate. If the illness has no worse outcomes than the flu for vaccinated adults and children under 12, then why are we continuing to quarantine contacts in schools? The DC metro area has a high enough vaccination rate that our hospitals and ICU's aren't overrun with covid cases. Our goal this year should be educating students, not preventing spread of Covid at all costs. That ship has sailed.

Actually..https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/09/13/the-covid-19-surge-is-overwhelming-emergency-rooms-across-virginia/

Southwest Virginia 6 hours away by car! 2 hospitalizations "with" COVID in Arlington County, 3 in Fairfax.

You people really don't want this to end. It is pathetic.

We ALL want this to end.

Some people want to just pretend like it’s already over.

And others want to use simple measures to mitigate risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And from that linked article:

Dr McClean said schools had been "majorly disrupted" over the past two years and at this point, there was a need to balance the impact on children's education with the need to control Covid-19 infection rates.

"We reached the stage in the pandemic now with the vaccination programme having reached 90% of the adult population, and other restrictions being lifted, that we can no longer justify an approach where really we're harming children by sending them home from school.

A-freakin-men! Kids should not be suffering the brunt of the consequences of continued restrictions caused by a portion of the American populace that refuses to vaccinate. If the illness has no worse outcomes than the flu for vaccinated adults and children under 12, then why are we continuing to quarantine contacts in schools? The DC metro area has a high enough vaccination rate that our hospitals and ICU's aren't overrun with covid cases. Our goal this year should be educating students, not preventing spread of Covid at all costs. That ship has sailed.

Actually..https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/09/13/the-covid-19-surge-is-overwhelming-emergency-rooms-across-virginia/

Southwest Virginia 6 hours away by car! 2 hospitalizations "with" COVID in Arlington County, 3 in Fairfax.

You people really don't want this to end. It is pathetic.

We ALL want this to end.

Some people want to just pretend like it’s already over.

And others want to use simple measures to mitigate risk.

Vaccines are the end. COVID is here to stay, just like the flu.

It's time to live with the virus, just like the UK and Scandinavia. You can continue staying in your home and not eating in restaurants. The rest of us have already moved on and it's time for schools to do so too.

[Anonymous]

Only 2 kids in our class got tested yesterday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And from that linked article:

Dr McClean said schools had been "majorly disrupted" over the past two years and at this point, there was a need to balance the impact on children's education with the need to control Covid-19 infection rates.

"We reached the stage in the pandemic now with the vaccination programme having reached 90% of the adult population, and other restrictions being lifted, that we can no longer justify an approach where really we're harming children by sending them home from school.

A-freakin-men! Kids should not be suffering the brunt of the consequences of continued restrictions caused by a portion of the American populace that refuses to vaccinate. If the illness has no worse outcomes than the flu for vaccinated adults and children under 12, then why are we continuing to quarantine contacts in schools? The DC metro area has a high enough vaccination rate that our hospitals and ICU's aren't overrun with covid cases. Our goal this year should be educating students, not preventing spread of Covid at all costs. That ship has sailed.

Actually..https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/09/13/the-covid-19-surge-is-overwhelming-emergency-rooms-across-virginia/

Southwest Virginia 6 hours away by car! 2 hospitalizations "with" COVID in Arlington County, 3 in Fairfax.

You people really don't want this to end. It is pathetic.

Sorry to burst your bubble. My kid is at VaTech smack dab in the middle of SW VA She ended up in the ER last week not Covid. Was not at overrun in the least. She was in and out in 3 hrs. Tech is currently a hot spot of viruses. However none of it is covid. Strep, mono, tonsillitis they have tons of but covid is super low on the list. But go ahead and say it’s all Covid.

Have to agree you don’t want this to end.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have an update on what happens if someone in the pool tests positive? Does the entire cohort still have to quarantine until they get a negative test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an update on what happens if someone in the pool tests positive? Does the entire cohort still have to quarantine until they get a negative test?

Resourcepath has information about their process on their website. Getting reports that some schools used rapid tests yesterday (Binax).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an update on what happens if someone in the pool tests positive? Does the entire cohort still have to quarantine until they get a negative test?

Nope. Just the "suspected positive".


https://www.apsva.us/school-year-2021-22/health-safety-information/covid-19-testing/

Strategized Surveillance Program Overview

Students participating in strategized surveillance testing will administer an individual PCR mid-nasal swab under the direction and supervision of a provider during the dedicated two hours weekly for their school. At the laboratory, technicians will receive the individual PCR mid-nasal swabs from the school and create a pool not exceed 6 students and run as a group through one laboratory test, preserving the original individual test collected. During this method of testing the identity and integrity of individual samples collected as part of the program are maintained. If a pool were to come up as a positive, the laboratory uses an algorithm to determine which samples to test for confirmation of which student(s) within the pool are positive. These confirmation results will be followed up with a running of the individual sample(s) identified to confirm positive status.

During the confirmation period, the suspected positive student(s) in the pool who are identified using the algorithm will be excluded from in person instruction and activities. The family can expect to receive definitive confirmation of the positive results after individual sample(s) are ran for confirmation which on average is 12-24 hours. The entire participants in the pool will not need to quarantine during this process unless they are identified as a suspected case using the algorithm on the pooled samples.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how to find the APS dashboard with results by school? I can find last year's linked to the 2020-2021 website but I can't find this year's linked to the 2021-2022 website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an update on what happens if someone in the pool tests positive? Does the entire cohort still have to quarantine until they get a negative test?

Nope. Just the "suspected positive".


https://www.apsva.us/school-year-2021-22/health-safety-information/covid-19-testing/

Strategized Surveillance Program Overview

Students participating in strategized surveillance testing will administer an individual PCR mid-nasal swab under the direction and supervision of a provider during the dedicated two hours weekly for their school. At the laboratory, technicians will receive the individual PCR mid-nasal swabs from the school and create a pool not exceed 6 students and run as a group through one laboratory test, preserving the original individual test collected. During this method of testing the identity and integrity of individual samples collected as part of the program are maintained. If a pool were to come up as a positive, the laboratory uses an algorithm to determine which samples to test for confirmation of which student(s) within the pool are positive. These confirmation results will be followed up with a running of the individual sample(s) identified to confirm positive status.

During the confirmation period, the suspected positive student(s) in the pool who are identified using the algorithm will be excluded from in person instruction and activities. The family can expect to receive definitive confirmation of the positive results after individual sample(s) are ran for confirmation which on average is 12-24 hours. The entire participants in the pool will not need to quarantine during this process unless they are identified as a suspected case using the algorithm on the pooled samples.

Anyone have info about how this algorithm identifies the potential positives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an update on what happens if someone in the pool tests positive? Does the entire cohort still have to quarantine until they get a negative test?

Nope. Just the "suspected positive".


https://www.apsva.us/school-year-2021-22/health-safety-information/covid-19-testing/

Strategized Surveillance Program Overview

Students participating in strategized surveillance testing will administer an individual PCR mid-nasal swab under the direction and supervision of a provider during the dedicated two hours weekly for their school. At the laboratory, technicians will receive the individual PCR mid-nasal swabs from the school and create a pool not exceed 6 students and run as a group through one laboratory test, preserving the original individual test collected. During this method of testing the identity and integrity of individual samples collected as part of the program are maintained. If a pool were to come up as a positive, the laboratory uses an algorithm to determine which samples to test for confirmation of which student(s) within the pool are positive. These confirmation results will be followed up with a running of the individual sample(s) identified to confirm positive status.

During the confirmation period, the suspected positive student(s) in the pool who are identified using the algorithm will be excluded from in person instruction and activities. The family can expect to receive definitive confirmation of the positive results after individual sample(s) are ran for confirmation which on average is 12-24 hours. The entire participants in the pool will not need to quarantine during this process unless they are identified as a suspected case using the algorithm on the pooled samples.

yeah- honestly this makes no sense. how can they use an 'algorithm' to decide who in the pool is likely positive??? This is asymptomatic surveillance testing- what is the 'algorithm' going to tell them?

[Anonymous]

Ugh.. Just looked at the Qualtrics dashboard and since yesterday, 21 kids are listed as "close contacts" at the Montessori school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh.. Just looked at the Qualtrics dashboard and since yesterday, 21 kids are listed as "close contacts" at the Montessori school.

Can you please give the link??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way am I signing up for this. If my asymptomatic kid tests positive, all three of his siblings need to miss two+ weeks of school? No way, especially since no one else in their class will have to quarantine.

Oh OK, so it’s fine for them to asymptomatically spread it to an at risk individual? Like my child, or sports coach who has an elderly family member, or to one of your own family members? I’ve never been so sickened by people than in this past year. Pure selfishness. And all so their kids won’t miss two weeks of school.

My kids are going to school and that’s it. No activities outside of school because nothing for my family is worth the risk.
I work from home and the bus stop/pickup from school are the only times I leave the house.
I am a single mom and have four elementary age kids who are too young to be vaccinated. If one of them tests positive for covid, that child is home for two weeks since they are asymptomatic. His sibling are home for those two weeks, and then another two weeks after his quarantine period ends. There is no kick out period to lower the quarantine— you have to be excluded for at least ten days past the last encounter with the positive case— so the most conservative amount of time my asymptomatic kids will be out of school is 24 days. Since it’s only them, that’s effectively a month with no school. They are already behind. I will not be able to catch them up.
If they got sick, it came from school. They don’t go anywhere else.
If you want to call people selfish, call the asshats who refuse to vaccinate, or the people asking for no masks, or the people going to Disney or to Mexico with their unvaccinated kids. Or just the assholes who are still having indoor parties or eating inside or that gym teacher who doesn’t want to get vaccinated. Everyone other than the elementary kids had an opportunity to be vaccinated at this point— the ones who didn’t are the selfish ones.

I get your point but they won’t be excluded for 14 days, students can return after 8 days with negative covid test on days 5-7 (not sure if you need one each day or that’s just the window they look from)

Timing depends. I have a friend who was told 3 weeks b/c her son's 2 weeks start from when she is out of her contagious period. This is b/c they share a bathroom. Apparently if she had her own bathroom and never came out of her room the 14 days would start immediately This is not a nuance I knew about but she said she got two calls from the dept of public health on this.