I’m getting nervous about school because of delta

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. I think they should require all staff and students to have a negative PCR 72 hours before school starts. I also think there should be weekly testing. Los Angeles is doing that and they are a lot larger. I think this would give hesitant parents some piece of mind.

You are talking about 200,000 tests a week/ close to 1 million a month. That isn’t reasonable.

My older kids SLAC did PCR testing. It picked up virtually no silent cases, and 0 silent outbreaks. And it only worked because you tested the second you hit campus, then 3 days later and quarantined until the second test was clear. So, for a total of a week. Then they had bubble, and all was well. You can’t bubble K12.

I haven’t seen any data showing surveillance testing outside of bubbles does anything to slow the spread.

The data on K-12 surveillance testing was that it was expensive and mostly false positives.

I believe the data on symptomatic rapid testing at school is better.

I'm a vaccinated teacher and I will quit before weekly testing occurs. Look, teaching is stressful enough. We're not adding extra stress and simply additional work on my end to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop blaming teachers. They are one individual in a classroom of 25-30 kids. Parents will send their kids in sick. Covid will be present in schools. If you choose to send yours back in person you know the risks.

There isn’t much of a choice. The alternative to in-person school isn’t an acceptable option. I am very concerned.

I’m a teacher and parent. This is an impossible situation because there’s no distance now with a more transmissible variant AND there’s simply no way anyone, families, kids, teachers, can sustain another year of hybrid or distance or whatever. I’ve accepted the best we can do is have us all masked, white knuckle our way to under 12 vaccines, and make peace with the fact this does mean a lot more kids will get covid although hopefully they do not have a rough experience with it.

So when teachers/staff were at higher risk we completely shut down, socially distance and have a layered approach? Now that kids are at higher risk (due to no vaccines) we simply white knuckle and throw on useless cloth masks?

Nope. Not for my child. If FCPS does not step up and provide an actual plan with the new Delta variant to keep my child reasonably safe, I'm not sending her. The Delta variant changes everything and FCPS and the school board are pretending that it doesn't exist.

Better start shopping for alternatives now, then. Of course, Delta will start waning by early/mid-September but not sure if that's good enough for you.

Can you post a link indicating it will wan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop blaming teachers. They are one individual in a classroom of 25-30 kids. Parents will send their kids in sick. Covid will be present in schools. If you choose to send yours back in person you know the risks.

There isn’t much of a choice. The alternative to in-person school isn’t an acceptable option. I am very concerned.

I’m a teacher and parent. This is an impossible situation because there’s no distance now with a more transmissible variant AND there’s simply no way anyone, families, kids, teachers, can sustain another year of hybrid or distance or whatever. I’ve accepted the best we can do is have us all masked, white knuckle our way to under 12 vaccines, and make peace with the fact this does mean a lot more kids will get covid although hopefully they do not have a rough experience with it.

So when teachers/staff were at higher risk we completely shut down, socially distance and have a layered approach? Now that kids are at higher risk (due to no vaccines) we simply white knuckle and throw on useless cloth masks?

Nope. Not for my child. If FCPS does not step up and provide an actual plan with the new Delta variant to keep my child reasonably safe, I'm not sending her. The Delta variant changes everything and FCPS and the school board are pretending that it doesn't exist.

Better start shopping for alternatives now, then. Of course, Delta will start waning by early/mid-September but not sure if that's good enough for you.

Can you post a link indicating it will wan?

Dp. Google what happened in GB and India. Delta burnt out quickly

[Anonymous]

Burned out

[Anonymous]

Any teachers concerned that parents from impacted populations will keep their kids home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop blaming teachers. They are one individual in a classroom of 25-30 kids. Parents will send their kids in sick. Covid will be present in schools. If you choose to send yours back in person you know the risks.

There isn’t much of a choice. The alternative to in-person school isn’t an acceptable option. I am very concerned.

I’m a teacher and parent. This is an impossible situation because there’s no distance now with a more transmissible variant AND there’s simply no way anyone, families, kids, teachers, can sustain another year of hybrid or distance or whatever. I’ve accepted the best we can do is have us all masked, white knuckle our way to under 12 vaccines, and make peace with the fact this does mean a lot more kids will get covid although hopefully they do not have a rough experience with it.

So when teachers/staff were at higher risk we completely shut down, socially distance and have a layered approach? Now that kids are at higher risk (due to no vaccines) we simply white knuckle and throw on useless cloth masks?

Nope. Not for my child. If FCPS does not step up and provide an actual plan with the new Delta variant to keep my child reasonably safe, I'm not sending her. The Delta variant changes everything and FCPS and the school board are pretending that it doesn't exist.

Better start shopping for alternatives now, then. Of course, Delta will start waning by early/mid-September but not sure if that's good enough for you.

Can you post a link indicating it will wan?

Dp. Google what happened in GB and India. Delta burnt out quickly

As did alpha. And cases in January plummeted for poorly understood reasons also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop blaming teachers. They are one individual in a classroom of 25-30 kids. Parents will send their kids in sick. Covid will be present in schools. If you choose to send yours back in person you know the risks.

There isn’t much of a choice. The alternative to in-person school isn’t an acceptable option. I am very concerned.

I’m a teacher and parent. This is an impossible situation because there’s no distance now with a more transmissible variant AND there’s simply no way anyone, families, kids, teachers, can sustain another year of hybrid or distance or whatever. I’ve accepted the best we can do is have us all masked, white knuckle our way to under 12 vaccines, and make peace with the fact this does mean a lot more kids will get covid although hopefully they do not have a rough experience with it.

So when teachers/staff were at higher risk we completely shut down, socially distance and have a layered approach? Now that kids are at higher risk (due to no vaccines) we simply white knuckle and throw on useless cloth masks?

Nope. Not for my child. If FCPS does not step up and provide an actual plan with the new Delta variant to keep my child reasonably safe, I'm not sending her. The Delta variant changes everything and FCPS and the school board are pretending that it doesn't exist.

Better start shopping for alternatives now, then. Of course, Delta will start waning by early/mid-September but not sure if that's good enough for you.

Can you post a link indicating it will wan?

Dp. Google what happened in GB and India. Delta burnt out quickly

So I just saw online that the peak for Delta could occur around September 1st.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop blaming teachers. They are one individual in a classroom of 25-30 kids. Parents will send their kids in sick. Covid will be present in schools. If you choose to send yours back in person you know the risks.

There isn’t much of a choice. The alternative to in-person school isn’t an acceptable option. I am very concerned.

I’m a teacher and parent. This is an impossible situation because there’s no distance now with a more transmissible variant AND there’s simply no way anyone, families, kids, teachers, can sustain another year of hybrid or distance or whatever. I’ve accepted the best we can do is have us all masked, white knuckle our way to under 12 vaccines, and make peace with the fact this does mean a lot more kids will get covid although hopefully they do not have a rough experience with it.

So when teachers/staff were at higher risk we completely shut down, socially distance and have a layered approach? Now that kids are at higher risk (due to no vaccines) we simply white knuckle and throw on useless cloth masks?

Nope. Not for my child. If FCPS does not step up and provide an actual plan with the new Delta variant to keep my child reasonably safe, I'm not sending her. The Delta variant changes everything and FCPS and the school board are pretending that it doesn't exist.

Better start shopping for alternatives now, then. Of course, Delta will start waning by early/mid-September but not sure if that's good enough for you.

Can you post a link indicating it will wan?

Dp. Google what happened in GB and India. Delta burnt out quickly

As did alpha. And cases in January plummeted for poorly understood reasons also.

Leading into Delta a few months later, so maybe another variant in the winter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop blaming teachers. They are one individual in a classroom of 25-30 kids. Parents will send their kids in sick. Covid will be present in schools. If you choose to send yours back in person you know the risks.

There isn’t much of a choice. The alternative to in-person school isn’t an acceptable option. I am very concerned.

I’m a teacher and parent. This is an impossible situation because there’s no distance now with a more transmissible variant AND there’s simply no way anyone, families, kids, teachers, can sustain another year of hybrid or distance or whatever. I’ve accepted the best we can do is have us all masked, white knuckle our way to under 12 vaccines, and make peace with the fact this does mean a lot more kids will get covid although hopefully they do not have a rough experience with it.

So when teachers/staff were at higher risk we completely shut down, socially distance and have a layered approach? Now that kids are at higher risk (due to no vaccines) we simply white knuckle and throw on useless cloth masks?

Nope. Not for my child. If FCPS does not step up and provide an actual plan with the new Delta variant to keep my child reasonably safe, I'm not sending her. The Delta variant changes everything and FCPS and the school board are pretending that it doesn't exist.

Better start shopping for alternatives now, then. Of course, Delta will start waning by early/mid-September but not sure if that's good enough for you.

Can you post a link indicating it will wan?

Dp. Google what happened in GB and India. Delta burnt out quickly

As did alpha. And cases in January plummeted for poorly understood reasons also.

Leading into Delta a few months later, so maybe another variant in the winter?

Not unlikely. Meaning if your personal strategy is one of avoidance, get ready for the long haul.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. I think they should require all staff and students to have a negative PCR 72 hours before school starts. I also think there should be weekly testing. Los Angeles is doing that and they are a lot larger. I think this would give hesitant parents some piece of mind.

You are talking about 200,000 tests a week/ close to 1 million a month. That isn’t reasonable.

My older kids SLAC did PCR testing. It picked up virtually no silent cases, and 0 silent outbreaks. And it only worked because you tested the second you hit campus, then 3 days later and quarantined until the second test was clear. So, for a total of a week. Then they had bubble, and all was well. You can’t bubble K12.

I haven’t seen any data showing surveillance testing outside of bubbles does anything to slow the spread.

The data on K-12 surveillance testing was that it was expensive and mostly false positives.

I believe the data on symptomatic rapid testing at school is better.

I'm a vaccinated teacher and I will quit before weekly testing occurs. Look, teaching is stressful enough. We're not adding extra stress and simply additional work on my end to it.

DP, but I too have been thinking the same. Children will be back to masked for most of the day, travel will slow, vaccinations will continue to increase.

[Anonymous]

Baton Rouge children's hospital nears capacity, braces for surge in Covid cases ahead of the school year.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/30/us/baton-rouge-childrens-hospital-surge/index.html

As Outbreaks Force Schools To Go All-Virtual, Districts Reinstate Mask Mandates

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/14272/as-outbreaks-force-schools-to-go-all-virtual-districts-reinstate-mask-mandates/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baton Rouge children's hospital nears capacity, braces for surge in Covid cases ahead of the school year.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/30/us/baton-rouge-childrens-hospital-surge/index.html

As Outbreaks Force Schools To Go All-Virtual, Districts Reinstate Mask Mandates

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/14272/as-outbreaks-force-schools-to-go-all-virtual-districts-reinstate-mask-mandates/

Delta is an entirely different beast

Last year, teachers returned to work on Aug. 3, 2020, and students returned on Aug. 13. By the end of students’ first full week back on Aug. 21, 2020, the entire Lamar County School District had reported just five cases among students and five among faculty and staff; 87 people in both groups had been quarantined district wide by that point.

But in the era of delta variant, the Lamar County School District reported more cases and quarantines than that after just four days for teachers and two days for students. Between July 20 and 23, 2021, the Lamar County School District reported 15 cases among faculty and staff. For July 22 and 23 alone, the school reported 64 cases among students. The school reported 165 quarantines between both groups for the first week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. I think they should require all staff and students to have a negative PCR 72 hours before school starts. I also think there should be weekly testing. Los Angeles is doing that and they are a lot larger. I think this would give hesitant parents some piece of mind.

You are talking about 200,000 tests a week/ close to 1 million a month. That isn’t reasonable.

My older kids SLAC did PCR testing. It picked up virtually no silent cases, and 0 silent outbreaks. And it only worked because you tested the second you hit campus, then 3 days later and quarantined until the second test was clear. So, for a total of a week. Then they had bubble, and all was well. You can’t bubble K12.

I haven’t seen any data showing surveillance testing outside of bubbles does anything to slow the spread.

The data on K-12 surveillance testing was that it was expensive and mostly false positives.

I believe the data on symptomatic rapid testing at school is better.

I'm a vaccinated teacher and I will quit before weekly testing occurs. Look, teaching is stressful enough. We're not adding extra stress and simply additional work on my end to it.

DP, but I too have been thinking the same. Children will be back to masked for most of the day, travel will slow, vaccinations will continue to increase.

Cloth masks are not effective against Delta

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/24/1020088162/experts-call-for-more-stringent-mask-requirements-as-delta-variant-spreads

SIMON: So what kind of mask would that be? Because a lot of people have gotten very used to using cloth masks or maybe surgical masks. Do they need to switch to something more like the N95?

STEIN: Well, those are the gold standard, and so are similar masks, like those KN95s. But Marr says cloth masks can still do the trick as long as they fit really well and they're made out of the right stuff.

MARR: Which means something that has a dedicated filter layer and that fits really well with no leaks.

STEIN: So it can't fit loosely, you know, leaving gaps on your cheeks or under your chin where the virus could sneak in, and it should pinch tight over your nose. And if you're wearing a cloth mask, it should have a layer made out of special filter material, not just regular cloth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baton Rouge children's hospital nears capacity, braces for surge in Covid cases ahead of the school year.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/30/us/baton-rouge-childrens-hospital-surge/index.html

As Outbreaks Force Schools To Go All-Virtual, Districts Reinstate Mask Mandates

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/14272/as-outbreaks-force-schools-to-go-all-virtual-districts-reinstate-mask-mandates/

Delta is an entirely different beast

Last year, teachers returned to work on Aug. 3, 2020, and students returned on Aug. 13. By the end of students’ first full week back on Aug. 21, 2020, the entire Lamar County School District had reported just five cases among students and five among faculty and staff; 87 people in both groups had been quarantined district wide by that point.

But in the era of delta variant, the Lamar County School District reported more cases and quarantines than that after just four days for teachers and two days for students. Between July 20 and 23, 2021, the Lamar County School District reported 15 cases among faculty and staff. For July 22 and 23 alone, the school reported 64 cases among students. The school reported 165 quarantines between both groups for the first week.

Lamar County MS has a vaccination rate of about 44%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baton Rouge children's hospital nears capacity, braces for surge in Covid cases ahead of the school year.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/30/us/baton-rouge-childrens-hospital-surge/index.html

As Outbreaks Force Schools To Go All-Virtual, Districts Reinstate Mask Mandates

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/14272/as-outbreaks-force-schools-to-go-all-virtual-districts-reinstate-mask-mandates/

Baton Rouge has a vaccination rate of about 42%.