MCPS Community COVID update

[Anonymous]

My contract time doesn’t end until 3:15 but I’m required to do certain after school activities until 4:15. Good luck getting to a doctor’s appointment on time from one end of the county to another let alone getting on the doctor’s schedule for a time that works. Many doctors have specific times of day they do certain appointments. New patients only before 10, skin cancer screenings only before 2, sick visits this time, etc. you clearly aren’t someone that has to see multiple doctors or take multiple family members to the doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have hoped that by now we would mention air ventilation, air filtration and masking as things that would actually help reduce transmission in the classrooms. Covid is Airborne, we fight it by concentrating on keeping it out of the air, diluting it, or removing it from the air.

If you want your kid to have more time in the classroom, think about masking at least some of the time during this uptick in cases, so it doesn't increase to a full surge.

Ask your schools to make sure their ventilation is bringing in fresh air. The CDC recommends 5 air changes an hour. Fans and open windows help. Air filters help when bringing in more fresh air is impossible.

We know the tools to keep kids healthy and in the classroom. We just need to use them

Oh sure.

I’m going to force my kids to wear those ridiculous masks “some of the time” (when, exactly, pp? Totally arbitrary?) because THAT alone will prevent a “full surge!”

PP, you’ve gone off the deep end. Do you even hear yourself?

I’m a DP.

The suggestions above seem perfectly reasonable. There’s nothing “deep end” about improving air filtration and *considering* a mask during a surge. Actually, this seems like the most reasonable and logical post I’ve seen on DCUM when it comes to Covid. It’s perfectly middle-of-the-road between being cautious and simply living life.

If reasonable is now “deep end,” then perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your own stance on this.

Making your child wear a mask from time to time, maybe just on a whim or every second Thursday, believing that this stupidity will prevent a “full surge,” is the very definition of unreasonable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2023-2024/Community-message-20230906.html

This is a nice sentiment, but we can’t all stay home when we are sick. I am an MCPS employee and I need my sick days for doctor’s visits for myself and children.

Our society only supports certain professions staying home when we don’t feel well. Do they really think all of the teachers and kids with a stuffy nose and cough are going to stay home for over a week until they feel better? Lots of people COVID Meg but walking around sick.

Please don't come to school when you have covid. Or flu. I would prefer not to use my sick days visiting my 90-year-old parents in the hospital after my kid or I infect them with a virus my kid got infected with in school.

I already had COVID twice this summer. But both of my kids have coughs and head congestion. Testing negative everyday, but sending them to school. I have many students in my classes with similar symptoms. They are all coming to school “sick”

Are they sick? Keep 'em home. Do they have coughs and stuffy noses, but they're not sick any more, or it's allergies? Send 'em to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a suggestion above that the chances of a bad outcome from Covid was minuscule for kids. I'm just posting a couple articles:
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2023/04/25/long-covid-in-children-still-poses-plenty-of-questions
From article: ""I would say on average, we're looking at somewhere between 4% to 25% of kids who have had a SARS-CoV-2 infection go on to have symptoms of long COVID," said Rao, who also is an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. However, "it's a very difficult question to answer, just because different groups are exploring this in slightly different ways, with different definitions.""

Kids can end up with bad outcomes short of death.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-07-21/1-in-5-kids-had-long-covid-symptoms-months-after-infection

From article: "The review, of 31 international studies, found that over 16% of children and teenagers with COVID had problems such as sore throat, persistent fevers, fatigue and muscle weakness at least three months later."

Have you dealt with a child with persistent muscle weakness and fatigue?

https://www.salon.com/2023/08/27/long-is-debilitating-children-and-doctors-worry-there-arent-enough-centers-to-treat-them/

Do we even have the resources to treat the number of kids who will have Long Covid after letting it loose in our schools without any mitigation?

Thinking about wearing a mask while cases are heading up seems super reasonable.

Doesn't state when those studies occurred. Was it just after covid hit? Did it include kids who were vaccinated?

Also, from your link to the link on the study, it states"

"Therefore, our conclusions should be interpreted with caution."

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/152/2/e2022060351/192816/A-Systematic-Review-of-Persistent-Clinical?autologincheck=redirected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have hoped that by now we would mention air ventilation, air filtration and masking as things that would actually help reduce transmission in the classrooms. Covid is Airborne, we fight it by concentrating on keeping it out of the air, diluting it, or removing it from the air.

If you want your kid to have more time in the classroom, think about masking at least some of the time during this uptick in cases, so it doesn't increase to a full surge.

Ask your schools to make sure their ventilation is bringing in fresh air. The CDC recommends 5 air changes an hour. Fans and open windows help. Air filters help when bringing in more fresh air is impossible.

We know the tools to keep kids healthy and in the classroom. We just need to use them

Oh sure.

I’m going to force my kids to wear those ridiculous masks “some of the time” (when, exactly, pp? Totally arbitrary?) because THAT alone will prevent a “full surge!”

PP, you’ve gone off the deep end. Do you even hear yourself?

I’m a DP.

The suggestions above seem perfectly reasonable. There’s nothing “deep end” about improving air filtration and *considering* a mask during a surge. Actually, this seems like the most reasonable and logical post I’ve seen on DCUM when it comes to Covid. It’s perfectly middle-of-the-road between being cautious and simply living life.

If reasonable is now “deep end,” then perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your own stance on this.

Making your child wear a mask from time to time, maybe just on a whim or every second Thursday, believing that this stupidity will prevent a “full surge,” is the very definition of unreasonable

I can’t reason with someone who jumps immediately to hyperbole and outrage. That’s not AT ALL what the PP said.

I don’t know how a simple mask managed to hurt you, but I do hope you find some peace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My contract time doesn’t end until 3:15 but I’m required to do certain after school activities until 4:15. Good luck getting to a doctor’s appointment on time from one end of the county to another let alone getting on the doctor’s schedule for a time that works. Many doctors have specific times of day they do certain appointments. New patients only before 10, skin cancer screenings only before 2, sick visits this time, etc. you clearly aren’t someone that has to see multiple doctors or take multiple family members to the doctor.

This is on you. You knew this was the case when you took the job. This is not new information

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My contract time doesn’t end until 3:15 but I’m required to do certain after school activities until 4:15. Good luck getting to a doctor’s appointment on time from one end of the county to another let alone getting on the doctor’s schedule for a time that works. Many doctors have specific times of day they do certain appointments. New patients only before 10, skin cancer screenings only before 2, sick visits this time, etc. you clearly aren’t someone that has to see multiple doctors or take multiple family members to the doctor.

You can use an urgent care for sick visits. I have multiple doctors as does one of my kids and yet we make it work. We take the latest appointments of the day and plan way ahead of time. For sick, there are lots of urgent cares in person and online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have hoped that by now we would mention air ventilation, air filtration and masking as things that would actually help reduce transmission in the classrooms. Covid is Airborne, we fight it by concentrating on keeping it out of the air, diluting it, or removing it from the air.

If you want your kid to have more time in the classroom, think about masking at least some of the time during this uptick in cases, so it doesn't increase to a full surge.

Ask your schools to make sure their ventilation is bringing in fresh air. The CDC recommends 5 air changes an hour. Fans and open windows help. Air filters help when bringing in more fresh air is impossible.

We know the tools to keep kids healthy and in the classroom. We just need to use them

Oh sure.

I’m going to force my kids to wear those ridiculous masks “some of the time” (when, exactly, pp? Totally arbitrary?) because THAT alone will prevent a “full surge!”

PP, you’ve gone off the deep end. Do you even hear yourself?

I’m a DP.

The suggestions above seem perfectly reasonable. There’s nothing “deep end” about improving air filtration and *considering* a mask during a surge. Actually, this seems like the most reasonable and logical post I’ve seen on DCUM when it comes to Covid. It’s perfectly middle-of-the-road between being cautious and simply living life.

If reasonable is now “deep end,” then perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your own stance on this.

Making your child wear a mask from time to time, maybe just on a whim or every second Thursday, believing that this stupidity will prevent a “full surge,” is the very definition of unreasonable

I can’t reason with someone who jumps immediately to hyperbole and outrage. That’s not AT ALL what the PP said.

I don’t know how a simple mask managed to hurt you, but I do hope you find some peace.

Most kids don't mind. Its the parents who are tantruming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have hoped that by now we would mention air ventilation, air filtration and masking as things that would actually help reduce transmission in the classrooms. Covid is Airborne, we fight it by concentrating on keeping it out of the air, diluting it, or removing it from the air.

If you want your kid to have more time in the classroom, think about masking at least some of the time during this uptick in cases, so it doesn't increase to a full surge.

Ask your schools to make sure their ventilation is bringing in fresh air. The CDC recommends 5 air changes an hour. Fans and open windows help. Air filters help when bringing in more fresh air is impossible.

We know the tools to keep kids healthy and in the classroom. We just need to use them

Right? Why arent they opening the windows? We need more fresh air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2023-2024/Community-message-20230906.html

This is a nice sentiment, but we can’t all stay home when we are sick. I am an MCPS employee and I need my sick days for doctor’s visits for myself and children.

Our society only supports certain professions staying home when we don’t feel well. Do they really think all of the teachers and kids with a stuffy nose and cough are going to stay home for over a week until they feel better? Lots of people COVID Meg but walking around sick.

Please don't come to school when you have covid. Or flu. I would prefer not to use my sick days visiting my 90-year-old parents in the hospital after my kid or I infect them with a virus my kid got infected with in school.

I already had COVID twice this summer. But both of my kids have coughs and head congestion. Testing negative everyday, but sending them to school. I have many students in my classes with similar symptoms. They are all coming to school “sick”

Are they sick? Keep 'em home. Do they have coughs and stuffy noses, but they're not sick any more, or it's allergies? Send 'em to school.

Most people don't develop allergies all of the sudden and have them every year. Let's be real. If you test positive for covid regardless of symptoms you ARE sick. If you have a runny nose and cough, you are sick. If you cough, you spew germs everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless my kid is exhibiting symptoms, my kid going to school. At this point, it's no worse than the flu, and we should treat it as such.

It is no worse than influenza except for when it is worse than influenza.

I'm honestly most worried about young people because they have so much more of their lives to live. Every time they get Covid-19 there is a chance that they will get some of the long term symptoms. How is that going to affect my child's ability to finish their education? How will repeated infections affect my child's long term health?

It now looks like Epstein-Barr triggers Multiple Sclerosis... what could multiple Covid-19 infections turn out to trigger decades down the line? Why would I sign up to run that risk over and over again?

Oh, I don't know, because you might enjoy socializing, seeing faces, and breathing without obstructed airflow?

Do you think we should all wear masks beginning in infancy to spare us the 0.03 percent chance of getting MS?

Honestly, I mostly want better, healthier air quality. We could be improving ventilation and filtering the air in public spaces... that would help us all reduce the number of times any of us get sick. With Covid or Flu or RSV or any other airborne disease.

As someone with asthma that is triggered by a variety of allergies, I’m certainly not going to argue against improved air quality, but it’s not going to change anything that I do.

I’m going to do my part here. I’m done testing my kids for covid. If they’re not sick, they’re going to school. If they do get sick, they’ll stay home while they have symptoms. And if I somehow end up learning they have covid, I’m certainly not going to tell the school.

It would be a waste of everyone’s time to try to get them to wear masks anyway. It took a solid 18+ months of work to get one of my kids to wear a mask at all. He hasn’t worn one in a long time, and I’m sure won’t go back to it willingly. And he’s more stubborn than the Covidians are scared, so I know who would win the masking battle.

Wow, this sounds like a huge parenting issue. Your kids clearly run your home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My contract time doesn’t end until 3:15 but I’m required to do certain after school activities until 4:15. Good luck getting to a doctor’s appointment on time from one end of the county to another let alone getting on the doctor’s schedule for a time that works. Many doctors have specific times of day they do certain appointments. New patients only before 10, skin cancer screenings only before 2, sick visits this time, etc. you clearly aren’t someone that has to see multiple doctors or take multiple family members to the doctor.

This is on you. You knew this was the case when you took the job. This is not new information

Well you knew when you signed your kids up for public schools that MCPS employees get minimal sick time, so I don’t know what you expected. You need to advocate the district for more sick time and sign up to be a sub if you really expect them to stay home for every symptom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2023-2024/Community-message-20230906.html

This is a nice sentiment, but we can’t all stay home when we are sick. I am an MCPS employee and I need my sick days for doctor’s visits for myself and children.

Our society only supports certain professions staying home when we don’t feel well. Do they really think all of the teachers and kids with a stuffy nose and cough are going to stay home for over a week until they feel better? Lots of people COVID Meg but walking around sick.

Please don't come to school when you have covid. Or flu. I would prefer not to use my sick days visiting my 90-year-old parents in the hospital after my kid or I infect them with a virus my kid got infected with in school.

One of my parents just passed because of someone this who thought nothing to spread it. Watching your parent pass in the icu is devastating when they easily could have lived another ten years.

Please stay home when sick. It may be no big deal to you but for those of us with health issues, it impacts us far more than you can understand.

My kids missed school this week. As a teacher don’t complain mine missed a week because you spread it to us. I will not send sick kids to school and do what others did to us as I want my kids to grow up to be good, caring and considerate people who can understand others may have needs different from them.

I’m not complaining about your kid being out. I’m complaining that there are t the same expectations for teachers and other professions that would collapse without even in person workers

I've already gotten several emails about how long they have been out and how many days they will be missing. And, a refusal to let them make up the work. So, not only do we have to deal with colds, a death and funeral but now battling teachers who will not allow make up work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have hoped that by now we would mention air ventilation, air filtration and masking as things that would actually help reduce transmission in the classrooms. Covid is Airborne, we fight it by concentrating on keeping it out of the air, diluting it, or removing it from the air.

If you want your kid to have more time in the classroom, think about masking at least some of the time during this uptick in cases, so it doesn't increase to a full surge.

Ask your schools to make sure their ventilation is bringing in fresh air. The CDC recommends 5 air changes an hour. Fans and open windows help. Air filters help when bringing in more fresh air is impossible.

We know the tools to keep kids healthy and in the classroom. We just need to use them

Right? Why arent they opening the windows? We need more fresh air.

It was like 100 degrees today lady. JFC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2023-2024/Community-message-20230906.html

This is a nice sentiment, but we can’t all stay home when we are sick. I am an MCPS employee and I need my sick days for doctor’s visits for myself and children.

Our society only supports certain professions staying home when we don’t feel well. Do they really think all of the teachers and kids with a stuffy nose and cough are going to stay home for over a week until they feel better? Lots of people COVID Meg but walking around sick.

This is a little dramatic. If you are a 10 month employee, you could schedule many of those appointments during summer break. Even if you’re not, school gets out earlier in the afternoon than many other jobs, and you can schedule appointments in the late afternoon. Or you children’s other parent, if there is one, could take them to some of their appointments. I get that sometimes it’s unavoidable to schedule outside school hours, but if you’re organized, you can minimize the impact to your sick day allocation.

You are assuming I’m in perfect health and only need to see a doctor once a year. I am in my 40’s with a history of skin cancer and arthritis. I see a dermatologist as often as my dentist, a Rheumetologist and podiatrist every 3 months. my kids also have specialists they need to see more than once a year. And I’m at the whim of these providers having a schedule that matches mine. Many offices are now closed on Fridays or federal holidays. Doctors can cancel appointments last minute like it’s no big deal. Heaven forbid I need to call a medical office during the school year! No cell service and no time during the day except lunch when most medical offices are closed for at least an hour. Keep shaming teachers and see where it gets you!

Your kids Dad can handle that or your spouse can handle calls for you. Never seen a doctors office closed Friday and they should be closed Federal Holidays. Dentists closed one day a week, yes, but never doctors.