so let's say kids/teachers in the fall come down with positive tests, what to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France now says it treated someone with coronavirus in December. In all likelihood, our kids were going to school for months while coronavirus was circulating here.

This is red herring. If it was here, it was not spreading like it is now. A virus can circulate below radar before exponential growth takes off as we see now, creating extreme pressure on the health care system.

Sure, but that doesn't mean the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. I'm fairly certain I had coronavirus earlier this year, back when only people in Wuhan supposedly got it.

Yes, yes it does mean that the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. That's the whole thing about exponential growth. You most likely had the flu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France now says it treated someone with coronavirus in December. In all likelihood, our kids were going to school for months while coronavirus was circulating here.

This is red herring. If it was here, it was not spreading like it is now. A virus can circulate below radar before exponential growth takes off as we see now, creating extreme pressure on the health care system.

Sure, but that doesn't mean the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. I'm fairly certain I had coronavirus earlier this year, back when only people in Wuhan supposedly got it.

Yes, yes it does mean that the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. That's the whole thing about exponential growth. You most likely had the flu.

How could anyone know that? People weren't even thinking to look for coronavirus then. It's possible the exponential growth began sooner than we realize, and that earlier cases were simply being misdiagnosed as something else (like the flu).

And no, I didn't have the flu, per my doctor's flu test. My doctor said he didn't know what I had, but that he had been seeing a lot of mysterious cases like mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France now says it treated someone with coronavirus in December. In all likelihood, our kids were going to school for months while coronavirus was circulating here.

This is red herring. If it was here, it was not spreading like it is now. A virus can circulate below radar before exponential growth takes off as we see now, creating extreme pressure on the health care system.

Sure, but that doesn't mean the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. I'm fairly certain I had coronavirus earlier this year, back when only people in Wuhan supposedly got it.

Yes, yes it does mean that the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. That's the whole thing about exponential growth. You most likely had the flu.

How could anyone know that? People weren't even thinking to look for coronavirus then. It's possible the exponential growth began sooner than we realize, and that earlier cases were simply being misdiagnosed as something else (like the flu).

And no, I didn't have the flu, per my doctor's flu test. My doctor said he didn't know what I had, but that he had been seeing a lot of mysterious cases like mine.

I know that because that is how epidemiological models work. It's vaguely possible you had covid, but much more likely you had a flu with a false-negative flu test, or some other influenza-like illness that was not covid. There is no reasonable comparison, at all, between the situation in schools in January 2020 and in Sept 2020. None at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:France now says it treated someone with coronavirus in December. In all likelihood, our kids were going to school for months while coronavirus was circulating here.

This is red herring. If it was here, it was not spreading like it is now. A virus can circulate below radar before exponential growth takes off as we see now, creating extreme pressure on the health care system.

Sure, but that doesn't mean the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. I'm fairly certain I had coronavirus earlier this year, back when only people in Wuhan supposedly got it.

Yes, yes it does mean that the spread wasn't significant before schools closed. That's the whole thing about exponential growth. You most likely had the flu.

How could anyone know that? People weren't even thinking to look for coronavirus then. It's possible the exponential growth began sooner than we realize, and that earlier cases were simply being misdiagnosed as something else (like the flu).

And no, I didn't have the flu, per my doctor's flu test. My doctor said he didn't know what I had, but that he had been seeing a lot of mysterious cases like mine.

I know that because that is how epidemiological models work. It's vaguely possible you had covid, but much more likely you had a flu with a false-negative flu test, or some other influenza-like illness that was not covid. There is no reasonable comparison, at all, between the situation in schools in January 2020 and in Sept 2020. None at all.

Sorry, forgot to add, even if you somehow were one of the few who had covid in Jan 2020 in the US, that says nothing at all about how wide spread it was in schools at that point.

[Anonymous]

The virus has mutated so much, so how it presented itself initially is very different from now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The virus has mutated so much, so how it presented itself initially is very different from now.

There is zero evidence to support this. There is some evidence (not yet peer reviewed) that this virus has mutated once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is hiring hundreds of contact tracers right now. Testing capacity will increase.

If they can manage to test asymptomatic people who have to be out in the community -- such as school kids and staff -- then schools can reopen.

But part of that is also pulling anyone from that environment who gets the virus immediately and putting the others who may have been exposed into a 14-day quarantine before they can return the school. Ideally, we'd do what other countries now do, and quarantine people away from their families (yes that's tricky with kids).

I think the above is the only scenario where schools open.

Test and contact trace. Repeat and repeat.

So if a kid comes to school with a fever or develops a fever at school and it turns out to be Covid then the entire class stays home for 2 weeks? What about at Deal where the kids are in classes with 150 kids daily? Do all 150 stay home for 2 weeks?

Then all it takes is 15 kids, one per team, to get sick and the whole school is out anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The virus has mutated so much, so how it presented itself initially is very different from now.

'

And you know this how??? When all other scientists in the world do not?

I didn't know we had the world's preeminent virologist in our midst here on DCUM!

[Anonymous]

I think kids or teachers who are sick or positive should stay home and the rest should just carry on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully DCPS will do a better job than in March, when they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling.

Although I don't believe the flu comparison is correct, I don't see this going down much differently than a bad flu season at elementary schools. The focus will be on instructing symptomatic kids to stay home until fever resolves (maybe 3-7 days after no fever). The biggest disruption will be all the staff and teachers that get seriously ill/dies. That's what I am dreading -- so many of the amazing teachers & staff at our school are vulnerable.

What are you talking about? How could have DCPS done it any differently? "they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling"? I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:probably inevitable that kids and teachers get sick.

the point of social distancing and closing everything isn't to stop people from getting sick -- it's to slow the rate at which people get sick so they don't overwhelm the hospitals. instead of everyone getting sick at the same time, they're trying to stagger things so some people get sick now, and some people get sick later.

schools can't be closed forever. at some point, they need to reopen. my guess is that sick kids will be sent home just as if they had any other sickness.

My guess is, parents will continue to use school as daycare and send their sick children to school. Sick kid gets sent to the nurse- already infecting classmates, teacher, school nurse. Parent will say "child was perfectly fine at drop off.... wow! I'm coming right now"...2 hours later.

P.S. Parents- coach your children to lie to nurses and teachers. Every kid who suddenly appears sick at 8:45 ALWAYS spill the beans. "I told my mom I was sick" "My dad gave me tylenol" "I threw up on the way to school"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully DCPS will do a better job than in March, when they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling.

Although I don't believe the flu comparison is correct, I don't see this going down much differently than a bad flu season at elementary schools. The focus will be on instructing symptomatic kids to stay home until fever resolves (maybe 3-7 days after no fever). The biggest disruption will be all the staff and teachers that get seriously ill/dies. That's what I am dreading -- so many of the amazing teachers & staff at our school are vulnerable.

What are you talking about? How could have DCPS done it any differently? "they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling"? I don't get it.

They should have informed everyone in the child's class, obviously. It's concerning you're even asking this question. Contact tracing means everyone who had sustained contact with the positive gets informed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully DCPS will do a better job than in March, when they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling.

Although I don't believe the flu comparison is correct, I don't see this going down much differently than a bad flu season at elementary schools. The focus will be on instructing symptomatic kids to stay home until fever resolves (maybe 3-7 days after no fever). The biggest disruption will be all the staff and teachers that get seriously ill/dies. That's what I am dreading -- so many of the amazing teachers & staff at our school are vulnerable.

What are you talking about? How could have DCPS done it any differently? "they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling"? I don't get it.

They should have informed everyone in the child's class, obviously. It's concerning you're even asking this question. Contact tracing means everyone who had sustained contact with the positive gets informed.

It's concerning that you think you are writing/communicating clearly. Still don't understand your point but....ok?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully DCPS will do a better job than in March, when they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling.

Although I don't believe the flu comparison is correct, I don't see this going down much differently than a bad flu season at elementary schools. The focus will be on instructing symptomatic kids to stay home until fever resolves (maybe 3-7 days after no fever). The biggest disruption will be all the staff and teachers that get seriously ill/dies. That's what I am dreading -- so many of the amazing teachers & staff at our school are vulnerable.

What are you talking about? How could have DCPS done it any differently? "they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling"? I don't get it.

They should have informed everyone in the child's class, obviously. It's concerning you're even asking this question. Contact tracing means everyone who had sustained contact with the positive gets informed.

It's concerning that you think you are writing/communicating clearly. Still don't understand your point but....ok?

Ok, let me explain again. A child in my child's grade tested positive while school was still in session. Apparently on the advice of the DC health department, DCPS did NOT inform all the children in the class. Those children were all close contacts of the positive case, and should have been informed, per contact tracing requirements. Instead, the parent just decided to tell whomever she deemed she wanted to tell. Unless/until DCPS and the Health Dept provide coherent information on how they are going to address this situation in the future, I have very little confidence in reopening.

[Anonymous]

March on. Who cares. Unless you are elderly or sick, this is just not particularly scary. If you are elderly/sick, you need to quarantine until vaccine. Treating everyone as though health outcomes are the same is simply idiotic.