Will MCPS go virtual the first part of January?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In an elementary school with a population of 500, if this weekend the principal asks parents to let her know how many kids have COVID, and asks staff the same, what might the result be?

Maybe 14 kids in the school have COVID and 3 staff members are positive? So that's only 17 total, which isn't the 5% needed (25) to close that school. So school should open. Later that week, they might see another 8 kids test positive, by Thursday maybe? So then the school would switch to virtual.

Why would students testing positive over break feed into a decision about school closing? Students were not in school.

You are right, just the staff who will be out are the vital statistic here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS will not go virtual unless they have so many teacher and staff absences that it makes it impossible to open schools or keep them open.

You make it sound like that sentence is some wildly unlikely possibility.

Have you seen COVID spread this week? It is very likely that most schools won't be able to open in a week.

This is my question - why would they start up school if the numbers are so high in MoCo? And we only have 4 more days this week. Would they really wait that long to tell all the parents and staff of all the montgomery county schools that they are going virtual? Would they tell them even as late as next weekend?

[Anonymous]

CDC just changed quaranting guidance for asymptomatic people with covid from 10 days to five days, so that will likely change the leave that teachers get for covid, and thus there will be fewer staffing issues. The 14 day rule should change as a result too.

[Anonymous]

There’s no way we’re going back. How are people not realizing this? Hope you all enjoyed your travel!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CDC just changed quaranting guidance for asymptomatic people with covid from 10 days to five days, so that will likely change the leave that teachers get for covid, and thus there will be fewer staffing issues. The 14 day rule should change as a result too.

Asymptomatic, vaccinated teachers weren’t required to quarantine due to close contact prior to now anyway. Ask me how I know 😉

[Anonymous]

Yes. They are going virtual

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CDC just changed quaranting guidance for asymptomatic people with covid from 10 days to five days, so that will likely change the leave that teachers get for covid, and thus there will be fewer staffing issues. The 14 day rule should change as a result too.

Actually they just added new challenges for staffing. We went from not needing to quarantine at all as long as you were vaccinated, to now needing 5 days if ou have not had the booster. The booster has not been required for staff. I’m curious if MCPS will now require the booster.

[Anonymous]

News showing kid hospitalized. Big risk to unvaxxed 5-11 year olds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:News showing kid hospitalized. Big risk to unvaxxed 5-11 year olds.

There will always be one. That kid will make the news. But few kids should be affected. Especially vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Many ES school kids not vaxxed yet sadly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CDC just changed quaranting guidance for asymptomatic people with covid from 10 days to five days, so that will likely change the leave that teachers get for covid, and thus there will be fewer staffing issues. The 14 day rule should change as a result too.

Actually they just added new challenges for staffing. We went from not needing to quarantine at all as long as you were vaccinated, to now needing 5 days if ou have not had the booster. The booster has not been required for staff. I’m curious if MCPS will now require the booster.

Not *needs*...recommends. And if it's not feasible, you mask those 5 days instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:News showing kid hospitalized. Big risk to unvaxxed 5-11 year olds.

It is hard to feel sympathy for the unvaxxed at this point. Parents have always had the right to make stupid decisions for their children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but their rule states pivot after >5% positivity during 14 days.
If I read that right.

Which means closing in the last two weeks of Jan, after making everything worse.

Today in MD, positivity is at 12%.

I think the 5% positive means 5% of staff and students test positive for the virus.

12% positivity means something different. That means, of those people who took a test, 12% were positive for COVID. It doesn't mean 12% of the population is positive for COVID. Because lots of people didn't take the test.

If there’s 12 or 16% positivity in the community, there’s also a similar number among students and staff, silly.

And of course it’s people taking tests. How else would we know they’re positive?

The positivity rate in MCPS will be the same as the community as s whole.

But no one is testing the ENTIRE Montgomery County community for COVID.
12% test positivity doesn't mean we tested every single person in the county, and 12% of them had COVID.

It means, of the people who showed up for testing (and were able to secure a test) 12% of THOSE people tested positive. Since people with symptoms are much more likely to get tested, and people who are close contact are also more likely, that population skews highly more likely to actually have COVID.

Yes, apples and oranges. Posters trying to equate 12% of a population that went to get tested vs. 5% of an entire population (1) either don't get it and we're fortunate that they're not decisionmakers or (2) are being willfully ignorant.

I still don’t get it. MCPS is not testing their entire student body every day or every week. 5 or 10 % of what exactly? Who is testing?

Five percent would include parent-reported positives.

MCPS really needs to get a test-to-stay program in place. It is absurd to quarantine 95% of students who are healthy. Parents really need to start recognize that if they have to close any schools because of their capricious 5% threshold, it is really due to their own incompetence for not getting a test-to-stay program in place.

Are you serious? 5% positive means 1 in every 20 people in the school have had covid (and probably twice that many are incubating it and will become contagious shortly, maybe more, starting before their rapid tests would turn positive.) At rates that high, and given that omicron is practically as contagious as measles, you'd be sending kids and staff in with an astronomically high risk of catching covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should, but their rule states pivot after >5% positivity during 14 days.
If I read that right.

Which means closing in the last two weeks of Jan, after making everything worse.

Today in MD, positivity is at 12%.

I think the 5% positive means 5% of staff and students test positive for the virus.

12% positivity means something different. That means, of those people who took a test, 12% were positive for COVID. It doesn't mean 12% of the population is positive for COVID. Because lots of people didn't take the test.

If there’s 12 or 16% positivity in the community, there’s also a similar number among students and staff, silly.

And of course it’s people taking tests. How else would we know they’re positive?

The positivity rate in MCPS will be the same as the community as s whole.

But no one is testing the ENTIRE Montgomery County community for COVID.
12% test positivity doesn't mean we tested every single person in the county, and 12% of them had COVID.

It means, of the people who showed up for testing (and were able to secure a test) 12% of THOSE people tested positive. Since people with symptoms are much more likely to get tested, and people who are close contact are also more likely, that population skews highly more likely to actually have COVID.

Yes, apples and oranges. Posters trying to equate 12% of a population that went to get tested vs. 5% of an entire population (1) either don't get it and we're fortunate that they're not decisionmakers or (2) are being willfully ignorant.

I still don’t get it. MCPS is not testing their entire student body every day or every week. 5 or 10 % of what exactly? Who is testing?

Five percent would include parent-reported positives.

MCPS really needs to get a test-to-stay program in place. It is absurd to quarantine 95% of students who are healthy. Parents really need to start recognize that if they have to close any schools because of their capricious 5% threshold, it is really due to their own incompetence for not getting a test-to-stay program in place.

Are you serious? 5% positive means 1 in every 20 people in the school have had covid (and probably twice that many are incubating it and will become contagious shortly, maybe more, starting before their rapid tests would turn positive.) At rates that high, and given that omicron is practically as contagious as measles, you'd be sending kids and staff in with an astronomically high risk of catching covid.

It’s not so risky if you are vaccinated and get your booster when it’s time. The 5% of MCPS staff who refused to get vaccinated should be concerned. Not a reason to close schools though.

[Anonymous]

No, the screamers won, school will stay open so parents can go to work.