Are more people opting into the APS testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a chance. This is a Zero COVID fantasy that will only keep healthy kids out of school. Surveillance testing is only a way to keep healthy kids out of school.

No mainstream scientist is saying that COVID will be eradicated or that herd immunity is possible. Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID in their lifetime. Do you want to lock healthy kids out of schools forever and continually disrupt their education when such rules don’t apply to adults?

Look at the story of Georgetown Prep: 100% vaccinated school, and went remote because of 30 cases. From what people have said online, not 1 person is sick whatsoever and it was caught via surveillance testing. These are 30 asymptomatic, vaccinated kids (i.e., not sick) causing school to shut down. Previously, a case of an illness required symptoms, but that all changed with COVID even though the flu virus spreads asymptomatically too.

This is a virus that is never going away. NEVER.
Please don’t say:
• Kids under 5 can’t be vaccinated – they have less risk with COVID than the flu, and we never surveillance tested for the flu
• Protect immunocompromised – immunocompromised didn’t start existing in March 2020, they’ve always had issues with bad flu seasons and they should take the same type of precautions
• Protect grandma and grandpa – grandma and grandpa can get vaccinated for a year now; if they’re anti-vaxxers, it’s on them at this point

Most importantly, why are children bearing this burden? We don’t surveillance test anywhere else in society, and unvaccinated kids are at less mortality risk from COVID than vaccinated 40 year olds. And what is the cost of children’s education being constantly disrupted? We aren’t disrupting elderly people’s pickleball games, middle aged people’s dining or millennials' bar nights, all of which are much less important than the youngest generation getting educated.

As of Nov. 17th, FCPS only had 124 opt ins (of 179K students) for surveillance testing. We need to put up similarly minute numbers. Keep healthy kids in school – don’t opt into APS surveillance testing!

Tell me more about the COVID treatments for kids that have been tested and refined for decades, just like treatments for the flu and colds which have been around for ages. Oh, that's right, COVID has been with us for only 2 years so STFU. You don't give a shit about my under 5 at risk kid. You and your kind have made that very clear from the beginning. You're fine with my at risk young child bearing the burden, just not your kid.

Thank you to everyone who is doing their part to slow the spread and testing their kids. I appreciate that immensely.

Did you yell at people about the 200 other endemic respiratory viruses? How about with RSV, which is more dangerous to kids under 5?

Kids under 5 have less risk with COVID than RSV or the flu. I guess you're not letting them leave the house again.

When people try to pretend that COVID is the same as the flu or a cold or any other respiratory virus that has been around for a long time and has well established treatments, yes I do. (Still waiting to hear what those long established and available treatments are for young at risk kids..) And while we're on the subject I get that your average young child likes to snot all over everything and you just throw your hands up in the air because there is nothing you can do about that. Try again. Your mild cold is a major issue for my kid. Keep your kid home when they're ill. Teach them proper hygiene. It is utter selfishness for you to bring Larla to the play group when she's sneezing all over everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

Testing athletes is not a problem. ONLY testing athletes and then using those numbers to characterize athletes as a threat beyond the overall student positivity rate is a big problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

Testing athletes is not a problem. ONLY testing athletes and then using those numbers to characterize athletes as a threat beyond the overall student positivity rate is a big problem.

Is that happening? I don't see that happening. All kids can be tested, right? If athlete testing rates are abnormally high, isn't that an argument for 1) regularly testing athletes, and 2) everyone else opting in to testing to see how the rest of the student population compares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

Testing athletes is not a problem. ONLY testing athletes and then using those numbers to characterize athletes as a threat beyond the overall student positivity rate is a big problem.

Is that happening? I don't see that happening. All kids can be tested, right? If athlete testing rates are abnormally high, isn't that an argument for 1) regularly testing athletes, and 2) everyone else opting in to testing to see how the rest of the student population compares?

There is no data showing that athlete rates are any higher than the general population, but that didn’t stop Duran from saying it anyway because it fits his agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a chance. This is a Zero COVID fantasy that will only keep healthy kids out of school. Surveillance testing is only a way to keep healthy kids out of school.

No mainstream scientist is saying that COVID will be eradicated or that herd immunity is possible. Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID in their lifetime. Do you want to lock healthy kids out of schools forever and continually disrupt their education when such rules don’t apply to adults?

Look at the story of Georgetown Prep: 100% vaccinated school, and went remote because of 30 cases. From what people have said online, not 1 person is sick whatsoever and it was caught via surveillance testing. These are 30 asymptomatic, vaccinated kids (i.e., not sick) causing school to shut down. Previously, a case of an illness required symptoms, but that all changed with COVID even though the flu virus spreads asymptomatically too.

This is a virus that is never going away. NEVER.
Please don’t say:
• Kids under 5 can’t be vaccinated – they have less risk with COVID than the flu, and we never surveillance tested for the flu
• Protect immunocompromised – immunocompromised didn’t start existing in March 2020, they’ve always had issues with bad flu seasons and they should take the same type of precautions
• Protect grandma and grandpa – grandma and grandpa can get vaccinated for a year now; if they’re anti-vaxxers, it’s on them at this point

Most importantly, why are children bearing this burden? We don’t surveillance test anywhere else in society, and unvaccinated kids are at less mortality risk from COVID than vaccinated 40 year olds. And what is the cost of children’s education being constantly disrupted? We aren’t disrupting elderly people’s pickleball games, middle aged people’s dining or millennials' bar nights, all of which are much less important than the youngest generation getting educated.

As of Nov. 17th, FCPS only had 124 opt ins (of 179K students) for surveillance testing. We need to put up similarly minute numbers. Keep healthy kids in school – don’t opt into APS surveillance testing!

I generally agree but you’re not going to win over the hearts and minds of APS parents with your obsessive posts. I’d love to strike a deal to drop masks in exchange for mandatory vaccines and surveillance testing. My kids are vaxxed but no way im signing up for testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a chance. This is a Zero COVID fantasy that will only keep healthy kids out of school. Surveillance testing is only a way to keep healthy kids out of school.

No mainstream scientist is saying that COVID will be eradicated or that herd immunity is possible. Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID in their lifetime. Do you want to lock healthy kids out of schools forever and continually disrupt their education when such rules don’t apply to adults?

Look at the story of Georgetown Prep: 100% vaccinated school, and went remote because of 30 cases. From what people have said online, not 1 person is sick whatsoever and it was caught via surveillance testing. These are 30 asymptomatic, vaccinated kids (i.e., not sick) causing school to shut down. Previously, a case of an illness required symptoms, but that all changed with COVID even though the flu virus spreads asymptomatically too.

This is a virus that is never going away. NEVER.
Please don’t say:
• Kids under 5 can’t be vaccinated – they have less risk with COVID than the flu, and we never surveillance tested for the flu
• Protect immunocompromised – immunocompromised didn’t start existing in March 2020, they’ve always had issues with bad flu seasons and they should take the same type of precautions
• Protect grandma and grandpa – grandma and grandpa can get vaccinated for a year now; if they’re anti-vaxxers, it’s on them at this point

Most importantly, why are children bearing this burden? We don’t surveillance test anywhere else in society, and unvaccinated kids are at less mortality risk from COVID than vaccinated 40 year olds. And what is the cost of children’s education being constantly disrupted? We aren’t disrupting elderly people’s pickleball games, middle aged people’s dining or millennials' bar nights, all of which are much less important than the youngest generation getting educated.

As of Nov. 17th, FCPS only had 124 opt ins (of 179K students) for surveillance testing. We need to put up similarly minute numbers. Keep healthy kids in school – don’t opt into APS surveillance testing!

I generally agree but you’re not going to win over the hearts and minds of APS parents with your obsessive posts. I’d love to strike a deal to drop masks in exchange for mandatory vaccines and surveillance testing. My kids are vaxxed but no way im signing up for testing.

+1 once I see “COVID ZERO” I know it’s that guy and skip to the next post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

Testing athletes is not a problem. ONLY testing athletes and then using those numbers to characterize athletes as a threat beyond the overall student positivity rate is a big problem.

Big concern of mine as well. I don’t trust APS and they rely too much on case numbers. Im not giving them ammunition to close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Healthy kids will test negative.

Plenty of false positives too.

Even more false negatives!!

So what’s the use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

You’d really be upset by the huge number of kids I know playing Futsal weeknights and every weekend throughout winter,,,,or hockey or indoor track.

Just give it up. Omicron is causing nothing. Everyone I know who had it the last few weeks had almost zero symptoms.

Mental health of kids and school is more important at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

You’d really be upset by the huge number of kids I know playing Futsal weeknights and every weekend throughout winter,,,,or hockey or indoor track.

Just give it up. Omicron is causing nothing. Everyone I know who had it the last few weeks had almost zero symptoms.

Mental health of kids and school is more important at this point.

Totally agree. What are the long term mental health impacts of denying kids their childhood? Are these permanent life long effects? Is it a greater long term risk than COVID?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

You’d really be upset by the huge number of kids I know playing Futsal weeknights and every weekend throughout winter,,,,or hockey or indoor track.

Just give it up. Omicron is causing nothing. Everyone I know who had it the last few weeks had almost zero symptoms.

Mental health of kids and school is more important at this point.

Totally agree. What are the long term mental health impacts of denying kids their childhood? Are these permanent life long effects? Is it a greater long term risk than COVID?

What are the long term mental health effects of asymptomatic kids missing a week of school? What are the long term mental health effects of loosing a family member to COVID or of having long COVID?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

You’d really be upset by the huge number of kids I know playing Futsal weeknights and every weekend throughout winter,,,,or hockey or indoor track.

Just give it up. Omicron is causing nothing. Everyone I know who had it the last few weeks had almost zero symptoms.

Mental health of kids and school is more important at this point.

My kids play futsal, hockey and basketball which is why we DO test with APS. The sports are a major positive aspect for their mental health.

You should take a look at Dr Silverman’s weekly update, he’s head of the ER in Arlington. You are incorrect in your categorization of Omicron being nothing. While you may believe that, it’s not reality. He does say it’s milder, but not nothing.

“ We’re certainly seeing a lot of COVID positive kids. We’ve transferred several critically ill kids to pediatric intensive care units (PICU) and this includes kids ranging from newborns to upwards of 12 years old, both vaccinated and unvaccinated (obviously those <5 are unvax). One of the more interesting things we’ve seen are the number of kids who have croup secondary to COVID. Croup is inflammation of the upper airway, typically caused by a virus, and usually results in a barking, seal like cough. We see it commonly in the ER and we typically can get kids improved and home in a matter of hours. However, we’ve had several really sick kids from croup who required a PICU bed. Please get your kids vaccinated and boosted if they qualify. It will make a difference.”

https://www.facebook.com/1551200652/posts/10227524937419665/?d=n

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

You’d really be upset by the huge number of kids I know playing Futsal weeknights and every weekend throughout winter,,,,or hockey or indoor track.

Just give it up. Omicron is causing nothing. Everyone I know who had it the last few weeks had almost zero symptoms.

Mental health of kids and school is more important at this point.

My kids play futsal, hockey and basketball which is why we DO test with APS. The sports are a major positive aspect for their mental health.

You should take a look at Dr Silverman’s weekly update, he’s head of the ER in Arlington. You are incorrect in your categorization of Omicron being nothing. While you may believe that, it’s not reality. He does say it’s milder, but not nothing.

“ We’re certainly seeing a lot of COVID positive kids. We’ve transferred several critically ill kids to pediatric intensive care units (PICU) and this includes kids ranging from newborns to upwards of 12 years old, both vaccinated and unvaccinated (obviously those <5 are unvax). One of the more interesting things we’ve seen are the number of kids who have croup secondary to COVID. Croup is inflammation of the upper airway, typically caused by a virus, and usually results in a barking, seal like cough. We see it commonly in the ER and we typically can get kids improved and home in a matter of hours. However, we’ve had several really sick kids from croup who required a PICU bed. Please get your kids vaccinated and boosted if they qualify. It will make a difference.”

https://www.facebook.com/1551200652/posts/10227524937419665/?d=n

Croup is almost exclusively found in little kids - as in those too young to be vaccinated. You grow out of it because your airways become bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Duran to make smart decisions with the data he collects. After only testing athletes, he determines that athletes are a threat. He’s a poor data scientist, and I’m not going to feed him data.

Testing athletes makes sense to me. Maybe there are some sports that don't have a lot of close contact, but I'm thinking of basketball and wrestling where kids are all up in each other's faces breathing heavily. Seems there would be a ton of spread in such situations unless there was testing.

Testing athletes is not a problem. ONLY testing athletes and then using those numbers to characterize athletes as a threat beyond the overall student positivity rate is a big problem.

Is that happening? I don't see that happening. All kids can be tested, right? If athlete testing rates are abnormally high, isn't that an argument for 1) regularly testing athletes, and 2) everyone else opting in to testing to see how the rest of the student population compares?

There is no data showing that athlete rates are any higher than the general population, but that didn’t stop Duran from saying it anyway because it fits his agenda.

That’s exactly what the available data showed and that’s why sports were shut down.

If you want more and better data then push for everyone to get tested.