OMICRON to send us back to distance learning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/omicron-public-weary-restrictions/2021/11/29/3832e4aa-508b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html

"If there is a major resurgence of the pandemic, the political will for the harshest virus mitigation measures has largely evaporated even in the most liberal parts of the country, which have been the most open to restrictions, experts say.

“The threshold to shut things down is going to be much higher than it was,” said Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “One of the durable takeaway lessons is that the closing of schools is really a terrible thing to do and should be avoided at all costs.”"

Amen. Kids need in-person school. We will be ok. Mask and vaccinate.

—a teacher

I agree. 100%

ES Teacher

Kids need good teachers, supportive involved parents and a good curriculum that includes textbooks and homework for reinforcement. And, if you don't do the work, you fail. Socially passing kids only hurts them academically later on.

Kids need to be safe in school. There is no distancing, testing is a joke and most people stopped caring.

You can say "we" will be ok, but that we needs to be you and not the rest of us. Don't give people a false sense of security. You have just been lucky as a teacher that none of your students or their parents have died.

Then I guess our entire local school system has been lucky now for months. Or perhaps school is safer than you would like to think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/omicron-public-weary-restrictions/2021/11/29/3832e4aa-508b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html

"If there is a major resurgence of the pandemic, the political will for the harshest virus mitigation measures has largely evaporated even in the most liberal parts of the country, which have been the most open to restrictions, experts say.

“The threshold to shut things down is going to be much higher than it was,” said Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “One of the durable takeaway lessons is that the closing of schools is really a terrible thing to do and should be avoided at all costs.”"

Amen. Kids need in-person school. We will be ok. Mask and vaccinate.

—a teacher

Different teacher.

Kids don't "need" in-person school. It is a "nice to have" not a "must have." Do parents "need" childcare? Yes. That's the reason why schools may stay open even after kids and teachers start to die.

There is no vaccine yet that is effective against Omicron.

Your last statement is simply wrong. Show me one citation for that “teacher”

Uh, why don't YOU show a citation for a peer-reviewed article that proves that there IS a vaccine that is effective against Omicron. We'll wait ...

DP
What are you talking about? The PP said there is no vaccine yet that is effective against Omicron. We don't know that the current vaccines aren't effective, so the PP's statement isn't accurate.

For example:
Dr. Hanage and other researchers said that vaccines will most likely protect against Omicron, but further studies are needed to determine how much of the shots’ effectiveness may be reduced.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/health/omicron-variant-vaccines.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/omicron-public-weary-restrictions/2021/11/29/3832e4aa-508b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html

"If there is a major resurgence of the pandemic, the political will for the harshest virus mitigation measures has largely evaporated even in the most liberal parts of the country, which have been the most open to restrictions, experts say.

“The threshold to shut things down is going to be much higher than it was,” said Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “One of the durable takeaway lessons is that the closing of schools is really a terrible thing to do and should be avoided at all costs.”"

Amen. Kids need in-person school. We will be ok. Mask and vaccinate.

—a teacher

Different teacher.

Kids don't "need" in-person school. It is a "nice to have" not a "must have." Do parents "need" childcare? Yes. That's the reason why schools may stay open even after kids and teachers start to die.

There is no vaccine yet that is effective against Omicron.

Perhaps you’re trolling or just burned out. I’m a little toasty this year and am often grappling with how to work with students post remote learning (and my kids are a relatively privileged group but are still behind), but I can’t imagine any teacher who hasn’t given up completely making such a statement.

[Anonymous]

Many are only doing opt in testing and its random so out of 1000 students maybe 50 are tested and its the same kids all the time as any parent who is engaging in risky behavior isn't going to opt in.

I am not engaging in risky behavior, but I am also not opting my child in again (our district does it on a week to week basis). The last time he was tested, he lost almost an hour of instructional time and had to make the work up on his own. This doesn't work well for us, as he has a learning disability. He is also 13 years old, and fully vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/omicron-public-weary-restrictions/2021/11/29/3832e4aa-508b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html

"If there is a major resurgence of the pandemic, the political will for the harshest virus mitigation measures has largely evaporated even in the most liberal parts of the country, which have been the most open to restrictions, experts say.

“The threshold to shut things down is going to be much higher than it was,” said Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “One of the durable takeaway lessons is that the closing of schools is really a terrible thing to do and should be avoided at all costs.”"

Amen. Kids need in-person school. We will be ok. Mask and vaccinate.

—a teacher

I agree. 100%

ES Teacher

Kids need good teachers, supportive involved parents and a good curriculum that includes textbooks and homework for reinforcement. And, if you don't do the work, you fail. Socially passing kids only hurts them academically later on.

Kids need to be safe in school. There is no distancing, testing is a joke and most people stopped caring.

You can say "we" will be ok, but that we needs to be you and not the rest of us. Don't give people a false sense of security. You have just been lucky as a teacher that none of your students or their parents have died.

The part in bold seems kind of random.

"No distancing"? "Most people stopped caring"? What are you basing this on? In my school every student and adult is masked. Students are distanced at lunch. 15 student cases out of 1,700 students between two elementary schools in a little over 3 months is not "luck". Other schools have similar numbers.

[Anonymous]

South Africa says the vaccines are working against severe disease.

[Anonymous]

Top S. African epidemilogist says vaccines appear to be effective against serious disease and hospitalization. So take a breath people.

"He noted, however, that vaccines still appeared to be effective in avoiding serious symptoms. “We can expect that we will still see high effectiveness for hospitalization and severe disease, and that protection of the vaccines is likely to remain strong.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/29/so...a-omicron-fourth-wave-vaccine/

[Anonymous]

Let's not jump the gun.

Limited data impede any firm conclusions about the threat posed by omicron and whether it can evade immunity

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/11/29/how-bad-is-omicron-variant/


“Omicron is like the song ‘One Piece at a Time’ by Johnny Cash, where he puts together a car from stolen bits of lots of different cars. It is made of mutations that were somewhat successful separately in other variants, but together it is hard to say more than it looks weird,” Neuman said.

Scientists don’t want to get ahead of the facts: No one knows yet how this variant behaves in real-world situations. But if it has a high degree of immune evasiveness, vaccine makers will have to revise their formulas, something already in the works at a preliminary stage. This would be a major setback in the world’s efforts to emerge from a pandemic soon to enter its third full year. The other possibility: Omicron could go the way of alpha, beta, lambda, gamma, mu and other variants that had worrisome mutations and a period of notoriety but were driven virtually to extinction by the more transmissible delta variant.

South Africa, now late in its springtime, was experiencing a low level of viral transmission before omicron appeared and started a cluster of infections. That cluster could have represented a random superspreader event rather than a clear signal of greater transmissibility of omicron.

Experience offers some hope that omicron could fade as a threat. Other variants — for example, mu — have appeared with mutations that are known to lower the potency of antibodies. But that immune-escape advantage was not enough to overcome a relative weakness in other mechanisms that enable infection. So when the mu variant appeared in Southern California, it generated headlines for a week or two before being crushed by delta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/omicron-public-weary-restrictions/2021/11/29/3832e4aa-508b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html

"If there is a major resurgence of the pandemic, the political will for the harshest virus mitigation measures has largely evaporated even in the most liberal parts of the country, which have been the most open to restrictions, experts say.

“The threshold to shut things down is going to be much higher than it was,” said Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “One of the durable takeaway lessons is that the closing of schools is really a terrible thing to do and should be avoided at all costs.”"

Amen. Kids need in-person school. We will be ok. Mask and vaccinate.

—a teacher

I agree. 100%

ES Teacher

Kids need good teachers, supportive involved parents and a good curriculum that includes textbooks and homework for reinforcement. And, if you don't do the work, you fail. Socially passing kids only hurts them academically later on.

Kids need to be safe in school. There is no distancing, testing is a joke and most people stopped caring.

You can say "we" will be ok, but that we needs to be you and not the rest of us. Don't give people a false sense of security. You have just been lucky as a teacher that none of your students or their parents have died.

The part in bold seems kind of random.

"No distancing"? "Most people stopped caring"? What are you basing this on? In my school every student and adult is masked. Students are distanced at lunch. 15 student cases out of 1,700 students between two elementary schools in a little over 3 months is not "luck". Other schools have similar numbers.

Good for your school. Ours has no distancing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Many are only doing opt in testing and its random so out of 1000 students maybe 50 are tested and its the same kids all the time as any parent who is engaging in risky behavior isn't going to opt in.

I am not engaging in risky behavior, but I am also not opting my child in again (our district does it on a week to week basis). The last time he was tested, he lost almost an hour of instructional time and had to make the work up on his own. This doesn't work well for us, as he has a learning disability. He is also 13 years old, and fully vaccinated.

Your kids are in person school. That is risky alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of us still are in Virtual learning. No, the counties will keep going with no distancing, fake testing and everything else and only when a few people die (those who others deem worthy) then they may at least put some precautions in place.

I'm sorry to hear that having your kids home every day for almost two years has melted your brain. It's understandable. And preventable, by sending your kids to school, which is where they belong.

I love having them at home and will miss them when they go back. When people like you can behave more responsible or the schools handle covid better, we'll consider returning. I'm sorry you don't love your kids enough to have them home. Maybe you shouldn't have had kids if you cannot handle having them around.

Schools are safe. For kids and for their family. If you want testing, they're doing that too. Your absurd post shows the deleterious effects of being locked down for extended periods of time.

No, schools are not safe. Most aren't following the CDC guidelines including testing and social distancing. Most have 35+ students to a classroom and in MS and HS those kids rotate classes. Many are only doing opt in testing and its random so out of 1000 students maybe 50 are tested and its the same kids all the time as any parent who is engaging in risky behavior isn't going to opt in.

How many covid deaths in DMV are attributable to covid? 0?

…… all of them?

[Anonymous]

No way, for purely economic and political reasons (thank god they exist and outweigh the panic/popularity reasons!)
They can’t keep paying parents to stay home if they quit their jobs due to childcare like many did in 2020.
Also they can’t afford the red wave that would follow
So they have to resort to masks and border closures

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/omicron-public-weary-restrictions/2021/11/29/3832e4aa-508b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html

"If there is a major resurgence of the pandemic, the political will for the harshest virus mitigation measures has largely evaporated even in the most liberal parts of the country, which have been the most open to restrictions, experts say.

“The threshold to shut things down is going to be much higher than it was,” said Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “One of the durable takeaway lessons is that the closing of schools is really a terrible thing to do and should be avoided at all costs.”"

Amen. Kids need in-person school. We will be ok. Mask and vaccinate.

—a teacher

I agree. 100%

ES Teacher

Kids need good teachers, supportive involved parents and a good curriculum that includes textbooks and homework for reinforcement. And, if you don't do the work, you fail. Socially passing kids only hurts them academically later on.

Kids need to be safe in school. There is no distancing, testing is a joke and most people stopped caring.

You can say "we" will be ok, but that we needs to be you and not the rest of us. Don't give people a false sense of security. You have just been lucky as a teacher that none of your students or their parents have died.

The part in bold seems kind of random.

"No distancing"? "Most people stopped caring"? What are you basing this on? In my school every student and adult is masked. Students are distanced at lunch. 15 student cases out of 1,700 students between two elementary schools in a little over 3 months is not "luck". Other schools have similar numbers.

Good for your school. Ours has no distancing.

So don’t make such broad statements like “there is no distancing” and “most people stopped caring”.

How many cases has your school had? Where are you located?

[Anonymous]

They can close schools again right after they close restaurants, bars and gyms. They need to be the last thing to close, not the first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/omicron-public-weary-restrictions/2021/11/29/3832e4aa-508b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html

"If there is a major resurgence of the pandemic, the political will for the harshest virus mitigation measures has largely evaporated even in the most liberal parts of the country, which have been the most open to restrictions, experts say.

“The threshold to shut things down is going to be much higher than it was,” said Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “One of the durable takeaway lessons is that the closing of schools is really a terrible thing to do and should be avoided at all costs.”"

Amen. Kids need in-person school. We will be ok. Mask and vaccinate.

—a teacher

I agree. 100%

ES Teacher

Kids need good teachers, supportive involved parents and a good curriculum that includes textbooks and homework for reinforcement. And, if you don't do the work, you fail. Socially passing kids only hurts them academically later on.

Kids need to be safe in school. There is no distancing, testing is a joke and most people stopped caring.

You can say "we" will be ok, but that we needs to be you and not the rest of us. Don't give people a false sense of security. You have just been lucky as a teacher that none of your students or their parents have died.

The part in bold seems kind of random.

"No distancing"? "Most people stopped caring"? What are you basing this on? In my school every student and adult is masked. Students are distanced at lunch. 15 student cases out of 1,700 students between two elementary schools in a little over 3 months is not "luck". Other schools have similar numbers.

Good for your school. Ours has no distancing.

So don’t make such broad statements like “there is no distancing” and “most people stopped caring”.

How many cases has your school had? Where are you located?

MCPS has multiple outbreaks. There is absolutely no distancing at all. You can look at pictures online.