Classrooms for kids <12 will close for 10 days w/ any positives; will there be virtual instruction?

[Anonymous]

The science on breakthrough infections is evolving quickly right now. My best understanding is that the latest is that 1) breakthrough infections are happening and are unlikely to result in hospitalization/death and 2) some people with breakthrough infections have a high viral load and can presumably transmit COVID.

This complicates things for schools, but I think it means we are pivoting into a phase where COVID is everywhere and where vaccinated adults (and young children) face a relatively small risk of serious illness / complications from COVID.

The million dollar question is whether schools/public policy can catch up to this reality.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a dcps elementary teacher I think we’re all just going to have to keep our wits about us and be reasonable. Do we all eat lunch together in the cafeteria? No. Do we play outdoors with maybe one other class ( know that it’s not reasonable to expect that students will maintain distance at recess)? Probably. Three other classes? Probably not. If there’s a reported case in a classroom should whole class quarantine for 10 days? No. Let’s test whole class daily and remain in school. We should not be worrying about students carrying the virus home to adults because they should be vaccinated ( barring medical reasons)! Breakthrough infections are rare. We must be sensible here.

A couple of things--

OSSE would need to mandate that 'reasonableness' based on science, best practice whatever.

Also, it is beginning to sound like breakthrough infections of Delta are not that rare...just serious symptoms. Unfortunately, the viral load in someone with a breakthrough infection is the same as someone unvaccinated.

This. So even if vaccinated, one would need to quarantine if exposed because you are just as potentially contagious as someone who is unvaccinated and exposed, right?

This is untrue; read above.

Someone, probably you, keeps reporting posts from this thread saying the information is false. I believe the bolded is based on a statement made by CDC Director Walensky yesterday that is reported in this AP article:

But with the delta variant, a mutated and more transmissible version of the virus, the level of virus in infected vaccinated people is “indistinguishable” from the level of virus in the noses and throats of unvaccinated people, Walensky said.

https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-79959d313428d98ab8aa905bbe287ba0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not just Janney. Banneker shut down its entire Summer Institute earlier this month after a positive test--and the entire student body is presumably old enough to be vaccinated. No teaching, distance learning, emailed homework, or anything occurred while it was closed.

yes. It does not appear that schools are allowed to (as a teacher said up thread) "keep our wits about us and be reasonable".

If there is a case, anyone in that room is being sent HOME FOR 10 DAYS. Period.

Which is why I'm really concerned. DCPS is not being nuanced about this. They are putting down the hammer and sending home entire cohorts for 10 days with ANY case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The science on breakthrough infections is evolving quickly right now. My best understanding is that the latest is that 1) breakthrough infections are happening and are unlikely to result in hospitalization/death and 2) some people with breakthrough infections have a high viral load and can presumably transmit COVID.

This complicates things for schools, but I think it means we are pivoting into a phase where COVID is everywhere and where vaccinated adults (and young children) face a relatively small risk of serious illness / complications from COVID.

The million dollar question is whether schools/public policy can catch up to this reality.

From the CDC yesterday: She said the new data emerged in the last week and showed that vaccinated people who are infected with the delta variant could carry the same viral load as unvaccinated, infected people. As a result, the CDC is asking that even the vaccinated wear masks in public, indoor settings "to help prevent the spread of the delta variants and protect others.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-backtracks-masks-guidance-vaccinated-people-schools/story?id=79089396

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The science on breakthrough infections is evolving quickly right now. My best understanding is that the latest is that 1) breakthrough infections are happening and are unlikely to result in hospitalization/death and 2) some people with breakthrough infections have a high viral load and can presumably transmit COVID.

This complicates things for schools, but I think it means we are pivoting into a phase where COVID is everywhere and where vaccinated adults (and young children) face a relatively small risk of serious illness / complications from COVID.

The million dollar question is whether schools/public policy can catch up to this reality.

From the CDC yesterday: She said the new data emerged in the last week and showed that vaccinated people who are infected with the delta variant could carry the same viral load as unvaccinated, infected people. As a result, the CDC is asking that even the vaccinated wear masks in public, indoor settings "to help prevent the spread of the delta variants and protect others.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-backtracks-masks-guidance-vaccinated-people-schools/story?id=79089396

Just to add one clarification to this which I am qualified to provide due to my Ph.d in the subject that I obtained a result of 10 minutes of Googling, it is not actually the "viral load" that is the same because virus is not necessarily spread throughout the bodies of the vaccinated. What is the same is the amount of the virus in the noses and throats. An unvaccinated infected person will likely have a significantly greater total viral load than a vaccinated person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The science on breakthrough infections is evolving quickly right now. My best understanding is that the latest is that 1) breakthrough infections are happening and are unlikely to result in hospitalization/death and 2) some people with breakthrough infections have a high viral load and can presumably transmit COVID.

This complicates things for schools, but I think it means we are pivoting into a phase where COVID is everywhere and where vaccinated adults (and young children) face a relatively small risk of serious illness / complications from COVID.

The million dollar question is whether schools/public policy can catch up to this reality.

This. This might be going on for years, we should start getting used to it and stop disrupting kids’ lives.

[Anonymous]

God I'm so depressed by this.

My kid and I literally cannot afford another year of distance learning, or just in-and-out of school. I can't do it financially. My office will start making me go in come September and there's no way I can stay home for 10 days repeatedly throughout the school year. There won't be any "learning camps" for exposed kids -- we are all just going to have to be home. I'll lose my job. I don't know what to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just Janney. Banneker shut down its entire Summer Institute earlier this month after a positive test--and the entire student body is presumably old enough to be vaccinated. No teaching, distance learning, emailed homework, or anything occurred while it was closed.

yes. It does not appear that schools are allowed to (as a teacher said up thread) "keep our wits about us and be reasonable".

If there is a case, anyone in that room is being sent HOME FOR 10 DAYS. Period.

Which is why I'm really concerned. DCPS is not being nuanced about this. They are putting down the hammer and sending home entire cohorts for 10 days with ANY case.

Yep. And to be clear, at the Banneker Summer Institute, kids were shuttled into single rooms to sit all day without any mixing, and 9th graders and 10th graders came in on alternating days, AND THEY ALL GOT SENT HOME. This is not just anyone in a single room--this affected more than 200 kids.

[Anonymous]

We won't have any vaccine mandates, although I guess what does it matter, if vaccines don't prevent spread. All the under-12s will get Delta. They ALSO won't have regular school. Everyone vaccinated will all get delta but it won't matter.

People will lose jobs, we'll continue to have more gaps in education by the haves- and have-nots, we'll have greater set-backs in women's careers.

Mostly society won't care because it's women and children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God I'm so depressed by this.

My kid and I literally cannot afford another year of distance learning, or just in-and-out of school. I can't do it financially. My office will start making me go in come September and there's no way I can stay home for 10 days repeatedly throughout the school year. There won't be any "learning camps" for exposed kids -- we are all just going to have to be home. I'll lose my job. I don't know what to do.

Yeah, I don’t know how they think working parents of younger kids will handle such frequent disruptions. I’m assuming there will be lots of kids left alone at home or “quarantining” with their grandparents.

And yes, kids themselves don’t deserve another disrupted school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God I'm so depressed by this.

My kid and I literally cannot afford another year of distance learning, or just in-and-out of school. I can't do it financially. My office will start making me go in come September and there's no way I can stay home for 10 days repeatedly throughout the school year. There won't be any "learning camps" for exposed kids -- we are all just going to have to be home. I'll lose my job. I don't know what to do.

Yeah, I don’t know how they think working parents of younger kids will handle such frequent disruptions. I’m assuming there will be lots of kids left alone at home or “quarantining” with their grandparents.

And yes, kids themselves don’t deserve another disrupted school year.

No one gives a rats ass, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just Janney. Banneker shut down its entire Summer Institute earlier this month after a positive test--and the entire student body is presumably old enough to be vaccinated. No teaching, distance learning, emailed homework, or anything occurred while it was closed.

yes. It does not appear that schools are allowed to (as a teacher said up thread) "keep our wits about us and be reasonable".

If there is a case, anyone in that room is being sent HOME FOR 10 DAYS. Period.

Which is why I'm really concerned. DCPS is not being nuanced about this. They are putting down the hammer and sending home entire cohorts for 10 days with ANY case.

Yep. And to be clear, at the Banneker Summer Institute, kids were shuttled into single rooms to sit all day without any mixing, and 9th graders and 10th graders came in on alternating days, AND THEY ALL GOT SENT HOME. This is not just anyone in a single room--this affected more than 200 kids.

Wow. This is insanity.

So I guess there will be no consistent in-person middle or high school in DC this year.

This is really depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just Janney. Banneker shut down its entire Summer Institute earlier this month after a positive test--and the entire student body is presumably old enough to be vaccinated. No teaching, distance learning, emailed homework, or anything occurred while it was closed.

yes. It does not appear that schools are allowed to (as a teacher said up thread) "keep our wits about us and be reasonable".

If there is a case, anyone in that room is being sent HOME FOR 10 DAYS. Period.

Which is why I'm really concerned. DCPS is not being nuanced about this. They are putting down the hammer and sending home entire cohorts for 10 days with ANY case.

Yep. And to be clear, at the Banneker Summer Institute, kids were shuttled into single rooms to sit all day without any mixing, and 9th graders and 10th graders came in on alternating days, AND THEY ALL GOT SENT HOME. This is not just anyone in a single room--this affected more than 200 kids.

Wow. This is insanity.

So I guess there will be no consistent in-person middle or high school in DC this year.

This is really depressing.

Also, is it possible the summer staff were just trying to get a 2 week paid break?

One Covid case = 2 weeks of getting the summer salary to sit at home. No work in the mean time.

[Anonymous]

The more I think about this, the more it doesn't make sense to keep all kids home for 10 days when they are exposed to each other. They've already by definition been exposed. Do a PCR test of all the kids in the class when there's an exposure, the negative kids can continue to come in, the positives stay home. Everyone tests daily with PCR for 10 days (or whatever). If you first tested positive you follow the DCPS quarantine rules (something like you need two negatives to come back). The kids continuing to test negative stay in.

[Anonymous]

Also, this is a VERY. BIG. reason to not have asymptomatic testing, particularly of the vaccinated.