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[quote=Anonymous]I direct a full day preschool in DC.  Give us a minute - this guidance was dropped on us Wednesday late afternoon.  We need some time to wrap our heads around this, after 2 years of 'wear a mask' being the mantra.

I think we all need to admit to ourselves that we've all experienced trauma these last 2 years and it will take time (some a lot less time, others more time) to be ready to be out of mask in all the places in the world.  Looking around my grocery store, I see about 80% in mask still - but every week there are a few more people out of mask.  It takes time.

After all, for 2 years we were constantly being drilled into us, and I was drilling into our teachers - that the MOST IMPORTANT THING in our lives, ever, was to keep children from getting sick with covid.  Sharing? Learning? Enjoying them?  Heck, no, just focus on keeping them from getting covid,

And a HUGE part of the "layered protection concept" was masking.  All the time.  Inside and outside. Even adults who were vaxxed then boosted.  Even 5 year olds who have been vaxxed.

So it will take us a bit to put all that down.

That being said, my takeaway from the call this morning (1.5 hours) was positive in that while we may take masks off inside if we wish, and quarantine and isolation have been shortened, there is still ALSO plenty of precautions and rules, still, about ill people.  Still can't go to work/send your child with symptoms.  Symptoms get you home and testing. 
STAY HOME/KEEP YOUR KID HOME if they are sick.  And don't return until they are WELL.

Yes, you can return from quarantine and isolation earlier with a negative covid test but still "recommended" to wear a mask days 6-10 after returning early.

We were told that we should always have some masks available so children/staff can put them on if they develop symptoms during the day to wear before they are sent home, and to make sure that we have them available when they return early from Q or I.

And there is NO test to stay at childcare centers like there has been and continues to be at public/charter schools.  I don't know what their test to stay protocols are.  For childcare - you get sick, you test with a PCR and you can return with a negative test.  (as long as your symptoms like fever, vomiting, diarrhea have been gone for 24 hours and you don't have another communicable illness)

And indoor mask mandates will be back (and required) when CDC Community Levels reach HIGH.  (hello, winter 2022-2023 perhaps? we'll see...)

But as independent programs we could ALSO bring indoor masking back under other circumstances:

* when we have a few kids getting ill (I think when that outbreak of flu happens in winter 22-23 I'll tell a classroom to wear masks for a week, stop using shared water table, get rid of cozy pillows with spit and slobber on them, etc.  We used to do this before, now we'll add in the concept of masks)
* when community levels are moderate and rising
*  if we have immunocompromised children in attendance who couldn't be vaxxed
*  etc.

but now we can make decisions based on what makes sense for our area, our population, etc.  For example, our school has had exactly ONE teacher in these 2 years get covid while still teaching so there was ONE instance of close contact.  (we've been open since July 2020) The other 3 teachers and 2 children who got it weren't at our school the 2 days before symptoms started because we were on winter break.

And that ONE teacher who was positive while we were open meant one classroom and 6 staff members were close contacts but exactly NONE of us got  covid.  Zero of us.  22 close contacts - no covid.

BUT - other childcare centers have had quite a few teachers or children getting covid.  And have had to close classrooms left and right for quarantining purposes. Why?

Perhaps luck, 
perhaps less stringent with sending kids and teachers home when sick, 
or less stringent on not letting kids/teachers coming when sick. 
Maybe our parents are more vaccinated.  
Maybe our parents are doing fewer things in large groups. maybe our teachers are doing fewer things in large groups.

Maybe our parents are primarily white collar workers who have been working from HOME vs blue collar who had to go to work and therefore were exposed on metro, at work, with larger groups of people (I do think this was a HUGE factor in our low cases, honestly).

Maybe all of those things and a lot more.  Who knows?[/quote]

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