Anonymous wrote:Hello. I'm the one who predicted in 2020 that covid wasn't over, in 2021 that covid wasn't over, the winter spike last year, and earlier this year that covid mutations would be a concern.

Now here we are, facing BA.275, BA.4 and BA.5.

Here is my prediction for this year.

My guess is that a combination of mask fatigue and the non-masking parents will influence their children, who will peer-pressure other children to not wear their masks at school. Since current vaccines are relatively ineffective against the new variants, and MCPS refuses to enable a more dynamic hybrid response, I would expect multiple and complete school shutdowns to occur when the cold weather hits (no later than January / February) due to teacher illnesses.

There is the possibility it could occur earlier (as early as October) since MC is already at a HIGH covid level (if you weren't aware), depending on the weather. Cold and/or rainy days would work in favor of the virus, as it normally happens when kids catch colds.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/montgomery-county-reaches-high-covid-community-level/3116781/

MCPS could choose to mitigate, parents could choose to encourage masking, but both groups seem too entrenched in their positions to reason with. My guess is the sense of entitlement is too high without a counterbalance.

My fear, and I hope I'm wrong on this, is that the counterbalance could come in the form of a large-scale negative outcome. My guess is that the Administration is already aware of this, and why the new vaccines are being rushed and ordered to be available by October or November or even sooner, according to these articles:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/26/1113615330/reformulated-covid-vaccine-boosters-may-be-available-earlier-than-expected

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07/22/booster-shots-coronavirus-under-50/

But, if the unmasked parents want to stay unmasked, there's not much you can do about it (but neither will they).

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2330568-long-covid-symptoms-may-include-hair-loss-and-ejaculation-difficulties/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-26/more-than-100-000-british-workers-are-off-sick-with-long-covid

In terms of variants, the good news is that the more proteins that appear, the fewer rabbits should be left in the hat. The bad news is that the math is still stacked against this being the very, very last covid strain that evades immunity.

Best case scenario - the new vaccines are out by September so that the majority of kids are immunized by the end of November. No new variants that evade prior infection or vaccine immunity.

Worst case scenario - I hope I'm wrong.

Again, this is just one opinion. We'll see.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of this post! Schools were in person last year and will be in a month.

You are pretty terrible and judge mental to talk about your neighbors child here. Vaccines are not stopping transmission. With no masking and no precautions and the newer variant highly contagious it’s going to be another bumpy year. So, saying you are vaccinated is meaningless in terms of spread.

If you want families to return, what are you going to do to make it safe. Not everyone is ok getting Covid nor getting it multiple times.

MCPS can't even run summer school buses or staff summer school programs. The writing is on the wall for how August is going to go.

One reason we are staying another year in Virtual. We want the stability and not to have to worry about this stuff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of this post! Schools were in person last year and will be in a month.

You are pretty terrible and judge mental to talk about your neighbors child here. Vaccines are not stopping transmission. With no masking and no precautions and the newer variant highly contagious it’s going to be another bumpy year. So, saying you are vaccinated is meaningless in terms of spread.

If you want families to return, what are you going to do to make it safe. Not everyone is ok getting Covid nor getting it multiple times.

MCPS can't even run summer school buses or staff summer school programs. The writing is on the wall for how August is going to go.

Anonymous wrote:Hello. I'm the one who predicted in 2020 that covid wasn't over, in 2021 that covid wasn't over, the winter spike last year, and earlier this year that covid mutations would be a concern.

Now here we are, facing BA.275, BA.4 and BA.5.

Here is my prediction for this year.

My guess is that a combination of mask fatigue and the non-masking parents will influence their children, who will peer-pressure other children to not wear their masks at school. Since current vaccines are relatively ineffective against the new variants, and MCPS refuses to enable a more dynamic hybrid response, I would expect multiple and complete school shutdowns to occur when the cold weather hits (no later than January / February) due to teacher illnesses.

There is the possibility it could occur earlier (as early as October) since MC is already at a HIGH covid level (if you weren't aware), depending on the weather. Cold and/or rainy days would work in favor of the virus, as it normally happens when kids catch colds.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/montgomery-county-reaches-high-covid-community-level/3116781/

MCPS could choose to mitigate, parents could choose to encourage masking, but both groups seem too entrenched in their positions to reason with. My guess is the sense of entitlement is too high without a counterbalance.

My fear, and I hope I'm wrong on this, is that the counterbalance could come in the form of a large-scale negative outcome. My guess is that the Administration is already aware of this, and why the new vaccines are being rushed and ordered to be available by October or November or even sooner, according to these articles:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/26/1113615330/reformulated-covid-vaccine-boosters-may-be-available-earlier-than-expected

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07/22/booster-shots-coronavirus-under-50/

But, if the unmasked parents want to stay unmasked, there's not much you can do about it (but neither will they).

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2330568-long-covid-symptoms-may-include-hair-loss-and-ejaculation-difficulties/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-26/more-than-100-000-british-workers-are-off-sick-with-long-covid

In terms of variants, the good news is that the more proteins that appear, the fewer rabbits should be left in the hat. The bad news is that the math is still stacked against this being the very, very last covid strain that evades immunity.

Best case scenario - the new vaccines are out by September so that the majority of kids are immunized by the end of November. No new variants that evade prior infection or vaccine immunity.

Worst case scenario - I hope I'm wrong.

Again, this is just one opinion. We'll see.

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of this post! Schools were in person last year and will be in a month.

You are pretty terrible and judge mental to talk about your neighbors child here. Vaccines are not stopping transmission. With no masking and no precautions and the newer variant highly contagious it’s going to be another bumpy year. So, saying you are vaccinated is meaningless in terms of spread.

If you want families to return, what are you going to do to make it safe. Not everyone is ok getting Covid nor getting it multiple times.

Anonymous wrote:Well, of course no one will be wearing masks in the fall. Did you think people would mask forever?

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully any parent that feels that way has already signed their kid up for a 3rd year of the MCPS Virtual Academy. I guess that’s why it’s there, right?

I have a neighbor who has kept her ES aged daughter in Virtual School since April 2020. I feel so terrible for this poor girl.

If the BOE or MCPS even hints at shutting down due to high Covid numbers, I am positive that the majority of parents will lose their sh$t. And rightfully so.

Anonymous wrote:Agreed. I do think about the posts on here and now with numbers of folks vaccinating the under 5 crowd so low I wonder if the people posting here about how that was the only way things would be safe are doing okay??? They must be perplexed.