Anonymous wrote:Open the schools up. Were all vaccinated and boosted and had COVID even. We’re ready to go back.

Anonymous wrote:Me thinks some public school teachers maybe from Chicago teachers union are trolling. Science is settled. Kids need to be in school. Private schools set the bar and make it hard for public schools to close again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All DMV Schools should close next week, week and a half and let this burn out. You cannot tell me that there won't be students/teachers who become contagious BETWEEN tests (no matter how frequent) - creating an overlapping chain. Previous iterations of Covid were "containable" with testing and quarantine of close contacts. If schools stay open through the Omnicron surge count on many students and their families catching it. We are talking a couple of weeks to let it burn through the region - don't understand the thinking here.

Agree with this. Let’s go back the week of the 31st.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's honestly depressing that so many on this thread are clueless about the potential threat of this illness. If you actually follow postings of doctors/scientists/epidemiologists- NOT politicians, government agencies, and Facebook groups with agendas- long COVID is very real and is affecting a significant swath of young and middle-aged vaccinated people. (Examples: Eric Feigl-Ding, Peter Hotez, Scott Gottlieb....)This is NOT the flu. Yes, vaccines and boosters help a lot, but they aren't sufficient! And we can't even get the country to cooperate fully on the vaccination/booster front! And, yes, the data changes as we learn more and as the viruses evolve, so mitigations must evolve too...

Data tracking, testing, and communication is shockingly poor for a country with our wealth and tech sophistication. We have had two inept administration responses to this. The CDC and others made a major messaging error to classify anyone not hospitalized or dead as experiencing a "mild" version of covid. Covid is an illness that, after minimal acute (mild) symptoms have occurred, blood clots can form 4-6 weeks later. There is a long list of symptoms for long covid symptoms/conditions that include neurological and organ damage. Who wants to sign up for that? There is also evidence to suggest that the illness may accelerate early onset dementia and a scary list of other chronic autoimmune illnesses.

I agree that we must send our kids to school. But let's please live in reality. This virus is dangerous. We need to push our schools to install appropriate HVAC mitigation, require use of kn95 or n95 masks, and buy some damn tents and heaters for kids to eat outside when community spread is out of control (like now). I can promise you that several Asian countries are benefitting from their (albeit uncomfortably authoritarian to America's ethos) approach and will have a comparative economic and health advantage coming out of the pandemic. We are literally crippling and killing ourselves at this point with our arrogance, ignorance, and tribal politics.

EVERYTHING HERE IS 100% RIGHT. This is the most accurate and sensible Covid-related post on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:It's honestly depressing that so many on this thread are clueless about the potential threat of this illness. If you actually follow postings of doctors/scientists/epidemiologists- NOT politicians, government agencies, and Facebook groups with agendas- long COVID is very real and is affecting a significant swath of young and middle-aged vaccinated people. (Examples: Eric Feigl-Ding, Peter Hotez, Scott Gottlieb....)This is NOT the flu. Yes, vaccines and boosters help a lot, but they aren't sufficient! And we can't even get the country to cooperate fully on the vaccination/booster front! And, yes, the data changes as we learn more and as the viruses evolve, so mitigations must evolve too...

Data tracking, testing, and communication is shockingly poor for a country with our wealth and tech sophistication. We have had two inept administration responses to this. The CDC and others made a major messaging error to classify anyone not hospitalized or dead as experiencing a "mild" version of covid. Covid is an illness that, after minimal acute (mild) symptoms have occurred, blood clots can form 4-6 weeks later. There is a long list of symptoms for long covid symptoms/conditions that include neurological and organ damage. Who wants to sign up for that? There is also evidence to suggest that the illness may accelerate early onset dementia and a scary list of other chronic autoimmune illnesses.

I agree that we must send our kids to school. But let's please live in reality. This virus is dangerous. We need to push our schools to install appropriate HVAC mitigation, require use of kn95 or n95 masks, and buy some damn tents and heaters for kids to eat outside when community spread is out of control (like now). I can promise you that several Asian countries are benefitting from their (albeit uncomfortably authoritarian to America's ethos) approach and will have a comparative economic and health advantage coming out of the pandemic. We are literally crippling and killing ourselves at this point with our arrogance, ignorance, and tribal politics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All DMV Schools should close next week, week and a half and let this burn out. You cannot tell me that there won't be students/teachers who become contagious BETWEEN tests (no matter how frequent) - creating an overlapping chain. Previous iterations of Covid were "containable" with testing and quarantine of close contacts. If schools stay open through the Omnicron surge count on many students and their families catching it. We are talking a couple of weeks to let it burn through the region - don't understand the thinking here.

Agree with this. Let’s go back the week of the 31st.

Anonymous wrote:All DMV Schools should close next week, week and a half and let this burn out. You cannot tell me that there won't be students/teachers who become contagious BETWEEN tests (no matter how frequent) - creating an overlapping chain. Previous iterations of Covid were "containable" with testing and quarantine of close contacts. If schools stay open through the Omnicron surge count on many students and their families catching it. We are talking a couple of weeks to let it burn through the region - don't understand the thinking here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Langley is only testing via PCR every other week, which is insane. No additional mitigation. I miss our old HOS.

Langley tests older grades weekly and just set up a covid dashboard that outlines the number of active cases school wide as well as by division and grade. Michele Claeys has made amazing improvements in just a short time in middle school. She’s been very responsive to parents (adjusted the schedule to increase frequency of core classes which is a major undertaking once the school year has started, improved the HS outplacement process, hired strong new teachers, created the positions of assistant division heads—things are running much more smoothly than last year). I would just ask if the frequency of testing for younger kids can be increased during this peak time. Don’t assume they will say no. Langley has handled covid incredibly well for the duration of the pandemic and is responsive to parents.

Langley covid policy has been a joke. You either work for the school or have addt'l incentives to spin this. There are many cases where the "administration" is relenting to certain parent pressure to keep kids and making up close contact policy eeven though there are clear cases of covid in the classroom. Many parents with active covid cases have sent their kids to school because the previous test was "negative".

Anonymous wrote:All DMV Schools should close next week, week and a half and let this burn out. You cannot tell me that there won't be students/teachers who become contagious BETWEEN tests (no matter how frequent) - creating an overlapping chain. Previous iterations of Covid were "containable" with testing and quarantine of close contacts. If schools stay open through the Omnicron surge count on many students and their families catching it. We are talking a couple of weeks to let it burn through the region - don't understand the thinking here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Langley is only testing via PCR every other week, which is insane. No additional mitigation. I miss our old HOS.

Langley tests older grades weekly and just set up a covid dashboard that outlines the number of active cases school wide as well as by division and grade. Michele Claeys has made amazing improvements in just a short time in middle school. She’s been very responsive to parents (adjusted the schedule to increase frequency of core classes which is a major undertaking once the school year has started, improved the HS outplacement process, hired strong new teachers, created the positions of assistant division heads—things are running much more smoothly than last year). I would just ask if the frequency of testing for younger kids can be increased during this peak time. Don’t assume they will say no. Langley has handled covid incredibly well for the duration of the pandemic and is responsive to parents.