Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our preschool just informed us that they will be insisting on masking until the under 5s are vaccine eligible, due to parental paranoia.

Yeah I think this is one of those things that has become so hard to undo once started. The original directive to not mask under 2 for safety reasons never should have evolved into you-must-mask-at-age-2. I’d like to think the people responsible for this would have paused had they known how long this would go on. Maybe not. Many areas never adopted toddler masking to begin with but those that did just can’t seem to let it go.

Yes. I feel like I'm always mentioning that the WHO, UNICEF, the European CDC all recommend against masking children 5 and under but it's just an echo chamber for those who agree with me. 2+ is the norm here and many people aren't prepared to question it -- either you're pro-mask or you're anti-mask.

I HOPE that if we can just get centers to drop toddler masking, by the time next winter rolls around and cases surge, perhaps there will be less of an appetite for it. I'm okay with masking older children through surges but not toddlers and preschoolers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our preschool just informed us that they will be insisting on masking until the under 5s are vaccine eligible, due to parental paranoia.

Yeah I think this is one of those things that has become so hard to undo once started. The original directive to not mask under 2 for safety reasons never should have evolved into you-must-mask-at-age-2. I’d like to think the people responsible for this would have paused had they known how long this would go on. Maybe not. Many areas never adopted toddler masking to begin with but those that did just can’t seem to let it go.

Exactly. It's clear it's not about public health. It's like it's become part of some parents/preschools' identity. It struck me when we were visiting open houses for preschools that the way they talked about masking, they didn't talk about following public health guidance, they didn't say they'd stop masking when it was no longer recommended. They just said "we require masks, don't worry the children wear them better than adults! You should expect we'll require masks next year."

Anonymous wrote:Our preschool just informed us that they will be insisting on masking until the under 5s are vaccine eligible, due to parental paranoia.

Yeah I think this is one of those things that has become so hard to undo once started. The original directive to not mask under 2 for safety reasons never should have evolved into you-must-mask-at-age-2. I’d like to think the people responsible for this would have paused had they known how long this would go on. Maybe not. Many areas never adopted toddler masking to begin with but those that did just can’t seem to let it go.

Anonymous wrote:Our preschool just informed us that they will be insisting on masking until the under 5s are vaccine eligible, due to parental paranoia.

Omg where is this?

Our preschool just informed us that they will be insisting on masking until the under 5s are vaccine eligible, due to parental paranoia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our independent MoCo child care center just dropped masks. I’m hoping they’ll adopt the new MDH quarantine policy next (only mandatory quarantine for outbreaks).

Yeah this is where I get confused- our center (part of a local nonprofit chain of centers on MoCo) went mask optional, with the caveat that they have to follow MSDE for quarantines/closures. With all the ever changing guidance at the different levels of govt I don’t even know what that is anymore!

I think the problem is that a MoCo daycare would need to consult with DHHS too, or at least that was my understanding. And they have not, to my knowledge, adopted the updated state guidance.

Unless I missed a memo, Montgomery county and the state are pretty much aligned in terms of quarantining.
Essentially, since young kids cannot mask after their five days it is going to be 10 days of isolation/exclusion. They might tell you five days if they can wear masks consistently in the entire time around the other children. Is there another regulation you are curious about?

DP- this is the latest I saw from the state. It's actually unclear to me how going mask optional affects the quarantine policies. I thought the state was saying 5 days quarantine is fine for ages 2+ since the kids were masking. But now they don't have to mask. So can they still come back after day 5 and mask days 6-10, or is it back to 10 days quarantine?

https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/system/files/filedepot/3/covid_guidance_full_080420.pdf

Meanwhile MoCo DHHS never really wanted to give 2yos "credit" for wearing a mask and was still advising 10 days quarantine like you say even when the kid was forced to wear a mask all day.

IN DC (I can't speak to MD or VA) you can end a quarantine (for being a close contact) after testing negative on Day 5 - but days 6-10 when you return you should be in mask. so a young child whose never worn a mask might have a hard time keeping a mask on. 3s or 4s who are used to this will just pop a mask on and come on back.

IN DC you can end isolation (after being positive for covid) with a negative antigen test on Day 5, return on day 6 BUT you must wear a mask when you return for days 6-10. So, yes, masks will still be around even when nobody is routinely wearing them with a Mask Optional policy.

AND in DC indoor mask mandate will be tied to the CDC Community Levels - when DC returns to HIGH then the indoor mask mandate comes back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess the question is, how much of a charade is quarantine, when there is no contact tracing in the community? Do we know how common it is for kids or teachers to test positive after an exposure at daycare or preschool, and is it more common to test positive after a known exposure than just randomly, since there are so many unknown exposures?

Quarantine never made sense after there was a moderate number of cases in the community. It particularly never made sense for young kids, given the high incidence of asymptomatic cases. Quarantines are a ridiculously blunt instrument that do far more harm than good. Other kids in the classroom rarely test positive after an exposure.

100% this. Notify parents when there's a case and allow them to keep their kids home for a few days if they want, but quarantines harm kids and families and they are really inappropriate at this stage in the pandemic. Keep sick kids home, let healthy kids go to school.

The problem for the CDC is that quarantines are really their only way to coerce vaccinations, since mandates are hard to get through. Sure, there’s no pediatric vaccine to mandate right now, but once they acknowledge unvaccinated kids don’t need to quarantine they’re not going to be able to bring it back.

Anonymous wrote:Our MoCo daycare went mask optional earlier this week, which I was not expecting. I have never been comfortable with the guidance to mask kids in this age group, and don't see the usefulness in a group care setting where the kids primarily wearing cloth and are also eating and napping close together unmasked. But apparently I'm in the minority as my 3yo has been only one of two in their class to not wear a mask the last few days. DC even asked about it this morning. I guess I'll see how it goes the next week or two but if no one else is going to unmask their kids and my DC is uncommittable with it I'm not sure what we'll do.

I do wish the CDC would update their childcare webpage on this.

Same at our daycare - it seems like a lot of folks are still masking their kids. I think DD can tell she is in the minority, but that doesn't seem to make her uncomfortable. There was already a boy not wearing one in her class before masks were optional for everyone (maybe special needs). DD seems very happy to not wear a mask, so we won't be masking her as long as we don't have to.

Our MoCo daycare went mask optional earlier this week, which I was not expecting. I have never been comfortable with the guidance to mask kids in this age group, and don't see the usefulness in a group care setting where the kids primarily wearing cloth and are also eating and napping close together unmasked. But apparently I'm in the minority as my 3yo has been only one of two in their class to not wear a mask the last few days. DC even asked about it this morning. I guess I'll see how it goes the next week or two but if no one else is going to unmask their kids and my DC is uncommittable with it I'm not sure what we'll do.

I do wish the CDC would update their childcare webpage on this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess the question is, how much of a charade is quarantine, when there is no contact tracing in the community? Do we know how common it is for kids or teachers to test positive after an exposure at daycare or preschool, and is it more common to test positive after a known exposure than just randomly, since there are so many unknown exposures?

Quarantine never made sense after there was a moderate number of cases in the community. It particularly never made sense for young kids, given the high incidence of asymptomatic cases. Quarantines are a ridiculously blunt instrument that do far more harm than good. Other kids in the classroom rarely test positive after an exposure.

100% this. Notify parents when there's a case and allow them to keep their kids home for a few days if they want, but quarantines harm kids and families and they are really inappropriate at this stage in the pandemic. Keep sick kids home, let healthy kids go to school.

Anonymous wrote:I guess the question is, how much of a charade is quarantine, when there is no contact tracing in the community? Do we know how common it is for kids or teachers to test positive after an exposure at daycare or preschool, and is it more common to test positive after a known exposure than just randomly, since there are so many unknown exposures?

Quarantine never made sense after there was a moderate number of cases in the community. It particularly never made sense for young kids, given the high incidence of asymptomatic cases. Quarantines are a ridiculously blunt instrument that do far more harm than good. Other kids in the classroom rarely test positive after an exposure.

Anonymous wrote:I guess the question is, how much of a charade is quarantine, when there is no contact tracing in the community? Do we know how common it is for kids or teachers to test positive after an exposure at daycare or preschool, and is it more common to test positive after a known exposure than just randomly, since there are so many unknown exposures?

All of it is a charade. Most people catch COVID at home. It’s a highly contagious respiratory disease that almost everyone will be exposed to.

I guess the question is, how much of a charade is quarantine, when there is no contact tracing in the community? Do we know how common it is for kids or teachers to test positive after an exposure at daycare or preschool, and is it more common to test positive after a known exposure than just randomly, since there are so many unknown exposures?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our independent MoCo child care center just dropped masks. I’m hoping they’ll adopt the new MDH quarantine policy next (only mandatory quarantine for outbreaks).

Yeah this is where I get confused- our center (part of a local nonprofit chain of centers on MoCo) went mask optional, with the caveat that they have to follow MSDE for quarantines/closures. With all the ever changing guidance at the different levels of govt I don’t even know what that is anymore!

I think the problem is that a MoCo daycare would need to consult with DHHS too, or at least that was my understanding. And they have not, to my knowledge, adopted the updated state guidance.

Unless I missed a memo, Montgomery county and the state are pretty much aligned in terms of quarantining.
Essentially, since young kids cannot mask after their five days it is going to be 10 days of isolation/exclusion. They might tell you five days if they can wear masks consistently in the entire time around the other children. Is there another regulation you are curious about?

DP- this is the latest I saw from the state. It's actually unclear to me how going mask optional affects the quarantine policies. I thought the state was saying 5 days quarantine is fine for ages 2+ since the kids were masking. But now they don't have to mask. So can they still come back after day 5 and mask days 6-10, or is it back to 10 days quarantine?

https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/system/files/filedepot/3/covid_guidance_full_080420.pdf

Meanwhile MoCo DHHS never really wanted to give 2yos "credit" for wearing a mask and was still advising 10 days quarantine like you say even when the kid was forced to wear a mask all day.

I see what you’re saying. Obviously I can’t speak for everybody here but throughout the entire state daycares we’re still maintaining 10 days because two and apps were not masking properly, nap times were a big issue and meal times. In general everybody has maintained the 10 days which is what Montgomery county was doing as well.

So you’re right, and I do agree with the county on this, the 10 day is the safest way to go to avoid facility closures and spread to the kids. apologies if this is still not what you’re asking.

I'm a parent, but this is my understanding too. That actually makes our decision to let our toddler go maskless easier now that our center has gone mask optional. If there had been different quarantine procedures associated with mask/no mask, it might have given us pause, but even the masked toddlers are considered maskless when it comes to applying quarantines. So I'm glad we now have the option not to participate in the charade!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really hoping the CDC updates their guidance here. It seems like ages 2-4 are the last to be required to mask, which is pretty silly. And I'll probably have my kid continue to mask (spouse feels more strongly), I just can not stand the logical inconsistency here.

It has not been updated since late January, and they are indicating it is being updated for the "new' guideance rolled out a couple of weeks ago.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/child-care-guidance.html#masking

The CDC's website has not been totally updated but their new guidance is that children 2-4 do not need to mask.

And in DC I guess childcare centers are no longer required to mandate masking, as of yesterday evening. Has anyone's center responded yet?

Do you have a link to this new guidance?

I guess what I said was not fully true, but they are not recommending masks at all in areas with low levels of community risk. Several news articles have also pointed out that this applies to schools and childcare centers, although the CDC website is mostly not updated except for this.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html