Anonymous wrote:I strongly disagree. They should go virtual through mid January when omicron is expected to peak and then subside. There simply are not enough tests or lab capacity to do this right. Two weeks of virtual is small price to pay. I worry about the unboosted kids whose immunity has waned from vaccination more than 6 months ago. I worry about the teachers — a lot. If we lose even one teacher by returning January 4 vs. January 17, it will not have been worth it. I hope Sidwell makes the right decision.

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Anonymous wrote:And any child not vaccinated should be forced to stay at home? No excuses, right?

I'd bet that you can count on one hand the number of kids who are eligible for vaccines who aren't vaccinated at these schools (i.e., received "religious" exemption or have a true medical reason for not being vaccinated).
Obviously GDS and Sidwell have 4 year olds in the PK, and they would have to stay at home since they are unvaccinated.

Anonymous wrote:And any child not vaccinated should be forced to stay at home? No excuses, right?

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Anonymous wrote:Keep the youngest, unvaccinated out of school. For the fully vaccinated, let the parents decide.
Schools should be doing rapid testing at school, first thing in the morning. Parents should be put on notice that kids who test positive on the rapid test will need to be picked up that morning.

What about the false positives?

Anonymous wrote:And any child not vaccinated should be forced to stay at home? No excuses, right?

Anonymous wrote:Keep the youngest, unvaccinated out of school. For the fully vaccinated, let the parents decide.
Schools should be doing rapid testing at school, first thing in the morning. Parents should be put on notice that kids who test positive on the rapid test will need to be picked up that morning.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/opinion/omicron-schools-do-not-close.html

Author: Dr. Allen is an associate professor and director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also the chair of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission Task Force on Safe Work, Safe School and Safe Travel.

"The early evidence from outside the United States suggests that kids will remain low risk during the Omicron surge as well. The latest data from South Africa for the week ending Dec. 12 shows that school-age children (5-to-19-year-olds) had the lowest hospitalization of any age group, and even with the Omicron uptick, the hospitalization rate is four to six per 100,000 — higher than one in 100,000 but still quite low. The latest data from Britain is similar. As of Dec. 12, the hospitalization rate for 5-to-14-year-olds is 1.4 per 100,000 — the lowest hospitalization rate of any age group...

The harms to kids from being out of school, on the other hand, are severe. They are accumulating. And they could last for decades...

The effects of closed schools go far beyond learning loss. We have a full-on child mental health crisis on our hands. The proportion of pediatric hospital visits for mental health reasons increased significantly in 2020 as the pandemic hit and schools closed, and the trend only worsened as 2020 wore on."


If there are families who want to stay home, let them stay home. Bullis made the right call through this whole thing. The above schools need to take note.

US alarm at rise in child Covid infections sees school closures back on agenda

Over the past three weeks, as Omicron-related cases soared in New York City and elsewhere, the number of children hospitalised in New York with Covid-19 quadrupled, the state health department said.

The California state epidemiologist Dr Erica Pan wrote on Twitter: “Unfortunately New York is seeing an increase in pediatric hospitalisations (primarily amongst the unvaccinated), and they have similar [five - to 11-year-old] vaccination rates.”

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Anonymous wrote:To date, there is no move or suggestion that Sidwell will close. they have already announced a Jan 2 community wide testing, and likely they will take their cue from those results.

Given how high positivity rates are, that would worry me.

Why? For example, Sidwell has a 100% or something close to it vaccination rate. Thus, there shouldn't be much, if any impact, if COVID spreads through vaccinated and boosted humans.

Because it keeps the virus circulating among the population for longer. Even where students are vaccinated, many have family members at home who are not vaccinated. It seems a small community sacrifice to do a few more days of virtual school to reduce the spread and the risk for others. That’s the whole point of community service, right?

To protect the non vaccinated? No. That’s on them. Sorry but this excuse doesn’t work any more.