Anonymous wrote:Interesting. The email we got last week was that now that some kids are unmasked and the school no longer falls under the universal masking guidelines, we are now back in the situation where they DO have to do contact tracing for every single case and all classes have assigned seats again. Principal spelled it out very clearly that unvaccinated close contacts will need to be picked up from school immediately to quarantine.

If that's changed in the last couple of days, we haven't heard anything about it.

Following the quarantine guidelines is something individual principals can elect to do. It’s not a requirement.

After 1 1/2 schools should have data showing whether or not close contacts at their school contract the virus.

More a more schools will wake up to the senselessness of keeping healthy kids home.

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that once you unmask there are too many close contacts in school.

Its too much of an administrative headache for schools

Especially since most school based close contacts don't end of contracting covid

Time to end the quarantines

None of it every made sense. The "mask mandate" had the vast majority of kids wearing other-than-N-95 masks anyway ... so you'd have kids wearing those blue/white surgical masks, or some little Etsy cloth mask with dinosaurs on it. And nothing about those masks does a darn thing to reduce "close contacts" in school. It's not like there wouldn't be "close contacts" with a COVID positive kid just because they had their Etsy dinosaur masks on. Mask or no mask, a close contact is a close contact. Period.

I do agree that with the new variant so much more mild and the CDC telling us that "essentially everybody" will get it anyway, the whole quarantine thing has to go. There is no point -- everybody is going to get it; that's the accepted science.

If a kid is sick with any symptoms, keep them home until they're better. That's about the best we can do. There is no reason to be quarantining healthy, asymptomatic kids.

Interesting. The email we got last week was that now that some kids are unmasked and the school no longer falls under the universal masking guidelines, we are now back in the situation where they DO have to do contact tracing for every single case and all classes have assigned seats again. Principal spelled it out very clearly that unvaccinated close contacts will need to be picked up from school immediately to quarantine.

If that's changed in the last couple of days, we haven't heard anything about it.

Anonymous wrote:We just got email from principal. We will not be informed if a classmate tests positive for covid. No need to stay home if unmasked covid positive student was sitting next to your DC. Vaccination status not taken into account. Is your school doing the same thing? Email says they are following new Virigina Dept of Health and Fairfax County Dept of Health guidlines. Is this a recipe for disaster, or with cases going down, is it a sign of the end?

If it makes you feel better in our Arlington public, there are masks but contact tracing has been non existent all year and very few kids were out until after the holiday break. They just didn't have the resources to do these things. So maybe it won't be quite as bad as you are thinking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would happily keep masks if it meant we could drop the super long quarantine periods.

You know what else can get rid of the quarantine requirement? The vaccine!

Except that for a lot of kids like mine who are under 5 that isnt an option.

Anonymous wrote:I would happily keep masks if it meant we could drop the super long quarantine periods.

You know what else can get rid of the quarantine requirement? The vaccine!

Anonymous wrote:Both masks and quarantines need to go. Isolate if you are sick! Congrats to your k-8!

+1.

Can you post the main text of the original email? Why haven’t FCPS or other diocese schools changed their policies too??? Do they only follow the “experts” at VDH when the governor is democrat? Hypocrites.

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that once you unmask there are too many close contacts in school.

Its too much of an administrative headache for schools

Especially since most school based close contacts don't end of contracting covid

Time to end the quarantines

I agree, it is a huge headache for admin. However, as a teacher in the diocese, I feel more undafe now than I did three weeks ago. I blame the Bishop for his decision to go along with the govenor on making masks optional. I hope parents will be ok with their kids watchung videos or coloring all day because we will run out of subs. Most of our teachers have not had covid yet because we have all been super careful. I hope with cases going down, we will ne able to avoid this. I feel for the administrators. They were got a bad deal. No good solution in this case.

The reality is that once you unmask there are too many close contacts in school.

Its too much of an administrative headache for schools

Especially since most school based close contacts don't end of contracting covid

Time to end the quarantines

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No masks, no vaccines, no contact tracing, no quarantines. What could possibly go wrong?

lol spoken like the doubters fall 2020 who thought no way catholic schools could open. It’s about to be February 2022 and we haven’t missed a day of school. My kids are thriving and that’s what matters to me.

My kids are in a private school that opened in fall 2020 too. It wasn’t just Catholic schools, as you all regularly seem to be suggesting.

End masks too

Anonymous wrote:No masks, no vaccines, no contact tracing, no quarantines. What could possibly go wrong?

lol spoken like the doubters fall 2020 who thought no way catholic schools could open. It’s about to be February 2022 and we haven’t missed a day of school. My kids are thriving and that’s what matters to me.

Amazing! Hoping our MD ADW school follows suit.

No masks, no vaccines, no contact tracing, no quarantines. What could possibly go wrong?