I still just don’t understand why people care so much that other families are choosing to test their kids, asymptomatic or not.

I really don’t understand why some parent groups are advocating that teachers and students are who COVID positive but asymptomatic should remain in the classroom. Aren’t they still infectious at that point because they are, in fact, inflicted with a contagious virus? How can these parents categorize these teachers and students as “healthy” and that they need to remain in the classroom?

As one APE’ster (who seems to be in the minority in encouraging daily testing of all students, mask & vaccine mandates for everyone, and counting all cases and not just those that are moderate-to-severe), the notion of solidarity right now seems out of fashion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You can’t manifest the end of this pandemic through the wishful ignorance that is refusing to test because you don’t want to quarantine if positive.

x1 million

We should pin this to the top of every health/school forum.

COVID is not going anywhere. Everyone will be exposed to COVID repeatedly for the rest of their life. Asymptomatic testing only makes sense if you think COVID will be eradicated (Fauci was very clear today it won't) or you want to do lock healthy kids out of school continually forever.

The people pushing to asymptomatically test are the same ones who have been wrong over and over again (the same closed schoolers from last year).

The future is we don't test people asymptomatically, just as the NFL is doing, because the cost of kids missing school is too high for a virus that will be here forever. The NFL made the same determination and kids' education is way more important than professional football.

Yes I too will echo the profit seeking company who is infamous for turning its players brains into a fine paste.

Seriously, I see the point you are trying to make but don't compare public schools to the freaking National Football League. It's such a lazy false equivalencey

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You can’t manifest the end of this pandemic through the wishful ignorance that is refusing to test because you don’t want to quarantine if positive.

x1 million

We should pin this to the top of every health/school forum.

COVID is not going anywhere. Everyone will be exposed to COVID repeatedly for the rest of their life. Asymptomatic testing only makes sense if you think COVID will be eradicated (Fauci was very clear today it won't) or you want to do lock healthy kids out of school continually forever.

The people pushing to asymptomatically test are the same ones who have been wrong over and over again (the same closed schoolers from last year).

The future is we don't test people asymptomatically, just as the NFL is doing, because the cost of kids missing school is too high for a virus that will be here forever. The NFL made the same determination and kids' education is way more important than professional football.

Testing makes sense while we are still in the pandemic phase to reduce transmission. It’s not endemic yet.

Anonymous wrote:

You can’t manifest the end of this pandemic through the wishful ignorance that is refusing to test because you don’t want to quarantine if positive.

x1 million

We should pin this to the top of every health/school forum.

COVID is not going anywhere. Everyone will be exposed to COVID repeatedly for the rest of their life. Asymptomatic testing only makes sense if you think COVID will be eradicated (Fauci was very clear today it won't) or you want to do lock healthy kids out of school continually forever.

The people pushing to asymptomatically test are the same ones who have been wrong over and over again (the same closed schoolers from last year).

The future is we don't test people asymptomatically, just as the NFL is doing, because the cost of kids missing school is too high for a virus that will be here forever. The NFL made the same determination and kids' education is way more important than professional football.

You can’t manifest the end of this pandemic through the wishful ignorance that is refusing to test because you don’t want to quarantine if positive.

x1 million

We should pin this to the top of every health/school forum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Testing asymptomatic kids is not necessary to keep schools open. Did we ever test asymptomatically for flu to keep schools open? No.

And masking is not necessary to keep school open. As Leana Wen said, a cloth mask is simply a facial decoration (as we all knew already).

Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID the rest of their life. We have to learn to live with it, and some people appear to be having a hard time with that.

Masks gone January 15th! Can't wait for Youngkin.

But we do test for flu. When my family had had the flu in 2017 and 2018 (despite flu shots, but our illness was 1-3 days not a week like my unvaxed coworker who gave it to me) both urgent care tested me and the Ped tested my kids for flu/RSV/strep and then we knew we had Flu A or Flu B and got Tamiflu. This is just like finding Covid early so you can get Monoclonal antibodies or the new pill.
In past years when the % of students with flu or norovirus was high enough, schools have closed.

We will all get Covid. Covid will become endemic like the flu. However in my 40+ years, I have had the flu once - and I fully admit I never got a flu shot until I was pregnant with my first kid. The difference is that we are literally living through the pandemic now and we don’t know as much about the virus as we do flu. Covid will likely mutate to be more contagious and less severe - but we are not there yet.

You can’t manifest the end of this pandemic through the wishful ignorance that is refusing to test because you don’t want to quarantine if positive.

Don't argue with idiots. They bring you down to their level and then they beat you with experience.

Anonymous wrote:Testing asymptomatic kids is not necessary to keep schools open. Did we ever test asymptomatically for flu to keep schools open? No.

And masking is not necessary to keep school open. As Leana Wen said, a cloth mask is simply a facial decoration (as we all knew already).

Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID the rest of their life. We have to learn to live with it, and some people appear to be having a hard time with that.

Masks gone January 15th! Can't wait for Youngkin.

But we do test for flu. When my family had had the flu in 2017 and 2018 (despite flu shots, but our illness was 1-3 days not a week like my unvaxed coworker who gave it to me) both urgent care tested me and the Ped tested my kids for flu/RSV/strep and then we knew we had Flu A or Flu B and got Tamiflu. This is just like finding Covid early so you can get Monoclonal antibodies or the new pill.
In past years when the % of students with flu or norovirus was high enough, schools have closed.

We will all get Covid. Covid will become endemic like the flu. However in my 40+ years, I have had the flu once - and I fully admit I never got a flu shot until I was pregnant with my first kid. The difference is that we are literally living through the pandemic now and we don’t know as much about the virus as we do flu. Covid will likely mutate to be more contagious and less severe - but we are not there yet.

You can’t manifest the end of this pandemic through the wishful ignorance that is refusing to test because you don’t want to quarantine if positive.

Anonymous wrote:Testing asymptomatic kids is not necessary to keep schools open. Did we ever test asymptomatically for flu to keep schools open? No.

And masking is not necessary to keep school open. As Leana Wen said, a cloth mask is simply a facial decoration (as we all knew already).

Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID the rest of their life. We have to learn to live with it, and some people appear to be having a hard time with that.

Masks gone January 15th! Can't wait for Youngkin.

Literally no one has said that testing is necessary to keep schools open. This is a thread about a free, convenient, opt-in testing program. If you don't want to test, that's your decision. Your fixation on optional testing is ... unusual.

Anonymous wrote:Testing asymptomatic kids is not necessary to keep schools open. Did we ever test asymptomatically for flu to keep schools open? No.

And masking is not necessary to keep school open. As Leana Wen said, a cloth mask is simply a facial decoration (as we all knew already).

Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID the rest of their life. We have to learn to live with it, and some people appear to be having a hard time with that.

Masks gone January 15th! Can't wait for Youngkin.

LOL, I know you have an axe to grind, but at least get your story straight. Leana Wen two days ago just called for N95 indoors. "The United States should follow Germany’s example in requiring medical-grade surgical masks to be worn in crowded indoor spaces."

Testing asymptomatic kids is not necessary to keep schools open. Did we ever test asymptomatically for flu to keep schools open? No.

And masking is not necessary to keep school open. As Leana Wen said, a cloth mask is simply a facial decoration (as we all knew already).

Everyone will be repeatedly exposed to COVID the rest of their life. We have to learn to live with it, and some people appear to be having a hard time with that.

Masks gone January 15th! Can't wait for Youngkin.

If you actually want schools open, do the things that will keep schools open. Like testing, even if you think it’s stupid, because it provides hard data to contrast the hypothetical scenarios. Like wearing masks a bit longer. Like not sending sick kids to school.

+1

I think the open-schools-now types aren’t quite rational to get that, but yes, there are things we can and should do to keep our kids in the classroom.

Anonymous wrote:Just saw the call on AEM to sign up for testing. She failed to mention less than 18% of kids signed up for the last testing regime.

Do you want your asymptomatic kids missing school?

We can't have tons of kids missing school when they're not symptomatic. COVID is never going away and these AEM people are pushing COVID eradication at the cost of your children's education. No serious scientist thinks COVID will be eradicated.

DON'T OPT-INTO TESTING - KEEP KIDS IN SCHOOL!

Covid positive kids should not be in school. I didn’t make that up. The CDC and VDH did. Vaccinated contacts don’t have to quarantine or test unless they have symptoms. The anxious covid cautious parents are going to start screaming for remote school as the numbers climb and it’s easier for the superintendent and school board to do something (i.e. go remote) than to try to fight back with common sense. If the “close schools / zero Covid” crowd is going to get hysterical and throw around hypothetical scenarios that paint the worst possible outcome, why not fight back with ACTUAL local, current data that can prove that Covid in schools is lower than Arl overall and that spread in school is not happen. If you want to keep schools open - do the testing and prove that it’s safe.

Unless this isn’t actually about working together to keep schools open for underprivileged kids who are most impacted by remote learning. Perhaps it’s just about being selfish and only doing what minimizes inconvenience to your family. Maybe if no one tests we can just bury our heads in the sand and pretend that Omicron isn’t causing a huge surge.

If you actually want schools open, do the things that will keep schools open. Like testing, even if you think it’s stupid, because it provides hard data to contrast the hypothetical scenarios. Like wearing masks a bit longer. Like not sending sick kids to school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we were doing what DC is doing and mailing everyone test kits then requiring proof of a clean test before returning after break. It’s smart.

Clean test? Do you mean negative?

Are we doing that for bars and restaurants?

No. Why on earth would we apply that standard to kids’ education when we don’t for people to eat a burger or drink alcohol?!? Unbelievable.

COVID is never going away. Everyone will get it. We need to focus on hospitalizations and stop counting cases, as many experts have said. Otherwise we’re going to be permanently harming kids’ education

These are simply coronaphobes. They’ve read the extremely tiny risk to themselves and kids, but they don’t believe it, no matter how many times shown to them (just like Stop The Steal Trumpers and the 2020 election - same extremes, different sides of political spectrum) . It’s a mental illness at this point, and they’re not yet at the acceptance stage of “COVID is never going away and everyone will get it”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we were doing what DC is doing and mailing everyone test kits then requiring proof of a clean test before returning after break. It’s smart.

Clean test? Do you mean negative?

Are we doing that for bars and restaurants?

No. Why on earth would we apply that standard to kids’ education when we don’t for people to eat a burger or drink alcohol?!? Unbelievable.

COVID is never going away. Everyone will get it. We need to focus on hospitalizations and stop counting cases, as many experts have said. Otherwise we’re going to be permanently harming kids’ education

Anonymous wrote:OP can opt not to test their kids if they don't want to but it's super odd that they're trying to get others not to.

more testing = finds asymptomatic cases = less infection = fewer kids get sick = less missed school.

Except this is all dependent on how many kids in your class are getting tested. If you opt in for testing, your child is asymptomatic positive, they have to quarantine st school. Any close contacts that are vaccinated are then asked to prove a negative test and can stay in school. And any kid who might also be asymptomatic positive, but doesn’t get weekly tested and isn’t considered a close contact (in our school this means a desk pod - not even kids they eat lunch with), will stay in school. I would have no problem opting in to get my kids tested if it were a requirement, but I’m not going to volunteer when most don’t. It’s masochistic. But I also don’t care what other parents do. IMO it’s just more “vaccine theater” for overworried parents.