Anonymous wrote:My kids (2 and 5) are in preschool/daycare right now and have been since June. There are ~55 kids right now in the entire school, about 75% capacity.

There has been a documented case of covid in a student in one of the classrooms. The entire classroom went in to quarantine -- no other class did, but all siblings did as well -- and as of now (12 days after the last exposure) no other person has tested positive or shown symptoms.

I know we have 2 more days until we know that we're all in the clear but it seems pretty darn good so far, and this makes me much more comfortable keeping my kids in the school. It's a Montessori school (birth through kindergarten) so my 5 year old will be attending kindergarten in person so long as the school stays open.

Have the kids been wearing masks?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP--can I ask you a question? How long did it take from when the kid showed symptoms (if they did) to getting test results? Given how hard it is these days to get a rapid COVID test, I'm worried that whenever a kid is sick, the time between when they might get a test and when it's clear if they're positive will be too long for the rest of a class to quarantine, etc. Just thinking through how all of this is going to work without sufficient testing in the area--especially come winter when kids are sick non-stop. Sigh. I want to send my kid back to preschool so badly, but just keep thinking about things that are problematic.

Thank you for sharing, also. Really appreciate the window into your experience.

Kid was removed from daycare with a fever on a Friday, test results came back on Monday. I'm in Chicago, so not sure what the turnaround is in the DC region right now. Here, it ranges from 24 hours to 10 days depending on where you go, with the government sites being faster. That it was on the weekend is a helpful factor here. 3/4 members of my family have been tested at various points and results came back between 24 hours and 3 days.

Had the kid been removed with a fever on a Wednesday, for example, he/she would not have been allowed back until showing a negative test result, but all the other kids/little spreading vectors could have been spreading it.

But, OTOH, presuming the kid was contagious before showing symptoms on that Friday, other kids and the teachers certainly had close contact exposure and no one got it, which makes me feel better.

(Also, before you ask, since this wasn't my own child's classroom (they share air space, though, the rooms are separated by a floor to ceiling shower curtain type thing right now), I don't know the kid's age or gender, or how many other people were in that classroom. I know the kid has to be between 3 and 6, and I know the class has to have between 10 and 15 kids in it, with two teachers. Kids wear masks most of the day (not required but from what I've seen and had reported to me by other parents and my kids, they mostly wear them most of the time) and don't share communal food or any communal time with other classrooms. I *believe* but am not certain that the kids use different bathrooms.

I have heard other people express sadness about kids and mask wearing (or skepticism that they'll wear them at all) and as an adult, it is very strange to see my kids' teachers in masks and face shields, but my children do.not.care. My younger kid rips off her mask as soon as she gets outside (no mask!) but my older kid forgets he's wearing it until I tell him he can take it off in the car.

And 13 days have passed since exposure, no other positive cases or symptomatic children (phew!).

Anonymous wrote:PP--can I ask you a question? How long did it take from when the kid showed symptoms (if they did) to getting test results? Given how hard it is these days to get a rapid COVID test, I'm worried that whenever a kid is sick, the time between when they might get a test and when it's clear if they're positive will be too long for the rest of a class to quarantine, etc. Just thinking through how all of this is going to work without sufficient testing in the area--especially come winter when kids are sick non-stop. Sigh. I want to send my kid back to preschool so badly, but just keep thinking about things that are problematic.

Thank you for sharing, also. Really appreciate the window into your experience.

Kid was removed from daycare with a fever on a Friday, test results came back on Monday. I'm in Illinois, so not sure what the turnaround is in the DC region right now. Here, it ranges from 24 hours to 10 days depending on where you go, with the government sites being faster. That it was on the weekend is a helpful factor here. 3/4 members of my family have been tested at various points and results came back between 24 hours and 3 days.

Had the kid been removed with a fever on a Wednesday, for example, he/she would not have been allowed back until showing a negative test result, but all the other kids/little spreading vectors could have been spreading it.

But, OTOH, presuming the kid was contagious before showing symptoms on that Friday, other kids and the teachers certainly had close contact exposure and no one got it, which makes me feel better.

PP--can I ask you a question? How long did it take from when the kid showed symptoms (if they did) to getting test results? Given how hard it is these days to get a rapid COVID test, I'm worried that whenever a kid is sick, the time between when they might get a test and when it's clear if they're positive will be too long for the rest of a class to quarantine, etc. Just thinking through how all of this is going to work without sufficient testing in the area--especially come winter when kids are sick non-stop. Sigh. I want to send my kid back to preschool so badly, but just keep thinking about things that are problematic.

Thank you for sharing, also. Really appreciate the window into your experience.

My kids (2 and 5) are in preschool/daycare right now and have been since June. There are ~55 kids right now in the entire school, about 75% capacity.

There has been a documented case of covid in a student in one of the classrooms. The entire classroom went in to quarantine -- no other class did, but all siblings did as well -- and as of now (12 days after the last exposure) no other person has tested positive or shown symptoms.

I know we have 2 more days until we know that we're all in the clear but it seems pretty darn good so far, and this makes me much more comfortable keeping my kids in the school. It's a Montessori school (birth through kindergarten) so my 5 year old will be attending kindergarten in person so long as the school stays open.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the risk essentially the same? It’s a group of kids. Your risk isn’t going to decrease that much if it’s 4 vs 10 kids. Not to mention the daycares have rigorous cleaning and screening standards that a pod does not.

Daycares that have administrators there to ensure rules are being followed have advantages over situations that depend on one person who may or may not really believe in masks or understand why COVID is scary. Yes, it's fewer kids, but if all the parents are coming into close contact with one another at drop off and pick up and nobody is enforcing masks or distancing then it becomes risky.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the risk essentially the same? It’s a group of kids. Your risk isn’t going to decrease that much if it’s 4 vs 10 kids. Not to mention the daycares have rigorous cleaning and screening standards that a pod does not.

+1. And more space to spread out- at our daycare the kids are wearing masks except for eating and outside. At lunch they all sit 6+ ft apart. Maybe the pod people here have big houses with room to spread out but that’s not the case in my neighborhood.