Schools need to open. Kids aren’t vectors and families who depend on paychecks aren’t going to survive - literally - without kids in schools so parents can work.

The problem with the DCUM crowd is so many have federal jobs that just dial up tax dollars even when the economy is tanking. These posters don’t give a crap about the economy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If thousands can protest in the streets all over the US and we don’t see a large increase in positive cases the next 2-4 weeks then there is plausible reason why school can not return to normal in the Fall.

People walking outside is not the same as gathering together in a small room for seven hours a day. I want schools to open but please don’t make false equivalencies.

The virus is no less contagious in a group of protesters just because it is outside versus being in a classroom for 7 hours. Plus being in a controlled classroom makes it easier to contact trace.

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of psychology behind wanting a vaccine before opening schools. Even if there is vaccine it will not be 100% effective and it may not provide immunity for very long. But that doesn't matter because people just want a sense of security. The government is paying Moderna to manufacture the vaccine even though the trial is not finished and we don't know whether it is effective so it can be deployed quickly! This says to me that even if it has low efficacy or questionable long term immunity, the government is separate to deploy anything so we can "check the box" and get beyond COVID. The country is opening up anyway and even a partially effective vaccine will be the final check in the box.

Nor will everyone opt to be vaccinated. Can't live in fear forever.
Breakdown of cases/deaths in MoCo

0-17: 650/0
18-49: 5,912/30
50-64: 2,620/66

It is the older teachers that need to be concerned, not the students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and administration told us today that we may not be back in the buildings in September, October, or November and to be prepared. We all feel really anxious and overwhelmed. Remote learning is boring and exhausting and joyless. No one wants this to continue, but we also won’t go back without protocols in place to keep everyone safe. I see a lot of parents on here who seem angry about the fact that schools will not just go back “as normal”. If you want schools to open up you need to support these measures. If parents are largely unwilling to comply with safety precautions it just won’t work.

The kids aren't going to give you covid. They have pretty much debunked kids spreading it like they thought they would. So who exactly are you trying to have protection from? The other adults at school? If anything it's much easier for the adults to stay away from each other and follow stricter precautions. Sounds like you are fine not going back until things are up to your standards?

You are wrong. There are lots of different people extrapolating that because children are more likely to be asymptomatic that they are less likely to spread the virus to others. Obviously they do and can still spread it. You are delusional if you think they can contract the virus but it’s impossible for them to spread it. There are studies that show that they shed as much virus at adults.

https://zoonosen.charite.de/fileadmin/user_upload/microsites/m_cc05/virologie-ccm/dateien_upload/Weitere_Dateien/analysis-of-SARS-CoV-2-viral-load-by-patient-age.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/health/coronavirus-children-transmission-school.html

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/04/science.abb8001.full

No one cares about my personal standards. Schools have already announced they are following CDC guidelines and that we will not be going back without precautions. I don’t know what fantasy world parents are living in that they think everything is just going to snap back to pre-pandemic reality between June and September. If you’re still wearing a mask to pass through the grocery store then everyone in the school building should be too.

Yes it's also been proven that healthy people wearing masks for long periods of time is also causing damage. Nobody should be breathing in their own air like that for extended periods.
Not to mention its frekan hard to breathe in them.

Parents want their kids back to school because that's where they need to be educated. Since you referred to "parents" I'm going to assume you are not one. Which is very clear.

Keep your kids home if you don’t want them wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, or having a school experience that is different than it was in the past. You have a choice. It’s a pandemic and everyone needs to adjust. We can’t just open up without taking measures to mitigate the (inevitable) spread.

The point is the "inevitable" spread is drastically declining. And school is 3 months away. The best way to have Measures to keep schools safe going forward is to make sure there is enough soap everywhere in every school and cleaning properly. Other than that everything else is moot.

Except COVID is a respiratory illness and all the soap in the world won’t prevent you from getting sick from a cough or sneeze in your vicinity, especially with fans or air conditioning running (another inevitability in September). Thus, the masks and the six foot rule. We know that surface transmission is not the primary method of infection.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on a new england school board and we have determined that there is no possible way to return FT under normal conditions with current CDC guidelines. We don't have enough classroom space to distance, we don't have enough bathrooms to allow proper contact tracing, we don't have enough buses to safely transport, etc.
So unless CDC guidelines significantly change in the next 3 months, we have to adopt some sort of hybrid model.
We'll have several different models and contingencies to those models, and hope to have more science-based guidance by mid-August to open in some fashion.

Curious- do you know what the term "guidelines" mean? Because they aren't things you HAVE to do and also they say very specifically that you do what you can. Nobody is going to be able to do all of them.

Sorry MCPS rant inbound.

Well, there is coercive state power (truancy laws) that mandates attendance. You cannot in good conscience as a board member say well CDC says _ is a good idea but we’re just unable to do it and we’re not going to make other accommodations.

And MCPS BoE is once again screwing up basic stuff. We have a pretty good idea what things will look like in 3 months and we’re still at an everything is on the table part of the discussion. Get options on the agenda and debate them so families can plan.

Of course part of the problem is they didn’t even figure out semester 2 grading until 3 weeks ago so they are behind. And there will continue to be brutally difficult decisions about health procedures and equity let alone education and budgeting. I see nobody on the board that can step up and lead and articulate a vision of how to handle this. The superintendent certainly can’t and also won’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and administration told us today that we may not be back in the buildings in September, October, or November and to be prepared. We all feel really anxious and overwhelmed. Remote learning is boring and exhausting and joyless. No one wants this to continue, but we also won’t go back without protocols in place to keep everyone safe. I see a lot of parents on here who seem angry about the fact that schools will not just go back “as normal”. If you want schools to open up you need to support these measures. If parents are largely unwilling to comply with safety precautions it just won’t work.

The kids aren't going to give you covid. They have pretty much debunked kids spreading it like they thought they would. So who exactly are you trying to have protection from? The other adults at school? If anything it's much easier for the adults to stay away from each other and follow stricter precautions. Sounds like you are fine not going back until things are up to your standards?

You are wrong. There are lots of different people extrapolating that because children are more likely to be asymptomatic that they are less likely to spread the virus to others. Obviously they do and can still spread it. You are delusional if you think they can contract the virus but it’s impossible for them to spread it. There are studies that show that they shed as much virus at adults.

https://zoonosen.charite.de/fileadmin/user_upload/microsites/m_cc05/virologie-ccm/dateien_upload/Weitere_Dateien/analysis-of-SARS-CoV-2-viral-load-by-patient-age.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/health/coronavirus-children-transmission-school.html

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/04/science.abb8001.full

No one cares about my personal standards. Schools have already announced they are following CDC guidelines and that we will not be going back without precautions. I don’t know what fantasy world parents are living in that they think everything is just going to snap back to pre-pandemic reality between June and September. If you’re still wearing a mask to pass through the grocery store then everyone in the school building should be too.

Yes it's also been proven that healthy people wearing masks for long periods of time is also causing damage. Nobody should be breathing in their own air like that for extended periods.
Not to mention its frekan hard to breathe in them.

Parents want their kids back to school because that's where they need to be educated. Since you referred to "parents" I'm going to assume you are not one. Which is very clear.

Keep your kids home if you don’t want them wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, or having a school experience that is different than it was in the past. You have a choice. It’s a pandemic and everyone needs to adjust. We can’t just open up without taking measures to mitigate the (inevitable) spread.

The point is the "inevitable" spread is drastically declining. And school is 3 months away. The best way to have Measures to keep schools safe going forward is to make sure there is enough soap everywhere in every school and cleaning properly. Other than that everything else is moot.

Anonymous wrote:NP. All of your sources are old. All the recent research point to kids not spreading the virus. There was also a recent WaPo article that someone posted here which summarized the situation quite well.
We went down from 30% positivity rate to 10% positivity rate in a matter of weeks. In a matter of couple of weeks, our hospital occupancy came down from 1700 to 1100, and consistently coming down. One thing that is not coming down is 40+ million jobless families. While everything else opens, kids and families with kids cannot be the victims of this.

The oldest link is less than a month old. The science has not changed. What HAS changed is the number of people crying that the economy needs schools to open. I want schools to open, too. That has nothing to do with safety protocols in schools, though. Many parents are now so emboldened that they have decided that no protocols should be put in place and that they will not comply with them. This is unacceptable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and administration told us today that we may not be back in the buildings in September, October, or November and to be prepared. We all feel really anxious and overwhelmed. Remote learning is boring and exhausting and joyless. No one wants this to continue, but we also won’t go back without protocols in place to keep everyone safe. I see a lot of parents on here who seem angry about the fact that schools will not just go back “as normal”. If you want schools to open up you need to support these measures. If parents are largely unwilling to comply with safety precautions it just won’t work.

The kids aren't going to give you covid. They have pretty much debunked kids spreading it like they thought they would. So who exactly are you trying to have protection from? The other adults at school? If anything it's much easier for the adults to stay away from each other and follow stricter precautions. Sounds like you are fine not going back until things are up to your standards?

You are wrong. There are lots of different people extrapolating that because children are more likely to be asymptomatic that they are less likely to spread the virus to others. Obviously they do and can still spread it. You are delusional if you think they can contract the virus but it’s impossible for them to spread it. There are studies that show that they shed as much virus at adults.

https://zoonosen.charite.de/fileadmin/user_upload/microsites/m_cc05/virologie-ccm/dateien_upload/Weitere_Dateien/analysis-of-SARS-CoV-2-viral-load-by-patient-age.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/health/coronavirus-children-transmission-school.html

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/04/science.abb8001.full

No one cares about my personal standards. Schools have already announced they are following CDC guidelines and that we will not be going back without precautions. I don’t know what fantasy world parents are living in that they think everything is just going to snap back to pre-pandemic reality between June and September. If you’re still wearing a mask to pass through the grocery store then everyone in the school building should be too.

Yes it's also been proven that healthy people wearing masks for long periods of time is also causing damage. Nobody should be breathing in their own air like that for extended periods.
Not to mention its frekan hard to breathe in them.

Parents want their kids back to school because that's where they need to be educated. Since you referred to "parents" I'm going to assume you are not one. Which is very clear.

Keep your kids home if you don’t want them wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, or having a school experience that is different than it was in the past. You have a choice. It’s a pandemic and everyone needs to adjust. We can’t just open up without taking measures to mitigate the (inevitable) spread.

NP. All of your sources are old. All the recent research point to kids not spreading the virus. There was also a recent WaPo article that someone posted here which summarized the situation quite well.
We went down from 30% positivity rate to 10% positivity rate in a matter of weeks. In a matter of couple of weeks, our hospital occupancy came down from 1700 to 1100, and consistently coming down. One thing that is not coming down is 40+ million jobless families. While everything else opens, kids and families with kids cannot be the victims of this.

There is a lot of psychology behind wanting a vaccine before opening schools. Even if there is vaccine it will not be 100% effective and it may not provide immunity for very long. But that doesn't matter because people just want a sense of security. The government is paying Moderna to manufacture the vaccine even though the trial is not finished and we don't know whether it is effective so it can be deployed quickly! This says to me that even if it has low efficacy or questionable long term immunity, the government is separate to deploy anything so we can "check the box" and get beyond COVID. The country is opening up anyway and even a partially effective vaccine will be the final check in the box.

For MCPS parents need the daycare. If this pandemic taught us anything, there’s not a whole lot of teaching going on in those overcrowded schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and administration told us today that we may not be back in the buildings in September, October, or November and to be prepared. We all feel really anxious and overwhelmed. Remote learning is boring and exhausting and joyless. No one wants this to continue, but we also won’t go back without protocols in place to keep everyone safe. I see a lot of parents on here who seem angry about the fact that schools will not just go back “as normal”. If you want schools to open up you need to support these measures. If parents are largely unwilling to comply with safety precautions it just won’t work.

The kids aren't going to give you covid. They have pretty much debunked kids spreading it like they thought they would. So who exactly are you trying to have protection from? The other adults at school? If anything it's much easier for the adults to stay away from each other and follow stricter precautions. Sounds like you are fine not going back until things are up to your standards?

You are wrong. There are lots of different people extrapolating that because children are more likely to be asymptomatic that they are less likely to spread the virus to others. Obviously they do and can still spread it. You are delusional if you think they can contract the virus but it’s impossible for them to spread it. There are studies that show that they shed as much virus at adults.

https://zoonosen.charite.de/fileadmin/user_upload/microsites/m_cc05/virologie-ccm/dateien_upload/Weitere_Dateien/analysis-of-SARS-CoV-2-viral-load-by-patient-age.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/health/coronavirus-children-transmission-school.html

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/04/science.abb8001.full

No one cares about my personal standards. Schools have already announced they are following CDC guidelines and that we will not be going back without precautions. I don’t know what fantasy world parents are living in that they think everything is just going to snap back to pre-pandemic reality between June and September. If you’re still wearing a mask to pass through the grocery store then everyone in the school building should be too.

Yes it's also been proven that healthy people wearing masks for long periods of time is also causing damage. Nobody should be breathing in their own air like that for extended periods.
Not to mention its frekan hard to breathe in them.

Parents want their kids back to school because that's where they need to be educated. Since you referred to "parents" I'm going to assume you are not one. Which is very clear.

Anonymous wrote:If thousands can protest in the streets all over the US and we don’t see a large increase in positive cases the next 2-4 weeks then there is plausible reason why school can not return to normal in the Fall.

Sadly, I think that where protestors were gassed, we will see a spike. I was at a protest tonight and stayed masked, but was saddened to see an old friend (and elected official) address the crowd without his mask.

Anonymous wrote:If thousands can protest in the streets all over the US and we don’t see a large increase in positive cases the next 2-4 weeks then there is plausible reason why school can not return to normal in the Fall.

People walking outside is not the same as gathering together in a small room for seven hours a day. I want schools to open but please don’t make false equivalencies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and administration told us today that we may not be back in the buildings in September, October, or November and to be prepared. We all feel really anxious and overwhelmed. Remote learning is boring and exhausting and joyless. No one wants this to continue, but we also won’t go back without protocols in place to keep everyone safe. I see a lot of parents on here who seem angry about the fact that schools will not just go back “as normal”. If you want schools to open up you need to support these measures. If parents are largely unwilling to comply with safety precautions it just won’t work.

The kids aren't going to give you covid. They have pretty much debunked kids spreading it like they thought they would. So who exactly are you trying to have protection from? The other adults at school? If anything it's much easier for the adults to stay away from each other and follow stricter precautions. Sounds like you are fine not going back until things are up to your standards?

You are wrong. There are lots of different people extrapolating that because children are more likely to be asymptomatic that they are less likely to spread the virus to others. Obviously they do and can still spread it. You are delusional if you think they can contract the virus but it’s impossible for them to spread it. There are studies that show that they shed as much virus at adults.

https://zoonosen.charite.de/fileadmin/user_upload/microsites/m_cc05/virologie-ccm/dateien_upload/Weitere_Dateien/analysis-of-SARS-CoV-2-viral-load-by-patient-age.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/health/coronavirus-children-transmission-school.html

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/04/science.abb8001.full

No one cares about my personal standards. Schools have already announced they are following CDC guidelines and that we will not be going back without precautions. I don’t know what fantasy world parents are living in that they think everything is just going to snap back to pre-pandemic reality between June and September. If you’re still wearing a mask to pass through the grocery store then everyone in the school building should be too.