Covid measures in school 21/22

[AnnieW625]

I think the testing is a good idea although I think only requiring testing for unvaccinated students and staff makes more sense, which is what DS1's private school did each week when they went back in person in the spring. DS2's school did weekly pool testing on a random sample of about a third of the students each week. Neither school had any cases, but they were only in person for a total of 12 days (with masks and distancing). Testing was done on site at both of the schools (on the Friday before the next week's attendance for DS1 and at the end of the school day for DS2).

Undertaking this in such a large population is mind boggling. Our school had weekly testing for all students and staff throughout last year. It was definitely a big reason for our success last year. They were able to catch cases and contract trace quickly to avoid school spread. I don’t know that I would have been comfortable sending my DC in during the worst of it without the weekly testing. Masks and testing worked well for us.

So glad it worked for your schools.

Our Catholic schools offered testing a few times but we never participated (my kids went back in late March). There were no cases at either school. The population of the high school is about 500 kids and the tk-8 elementary is about 300.

Yes it is a sheer numbers thing at this point that is mind boggling to me. Per Wikipedia the district serves 627,000 students and 24,000 teachers. They don’t give the figures for other classified staff and administration so I am just going to round up to the district needing at least 675,000 tests per week. Times that by a school year (and if a school year) is 30 weeks long that is at least 20,000,000 tests next year. I bet those test makers are very happy. Even if a rapid test costs the district $5 that is $100,000,000 being in a budget to covid testing when many schools can’t even count on school supplies and sanitation supplies. I get that they want everyone safe but if you have to require testing require it for the unvaccinated. Maybe they are really afraid that the bulk of the population is not vaccinated.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

So glad it worked for your schools.

Our Catholic schools offered testing a few times but we never participated (my kids went back in late March). There were no cases at either school. The population of the high school is about 500 kids and the tk-8 elementary is about 300.

Yes it is a sheer numbers thing at this point that is mind boggling to me. Per Wikipedia the district serves 627,000 students and 24,000 teachers. They don’t give the figures for other classified staff and administration so I am just going to round up to the district needing at least 675,000 tests per week. Times that by a school year (and if a school year) is 30 weeks long that is at least 20,000,000 tests next year. I bet those test makers are very happy. Even if a rapid test costs the district $5 that is $100,000,000 being in a budget to covid testing when many schools can’t even count on school supplies and sanitation supplies. I get that they want everyone safe but if you have to require testing require it for the unvaccinated. Maybe they are really afraid that the bulk of the population is not vaccinated.


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Like pp said, they could be pool testing. That’s what ds1’s university did. Only problem with that at school is one positive case in the pool sent the whole group to quarantine until the individual tests came back.


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[twowhat?]

Our district just updated their website. No masks required. No distancing. No COVID case count daily summaries. No contact tracing. No quarantine requirement. Positive COVID tests are reported to the local health department as required, but these cases will not be reported to families.

I am disappointed, to say the least. I am angry.

I am feeling incredibly guilty that my kids are old enough to be vaccinated and have that one extra layer of protection. Depending on how bad it looks when school starts, I may also make them wear masks. I'm also feeling fortunate that in my town, 70% of eligible adults are fully vaccinated which is quite a bit higher than surrounding areas, and the state in general. 88% have had their first dose...this is MMWR data from 2 weeks ago so the numbers should be slightly higher now. My hope is that parents in my town who got vaccinated will also vaccinate their eligible children, so I would think that maybe 65%+ of middle schoolers will be fully vaccinated? Lower than the adult population because of some hesitation due to myocarditis data?

I understand that there's no budget for contact tracing, reporting positives, etc. But I feel strongly that at a MINIMUM masks should be universally required AT LEAST UNTIL the next age group is given an appropriate amount of time to get fully vaccinated. This requires zero budget (well, maybe a little to provide for kids who cannot afford clean masks).

Last school year, my district did REALLY well with masking. My kids were virtual but in talking to their in-person friends, there was no complaining about wearing masks. You just did it because that was the rule. Even kids walking home from school still kept their masks on because they'd literally forgotten about them! Even field day was done in masks and judging from all the videos posted, kids kept masks on and had FUN. My kids will be fine in masks. They wear glasses so it sucks extra, but they are fine. I believe most kids can, and should, wear their masks and tolerate them with grace.

[AnnieW625]

Like pp said, they could be pool testing. That’s what ds1’s university did. Only problem with that at school is one positive case in the pool sent the whole group to quarantine until the individual tests came back.


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And if it is pool testing it is going to be very frustrating for working parents who may not have the ability to set up daycare immediately or even an online classroom in days notice for their potential multiple children when one test comes back and they have to immediately quarantine. Just another thing to think about when a policy effects millions of people daily.


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[PZMommy]

Omg! LAUSD is officially off their rockers….I don’t see how this is going to work at all….even in the higher income areas where parents are more likely to be on the up and up as far as COVID know all is. It is going to be a giant ball of red tape and hurdles to jump through on a weekly basis.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/lau...nation-status/


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LAUSD did this last year in the spring and it worked just fine! An outside company was hired and they had many mobile teams that visited the school weekly. My school was able to test over 600 students and staff every Monday in 3 hours. My time was right after recess. I walked my class out and in 10 minutes we were done. Super fast and easy!

[AnnieW625]

LAUSD did this last year in the spring and it worked just fine! An outside company was hired and they had many mobile teams that visited the school weekly. My school was able to test over 600 students and staff every Monday in 3 hours. My time was right after recess. I walked my class out and in 10 minutes we were done. Super fast and easy!

Oh good….thank you for the feedback. Do you know if it worked well at your old school as well (which you had stated was on the lower end of the demographic spectrum? We’re classes full once school reopened? Just the headline was mind boggling.


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[wendibird22]

Like pp said, they could be pool testing. That’s what ds1’s university did. Only problem with that at school is one positive case in the pool sent the whole group to quarantine until the individual tests came back.


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The university I work at does pool testing. The test costs ~$60 per person, even when pooled.

[PZMommy]

Oh good….thank you for the feedback. Do you know if it worked well at your old school as well (which you had stated was on the lower end of the demographic spectrum? We’re classes full once school reopened? Just the headline was mind boggling.


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Yes it did!! District wide it worked amazingly well. The first week was a mess as they were working out the bugs, but then once they figured things out, it went great. My school was very large and we had 95% of kids back, plus 100 staff. Elem schools were hit and miss as to how many returned, but the testing was universally praised by teachers and parents. Middle/high schools did not have as many returning, but they were able to figure out the best way to test large numbers in a short amount of time, which will be helpful for the fall. The testing and the amount of meals we fed to kids/community are two things my district got right last year. Unfortunately the media doesn’t highlight that and just focuses on the negative!

[California]

Now that LAUSD has announced that I wonder if any other SoCal districts will follow along.

Our local colleges and DS' college (out of state) all required weekly testing for students, and it did seem to work really well. They kept their positive cases far below the general population for their zip codes. DS' school's current plan is to only test unvaccinated students. With the growing awareness that the vaccines are doing a great job keeping people out of hospitals, but people may still get asymptomatic/light symptom cases, DS will not be surprised if that changes.

[Kindra178]

Our high school did saliva testing weekly. Definitely some issues but it was fine.