Covid measures in school 21/22

[georgiegirl]

Just got our email. We’re returning to prepandemic school (their words). Doesn’t even sound like contact tracing will happen. WTF? We’re in one of the highest counties in the state, cases are going up, and county vaccination rate is 37%. 3% for 0-19. I knew this was coming, but now I’m really pissed.

Same here in Iowa. No notification if the child next to yours tests positive. And no masks or distancing of course

[AnnieW625]

Why are people mad about masks if their schools are opening on a normal schedule? Seems like that’s the most important piece. I don’t think most kids care about having to wear a mask.


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My Dds tolerate the masks but tbh when outside neither of them likes to wear them, but DD2 sometimes usually starts with one and then takes it off. Inside they do it where required (which is really only public transportation for 3/4 of us). I do think though that Dd1 would much prefer to not have to wear a mask because she is vaccinated. She is skeptical that her classmates are vaccinated and they may not follow the masking guidelines if they aren’t, but she is ready to be done with masks. I do agree that I would rather have them in school full time wearing masks than another year of at home learning (which was semi fine for Dd1 who had no grade/classroom issues but missed the social aspect because she was new to the school and the area; whereas DD2 had a rough year being online). My hesitation with all of these reversals is that I have an awful feeling it was cause a slippery slope backwards to what it was like for 95% of the time from March to December, 2020 (IE: mandated stay at home orders, closed businesses, social distancing requirements, etc.. ….. I totally get if that is still your comfort level, but we just can’t keep going backwards and expect nothing to ever be the same)

The numbers aren’t also making sense to me….my county currently has 26 people who have been diagnosed with Delta, 100+ with Alpha, but the county is 62% fully vaccinated and there are 2.5M people (or so) in the county and therefore our county has been deemed as high risk by the CDC. It doesn’t make sense because that is .000054 of the population.


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[nfowife]

My district where I work and my children attend- full masking by for all regardless of vaccinated status. Air cleaners in all classrooms. Some quarantine for exposure (vaccinated don’t have to). No 3 ft distancing because there isn’t room.

[MSWR0319]

My district where I work and my children attend- full masking by for all regardless of vaccinated status. Air cleaners in all classrooms. Some quarantine for exposure (vaccinated don’t have to). No 3 ft distancing because there isn’t room.

I could handle this. Heck, at this point all I want is masking.

[o_mom]

The numbers aren’t also making sense to me….my county currently has 26 people who have been diagnosed with Delta, 100+ with Alpha, but the county is 62% fully vaccinated and there are 2.5M people (or so) in the county and therefore our county has been deemed as high risk by the CDC. It doesn’t make sense because that is .000054 of the population.

The numbers on your county dashboard are only the variant cases they know about. Very few samples are analyzed for which variant they are, and it is more to track the proportion of cases from that variant over time. What they display is a overall count since they started testing for variants - so Alpha comes up higher because of the historical cases. I guarantee that way more than 26 people in your county have Delta - it doesn't stop at the county line.

A better look is at the last table on this page (for the whole state): https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID...-Variants.aspx

Delta has gone from 2% of samples in April to 82% in July.

I would also look into the denominator for the percentage vaccinated. I find that most places are reporting the percentage *of eligible residents* vaccinated, not the percentage of the population.

This site has fairly good information: https://covidactnow.org/us/california-ca/?s=21111035

[Kestrel]

It seems I'm the outlier again. I'm unwilling to have my kid go to school and wear a mask for six hours a day. Our state just announced masks required for K-12 yesterday.

Of course, the school district is not in the buildings yet. (I think it's next week that they return?) We start late, after labor day... 9/8 I think. I'm still waiting to find out if there will be virtual school this year, as DH is very high risk. I'm tired and frustrated at the wishy-washy. Monday school said masks required for buses and unvacc'd, now it's masks for everyone. I wish they would make up their dang minds so we can plan. Last we heard, virtual school would "depend of the level of interest". But they haven't asked! And it's getting late to try to find another option.

[SnuggleBuggles]

It seems I'm the outlier again. I'm unwilling to have my kid go to school and wear a mask for six hours a day. Our state just announced masks required for K-12 yesterday.

Of course, the school district is not in the buildings yet. (I think it's next week that they return?) We start late, after labor day... 9/8 I think. I'm still waiting to find out if there will be virtual school this year, as DH is very high risk. I'm tired and frustrated at the wishy-washy. Monday school said masks required for buses and unvacc'd, now it's masks for everyone. I wish they would make up their dang minds so we can plan. Last we heard, virtual school would "depend of the level of interest". But they haven't asked! And it's getting late to try to find another option.

There are national cyber charter schools, if you need a virtual option.


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[Kindra178]

If masks mean going to school like normal, I am fine with it BUT frustrated with the get vaxxed, you won't have to wear masks thing. Even our county health department tweeted that two weeks ago. At what point do we let the unvaxed just make the bed they chose to lie in? Vaccine is readily accessible, everywhere. For free. Get the vax.

I remain unsure what masks will do in an area where 68 percent of the residents are vaxxed.

The CDC's latest stepback and advice on viral load of vaxxed v. unvaxxed seems to arise out of India, using vaccines that not approved here. If this is true, this is shocking.

[doberbrat]

As a parent and as a staff person, I want everyone in a freaking mask. Enforced. No masks around the chin.

I dont want to be the mask police. Are you vaccinated? No? put your mask on. Just a flat out everyone wear it and have it be fair. Adults too. Seems like a very small ask to have kids back in school AND at minimal risk.

We had kids in our classroom in person before the general ed kids. There was never a complaint about masks. The adults wore them, we were matter of fact about them and all was well. When everyone else came back, some kids complained - guess what - the non complainers suddenly started to complain.

If we, the adults, say 'Yeah, I wish we didnt have to but its not so bad', then the kids will readily accept it. I just read a piece about how some brain MRIs on post covid adult patients are looking startlingly like alzheimer's patients' regardless of severity of the covid case. They're thinking that accounts for some of the long covid symptoms. I dont want that for my kid (or anyone else's) for the rest of her life! If mask wearing can prevent that for even a few people, then we owe it to them.

[Kestrel]

I hear you. I do. But where do you draw the line?

Where is it my responsibility to protect those who choose not to vaccinate? I support those who choose not to, but they have to deal with the outcome of that choice. Or the choice they make for their kids. Is there ever going to be a point where we can go back to school _normally_? Either it's safe to send kids back to school, or it's not. Those who choose not to vacc for whooping cough or measles have to stay home when it is detected in their school. If you choose not to have your kids vacc'd, and it is a choice, you have to deal with the results - staying home. We don't have everyone mask because we have four kids in our school who aren't vacc'd for measles. We are _never_ going to get "everyone" vacc'd. I hate to think that children will be expected to wear masks as the status normal. It's not normal, and should never be.

Little kids not yet able to get vacc'd are a different story. In my opinion, it is not safe to send them back to school now and they should be home.

At this point, nearly everyone - with a few rare exceptions - has had the chance to get vacc'd. There are some that will never change their minds. There are some who cannot, for various medical reasons. There are a few who might change their minds... - I did myself. (I got the vaccine I was comfortable with.) But we are not going to suddenly get millions more adults to decide to get the shot after all. We were repeatedly told we had to mask up until we had enough vaccine to get everyone vacc'd. I agreed. Now we do. At some point, we have to stop thinking it's selfish to want to go back to normal and start thinking it's selfish for those who choose not to vacc to expect us to protect them.

And now - add in rumors that we will need boosters to shots given less than a year ago - how many will actually get boosters? The one vaccine that our tweens/teens were able to get may already need to have a booster at just six months!

For those whose kids are fine in a mask, I'm glad you have it so easy. Really, I do. Mine is miserable, can't concentrate, keeps fiddling with it constantly, coughs, says he can't get comfortable, is short of breath, has no attention span with it on. He's not going to learn that way. (We have tried ten different masks we couldn't really afford to buy. Nothing works.)

When is it enough? What are we waiting for? What are they thinking is going to change?

The finish line keeps moving.