K-12 Schools & COVID

[tower912]

Schools all open on time.   Young people do what young people do.   Infection rates skyrocket even more, forcing governors to close everything  down anyway.   But now the kids have brought the infection from school home to mom, dad, brother, sister, nana and pop-pop.   

What is your plan for that?   I'll hang up and listen.

[GooooMarquette]

What is the infection rate/transmission rate amongst school aged children?? Also, what is your plan for parents that would now need to stay home with their kids because they aren't in school, and they can't go to work?? Thanks, I will hang up and listen.

I have not seen any reliable transmission info among school-aged children...but the experiences in Israel and Germany suggest it is considerably higher than many would want to believe.

As to your second question - the parents deal with this the same way everyone else is dealing with a once-in-a-lifetime global catastrophe: the best they can. And they hope that our government comes up with another bailout package to help them get through it.

There are no good answers, but there are certainly better and worse ones.

[rocky_warrior]

What is the infection rate/transmission rate amongst school aged children?? Also, what is your plan for parents that would now need to stay home with their kids because they aren't in school, and they can't go to work?? Thanks, I will hang up and listen.

Ok, I'll leave the "plan" part out of it.  But to Infection/transmission - it's not yet understood - and I think people are scared of being the test subjects.  Generally though, elementary school age aren't thought to be much of a problem, but middle/high school age can easily get sick/carry it.  Here's a good breakdown from Science Magazine:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks

In the high school, antibody testing showed that 38% of pupils, 43% of teachers, and 59% of nonteaching staff had been infected. (By then, several people associated with the school had been hospitalized with COVID-19 complications.) In six elementary schools, they found a total of three children who had caught the virus, likely from family members, and then attended school while infected. But, as far as the researchers could tell, those younger children didn’t pass the virus on to any close contacts.

also

Other outbreaks also suggest that elementary school pupils pose a smaller threat than older students. Among the worst schoolwide outbreaks was at Gymnasium Rehavia, a middle and high school in Jerusalem, where 153 students and 25 staff were infected in late May and early June. An outbreak at a New Zealand high school before that country’s shutdown infected 96 people, including students, teachers, staff, and parents. In contrast, a neighboring elementary school saw few cases.

Unfortunately though:

Another Israeli outbreak was in an elementary school in Jaffa, with 33 students and five staff members affected. Across the globe, an elementary school classroom in Trois-Rivières, Canada, had nine of 11 students infected after one contracted the virus in the community.

Other data come from day care centers: In many countries, they stayed open for children of essential workers, and outbreaks appeared rare. Two flares in Canadian day cares—one in Toronto, and one outside of Montreal—led to temporary closures. In Texas, where overall cases have skyrocketed, at least 894 preschool staff and 441 children across 883 facilities have tested positive, according to news reports. That’s up from 210 total cases just a few weeks ago.

So - not enough is known.  It may be possible to avoid community spread with elementary - but maybe not.  For older kids?  Community spread is very likely. 

So what do you do?  Open elementary schools but keep Middle/High Schools closed?

[mu_hilltopper]

Ask your school district for the following inevitable issues:

1. What is the protocol when 1, 5, 10, or 25 students test positive?
2. What is the protocol when 1, 5, 10, or 25 teachers test positive?

If they don't have solid answers to those questions, they aren't ready.

[GooooMarquette]

Ask your school district for the following inevitable issues:

1. What is the protocol when 1, 5, 10, or 25 students test positive?
2. What is the protocol when 1, 5, 10, or 25 teachers test positive?

If they don't have solid answers to those questions, they aren't ready.

Those questions are a great start, insofar as it relates to a specific school within the district. I would ask about how they will address positive tests in teachers, counselors, subs and other staff who regularly work at multiple schools within the district. And how they would address positive cases in kids who ride a school bus that stops at more than one school.

[tower912]

Biggest local school district choosing to go virtual for the first 9 weeks.     But open to change if the arc of the virus changes.   
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grand-rapids-public-school-back-to-school-plan/

[MU82]

Here we have MLB, with all of their protocols, all of their cash, all of their instant access to fast-results testing, all of their other major advantages over Joe Public ... and they can't even get through the first few days of the season without a series of calamities that are forcing them to cancel multiple games ... and yet we have a president and other national "leaders" insisting that schools must open fully for in-person education?

Really?

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't let my kid go to school under these conditions. And I know that if I were a teacher, administrator, aide or any other kind of support staff I would not work.

"My level of concern went from about an 8 to a 12," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "I mean, this thing really hits home now. I got guys in our clubhouse that are really concerned as well."

COVID-19 doesn't care if you are rich or poor, if you are a famous athlete or one of a million teachers. It's an equal-opportunity destroyer.

Everybody to school!

If you get sick, guru's witch doctor will cure you, anyway.

[Jockey]

The great educator Betsy DeVos said it is safe. Who are you to question someone with her knowledge?

[pacearrow02]

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/24/882316641/what-parents-can-learn-from-child-care-centers-that-stayed-open-during-lockdowns?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/24/882316641/what-parents-can-learn-from-child-care-centers-that-stayed-open-during-lockdowns?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

This is good stuff.  And it reinforces the thought that the problems will likely be more with older children in school and not preschool or elementary age.

[pacearrow02]

This is good stuff.  And it reinforces the thought that the problems will likely be more with older children in school and not preschool or elementary age.

Absolutely!  Hopefully as kids get into middle school and high school they are a little more compliant and agreeable to wearing masks, washing hands etc

[GooooMarquette]

This is good stuff.  And it reinforces the thought that the problems will likely be more with older children in school and not preschool or elementary age.

It does show promise, but I'm not sure how many schools have enough teachers to run anywhere close to the 9:1 ratio and maintain the strict separation of classes, as described in the article. Maybe if middle and high schools do exclusively distance learning with larger than normal classes to free up some teachers, and then move some of those teachers to elementary?

Of course, then the parents of middle and high school students would be upset.

Tough situation....

[Pakuni]

This is good stuff.  And it reinforces the thought that the problems will likely be more with older children in school and not preschool or elementary age.

Yeah, family and friends who work as grade school teachers say they're far less concerned about the younger kids sticking with masks and social distancing than the middle schoolers.

[GooooMarquette]

Yeah, family and friends who work as grade school teachers say they're far less concerned about the younger kids sticking with masks and social distancing than the middle schoolers.

Agreed. My wife works with middle schoolers. When I asked if she thought they would be good about wearing masks if they go back to the classroom, she just gave a cynical laugh.

She knows they won't learn as much online, but she is not excited about being a guinea pig in an experiment destined to fail.

[pbiflyer]

Nearly 300 Florida high school graduates told to quarantine after attending an outdoor graduation 300 Florida high school graduates told to quarantine after attending an outdoor graduation

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/us/florida-high-school-graduation-coronavirus-trnd/index.html

Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida, held an outdoor graduation ceremony for seniors last Saturday, an event that appeared to mostly adhere to coronavirus safety guidelines.
However, someone who attended the event tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after the ceremony, said Anita Stremmel, assistant director of the Florida Department of Health in Brevard County. The school district informed the health department, which confirmed the result in a lab test.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Nearly 300 Florida high school graduates told to quarantine after attending an outdoor graduation 300 Florida high school graduates told to quarantine after attending an outdoor graduation

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/us/florida-high-school-graduation-coronavirus-trnd/index.html

Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida, held an outdoor graduation ceremony for seniors last Saturday, an event that appeared to mostly adhere to coronavirus safety guidelines.
However, someone who attended the event tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after the ceremony, said Anita Stremmel, assistant director of the Florida Department of Health in Brevard County. The school district informed the health department, which confirmed the result in a lab test.

Yeah but the person who tested positive didn't get it at the event.

[lawdog77]

Bayside High School

Wasn't that the "second" high school in Saved by the Bell?

[Pakuni]

Illinois just pushed football, soccer and volleyball seasons to the spring, and lots of districts that had planned to have kids on campus to start the school year are reversing course and shifting to online classes only.

[pacearrow02]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/bill-gates-says-schools-should-reopen-despite-covid-19

Mr Gates is a yes vote for killing teachers.  What a jerk

[pacearrow02]

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms2024920?query=TOC

[rocky_warrior]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/bill-gates-says-schools-should-reopen-despite-covid-19

Mr Gates is a yes vote for killing teachers.  What a jerk

What? Can you read? Or is your reading limited to headlines.

"if you can protect the teachers as well"

“As you get up to age, like, 13 and higher, then you’ll have to look at your locale to decide what you’ll do with high schools,” Gates said. “And if they’re not in, then you have to put massive effort into trying to get there to be continued learning online.”

[pacearrow02]

What? Can you read? Or is your reading limited to headlines.

"if you can protect the teachers as well"

“As you get up to age, like, 13 and higher, then you’ll have to look at your locale to decide what you’ll do with high schools,” Gates said. “And if they’re not in, then you have to put massive effort into trying to get there to be continued learning online.”

Yup, read the whole article numb nuts.  Don’t remember myself or any poster every suggesting schools should open without protocols in place to help keep both teachers and students as protected as possible.

In a response to MU82 when he was talking about Charlotte starting virtual, I agreed and said if Covid is running rampant in their community they have every right in conjunction with the “votes” of the parents in the community to start virtual.  It was then that one of you boomers suggested I was voting to kill teachers.

My argument from the beginning is that it should be a community by community decision with input from all parties taken into account.

So me and big willy are 100% aligned. Can you read?

[Jockey]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/bill-gates-says-schools-should-reopen-despite-covid-19

Mr Gates is a yes vote for killing teachers.  What a jerk

Do you read?  Gates said the exact opposite of what you claim.


Sorry, Rocky. Saw your post after I posted mine.

[🏀]

Jamie is getting feisty!

[TSmith34, Inc.]

My argument from the beginning is that it should be a community by community decision with input from all parties taken into account.

Your argument of making decisions on a community by community basis is why we are still in the first wave of the epidemic.