@ COVID Chat Week of 3/8

[Bad Dingo]

My daughter didn't get into the Moderna study and even though the Gov't vax site says that Pfizer is still enrolling for the teen study near me, the Pfizer rep I spoke to and their website both say it's full.  I really hope these trials go well and teens can start to get vaccinated ASAP.

DD (8th grade) has been virtual all year and it's gone really well.  55% of her 6-12 school are fully virtual but they just switched the rest from hybrid to full time in person through grade 10.  I got a survey and it said that all students will be back full time in person this spring.  I just don't understand how that will safely happen.  Right now with less than half of the kids in person they are able to socially distance, but there is no way that would be possible with everyone in school.  I just hope they consider keeping the virtual component for those who aren't able to safely go back in person for the last two or so months of school.

[ssmjlm]

Our county just sent something out because the hybrid students in secondary schools were not showing up at all since it was basically virtual school done in the school building and little instruction. So now they are coding attendance as physically present to determine if it's worth keeping any students in the buildings.

[lea]

Our district just started sending K-2 and 6 (youngest in the MS) back 4 days a week after previously being 2 days. 3-5 and 7-8 will start later this month and high school is staying hybrid for now. There’s definitely no way they can socially distance a full 6 feet in the classrooms but they are masking, using barriers on the desks/tables, etc, so we will see how it goes. They’re working on hiring virtual teachers for the remainder of this year and potentially next year so that should hopefully relieve some of the teachers’ workload.

I was really a bit surprised to see how many went from being fully virtual to coming back when they announced we’d move to 4 days. I don’t know if it’s just they prefer consistency or maybe their households are vaccinated aside from the kids, or if they/their kids are just straight up sick of remote learning like mine are but I kind of wonder if the district was expecting more people to stay opted-out when they made the decision.

[noodleoo]

In MA the commissioner just announced that hybrid and virtual will no longer count towards time in learning starting in April (phased by grade). They are basically forcing the districts back, although they will allow a fully virtual option in addition to in person (I think it just can't be the only option, our school has a full remote academy about 15% of kids are enrolled in). It starts with elementary by 4/5 I think. Our elementary was already doing 5 half days with a remote afternoon session, so it won't be too big of a change for us thankfully. Masks are required and MA only requires 3' of distance. The biggest change will be having lunch at school. I'm surprised I haven't heard about more people freaking out (yet). Personally, I'm fine with it.

[ssmjlm]

I don't get how people can be so focused on opening schools when many states have not prioritized vaccinating teachers/staff.

[abs]

Today is the first official day of the expiration of the Texas mask mandate. I was really worried about what the school districts would do but thankfully most are keeping the mask mandates through the end of the school year.

Seems like the goal is to definitely start the 2021/2022 as normal with no masks or distancing though provided cases continue to decline. I’m personally fine with that but it will be interesting to see how this all goes.

[noodleoo]

Mar 10, 2021 14:45:12 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I don't get how people can be so focused on opening schools when many states have not prioritized vaccinating teachers/staff.

Well that's one thing we're finally doing right!  MA made teachers eligible last week (with a big push from Biden) and announced today they are setting up dedicated vax clinics on Saturdays for teachers through March and April.  Finally!  Several of my friends who are teachers have gotten their shots already (mostly at CVS which made them eligible immediately after Biden's announcement).

ETA
melmaria , interesting, the study you shared is out of MA!  Makes sense since we never mandated 6' for social distancing, it was always 3'. 

[ssmjlm]

melmaria, yes, but the issues isn't what happens in schools, it's what people do on the weekends and then bring into the schools.

It's easy to say there's minimal school spread, but the biggest factor is human stupidity over the last year.

[Velar Fricative]

Mar 10, 2021 14:49:41 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Mar 10, 2021 14:45:12 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I don't get how people can be so focused on opening schools when many states have not prioritized vaccinating teachers/staff.

The CDC Director has said it's not a prerequisite:  "There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters at a briefing. "Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools."

That said, I wish all states had done it.  Do we know how many states at this point are prioritizing teachers?  I think it was 30, before Biden's more recent encouragement to states.

I agree it shouldn't be a prerequisite, and I agree that every state should have prioritized teachers and all other adults who work in schools, IMO. DH was able to get his first dose on January 13th as a teacher, and I think that might have been the second or third day of the next phase of the vaccine rollout in NY after healthcare workers and LTC residents got their vaccines. I mean, if we're going to say schools are too important to keep closed, now that we have vaccines let's walk the walk too and allow school staff in every state the opportunity to get vaccinated. 

[taratru]

I think it's cute when 3' is okay, since my students will be sharing 5' tables. They will be about...a foot apart?

[mouse]

We’re supposed to start hybrid next month. I think we’re going to go for it for multiple reasons, but it’s still giving me anxiety. All staff should have had the opportunity to be vaccinated by then.

I do need some better masks for an 11 year old glasses wearer. What he has is fine for outdoors, but he’s not used to wearing them indoors much, plus the fogging.

Am I the only one who has a hard time with risk assessment in the above articles? It bugs me that they seem to dismiss the idea of long-term complications in the young. Also, I don’t find that the prevalence isn’t higher than community spread all that reassuring when at the moment his community exposure is almost zero (friends are outdoors and masked, only one vaccinated parent working in person). Isn’t this putting his relative risk pretty much where we’ve been avoiding it going for the past year? Like I said, we’re probably going for it, but I remain unconvinced that I’m making the right choice.

[breezy8407]

mouse I struggle daily.

In the general Covid thread started yesterday, all the talk about travel and the new CDC guidelines don't really say anything about kids. So my situation is IL's and H will be vaccinated soon. IL's want to come visit. I've been saying no, but what about when all adults are vaccinated? There is still a risk to my kids if we gather with other unvaccinated kids and/or the potential, albeit low, for the vaccinated adult to be contagious.

[abs]

Mar 10, 2021 16:29:23 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

mouse I struggle daily.

In the general Covid thread started yesterday, all the talk about travel and the new CDC guidelines don't really say anything about kids. So my situation is IL's and H will be vaccinated soon. IL's want to come visit. I've been saying no, but what about when all adults are vaccinated? There is still a risk to my kids if we gather with other unvaccinated kids and/or the potential, albeit low, for the vaccinated adult to be contagious.

I think we are going to find that the push is to get all adults vaccinated. Once that happens life will go back to 2019. I am not saying that is right/wrong just what I think will happen.

[breezy8407]

Mar 10, 2021 16:52:37 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Mar 10, 2021 16:29:23 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

mouse I struggle daily.

In the general Covid thread started yesterday, all the talk about travel and the new CDC guidelines don't really say anything about kids. So my situation is IL's and H will be vaccinated soon. IL's want to come visit. I've been saying no, but what about when all adults are vaccinated? There is still a risk to my kids if we gather with other unvaccinated kids and/or the potential, albeit low, for the vaccinated adult to be contagious.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people who are two weeks past their final shot may visit indoors with unvaccinated members of a single household at low risk of severe disease, without wearing masks or distancing. That would free many vaccinated grandparents who live near their unvaccinated children and grandchildren to visit them for the first time in a year. The guidelines continue to discourage visits involving long-distance travel, however.”

www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/08/vaccinated-people-cdc-guidance/%3foutputType=amp

I would have no problem visiting with vaccinated grandparents/parents at this point if they lived locally, even though I’m not vaccinated (nor are my kids obviously). Travel is a tougher issue and I’d probably wait a couple more months.

Thank you! I do recall seeing the low risk household info. I guess that would be us. 

I'm still hoping I can change the minds of the family who are currently undecided on the vaccine or say they aren't going to get it. 

[karinothing]

Ds1 started this week. It did not go as great as ds2. He is in 3rd grade so I think he knows what he is missing. Plus they did zero work on paper and he does ALL his work on paper at home. So I was kind of POd about him being in the ipad more in school then at home.

Plus they didn't give them time to work on the actual assignments/school work that he would do during asych at home and just had him do an hour of math apps so then he has to do the actual assignment when he got home which makes zero sense to me. On Tuesday I printed out all his work and told him to do that instead of the math app, which he did.

They are very concerned about making virtual and in person equal but I think we need to recognize that there are benefits to both and it makes zero sense to make both suck just so they are equal.

[timorousbeastie]

Are schools actually able to maintain 6’ (or even 3’) of distance between the kids? Here, the recommendation is 6’ of distance, but 3’ is the required minimum. From what I’ve seen from pictures on my district’s FB, there is no distancing going on at all. They’ve gotten rid of in person cohorts, with only 1 virtual class per grade for the entire district, so classes are basically full again. Almost every picture the district posts has kids huddled together to work on group projects, or sitting at tables right next to each other like in a normal year. I’m curious if this is the norm, or if my district is an outlier.

Between that and yet another email from the superintendent basically saying “if you want in person school to work, please stop sending your kids to school when you know they have COVID,” I am very grateful that we are in a position to be able to make virtual school work for DD.

[karinothing]

Mar 11, 2021 7:53:19 GMT -5 timorousbeastie said:

Are schools actually able to maintain 6’ (or even 3’) of distance between the kids? Here, the recommendation is 6’ of distance, but 3’ is the required minimum. From what I’ve seen from pictures on my district’s FB, there is no distancing going on at all. They’ve gotten rid of in person cohorts, with only 1 virtual class per grade for the entire district, so classes are basically full again. Almost every picture the district posts has kids huddled together to work on group projects, or sitting at tables right next to each other like in a normal year. I’m curious if this is the norm, or if my district is an outlier.

Between that and yet another email from the superintendent basically saying “if you want in person school to work, please stop sending your kids to school when you know they have COVID,” I am very grateful that we are in a position to be able to make virtual school work for DD.

Yes. Our district is only doing 2 days a week and 50% or less capacity. Pic for example. The teacher is close there but she is walking by. They generallymaintain 6 ft.

[lexus]

Mar 11, 2021 7:42:06 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Ds1 started this week. It did not go as great as ds2. He is in 3rd grade so I think he knows what he is missing. Plus they did zero work on paper and he does ALL his work on paper at home. So I was kind of POd about him being in the ipad more in school then at home.

Plus they didn't give them time to work on the actual assignments/school work that he would do during asych at home and just had him do an hour of math apps so then he has to do the actual assignment when he got home which makes zero sense to me. On Tuesday I printed out all his work and told him to do that instead of the math app, which he did.

They are very concerned about making virtual and in person equal but I think we need to recognize that there are benefits to both and it makes zero sense to make both suck just so they are equal.

I know in my district we won’t be able to offer things in person that our online students can’t do. So even when we start hybrid learning in a few weeks the Autoshop teacher can’t have kids work on cars because the online kids can’t do it too.

[karinothing]

Mar 11, 2021 8:16:08 GMT -5 lexus said:

Mar 11, 2021 7:42:06 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Ds1 started this week. It did not go as great as ds2. He is in 3rd grade so I think he knows what he is missing. Plus they did zero work on paper and he does ALL his work on paper at home. So I was kind of POd about him being in the ipad more in school then at home.

Plus they didn't give them time to work on the actual assignments/school work that he would do during asych at home and just had him do an hour of math apps so then he has to do the actual assignment when he got home which makes zero sense to me. On Tuesday I printed out all his work and told him to do that instead of the math app, which he did.

They are very concerned about making virtual and in person equal but I think we need to recognize that there are benefits to both and it makes zero sense to make both suck just so they are equal.

I know in my district we won’t be able to offer things in person that our online students can’t do. So even when we start hybrid learning in a few weeks the Autoshop teacher can’t have kids work on cars because the online kids can’t do it too.

It is very frustrating. I mean I don't know, maybe I am bitter because my kid is in person and not allowed to do anything other than ipad work but it just seems like we can acknowledge both have benefits and draw backs and that is okay. I don't know.

I think if we continue to have a virtual option next year they need to go through our state run virtual academy. Both sides deserve dedicated teachers and materials.

[WOT?*]

Mar 10, 2021 16:18:24 GMT -5 mouse said:

We’re supposed to start hybrid next month. I think we’re going to go for it for multiple reasons, but it’s still giving me anxiety. All staff should have had the opportunity to be vaccinated by then.

I do need some better masks for an 11 year old glasses wearer. What he has is fine for outdoors, but he’s not used to wearing them indoors much, plus the fogging.

Am I the only one who has a hard time with risk assessment in the above articles? It bugs me that they seem to dismiss the idea of long-term complications in the young. Also, I don’t find that the prevalence isn’t higher than community spread all that reassuring when at the moment his community exposure is almost zero (friends are outdoors and masked, only one vaccinated parent working in person). Isn’t this putting his relative risk pretty much where we’ve been avoiding it going for the past year? Like I said, we’re probably going for it, but I remain unconvinced that I’m making the right choice.

Try using medical tape at his nose so the exhalations are forced out or down, so his glasses don't fog as much. Bandaids work too.
Or tissue or cotton along the bridge/top to absorb the moisture in his breathing.

In WA, at least in our school district, we're still being very cautious. I anticipate my kids (both HS) will remain virtual through the rest of the year. They're letting small groups of kids who require special services and kinders but most are still wholly virtual. I must admit it's gotten to the point where my older grand is having issues. Not waking up, not doing the work, needing mental health breaks, and so forth.

ETA: I want/hope to be able to fly to Florida in September for my son's wedding that's already been postponed once (from last September.) Come on, people, can we please vaccinate so I can go see my East Coast family already? :whine

[ssmjlm]

karinothing, are hybrid and virtual kids mixed in the classes? Our school has separate classes for the fully virtual kids. For a majority it's a teacher at the "home" school, but not for all.

The only kids in E's class are hybrid learners.

[lilac05]

Mar 11, 2021 8:16:08 GMT -5 lexus said:

Mar 11, 2021 7:42:06 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Ds1 started this week. It did not go as great as ds2. He is in 3rd grade so I think he knows what he is missing. Plus they did zero work on paper and he does ALL his work on paper at home. So I was kind of POd about him being in the ipad more in school then at home.

Plus they didn't give them time to work on the actual assignments/school work that he would do during asych at home and just had him do an hour of math apps so then he has to do the actual assignment when he got home which makes zero sense to me. On Tuesday I printed out all his work and told him to do that instead of the math app, which he did.

They are very concerned about making virtual and in person equal but I think we need to recognize that there are benefits to both and it makes zero sense to make both suck just so they are equal.

I know in my district we won’t be able to offer things in person that our online students can’t do. So even when we start hybrid learning in a few weeks the Autoshop teacher can’t have kids work on cars because the online kids can’t do it too.

Wow! That’s wild to me! Our virtual and in-person is so vastly different that I finally contacted the school board about it. (I have been talking to virtual principal all year trying to get changes made.) Our virtual teachers have two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. So the kids are in school 2.5 hours a day. Art and Music are recorded, about 15-20 min, with varied quality...and never a consistent teacher. PE is literally a document emailed to the kids (not parents) once a week. Like my 1st grader is going to do that! And no guidance classes at all. They attempted a science and social studies program, but it wasn’t to their standards, so they’re back to the drawing board in the 3rd quarter. The librarian did an “all-school” reading challenge, but the virtual kids were not included.

Basically, the school only seems to care about reading and math (conveniently the subjects kids are tested on). They are at least on track with that...but kids who are struggling with reading don’t have extra assistance.

Honestly, I feel like they’re in prime territory for a lawsuit. Schools are required to provide an equitable education, but it’s nowhere close. They seem to have the attitude of “If you want anything better, you have to come back to the building.”

[karinothing]

Mar 11, 2021 8:41:05 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

karinothing, are hybrid and virtual kids mixed in the classes? Our school has separate classes for the fully virtual kids. For a majority it's a teacher at the "home" school, but not for all.

The only kids in E's class are hybrid learners.

Yea they are mixed. For 3-12. Teachers are teaching both virtual and hybrid at the same time. For k-2 at most schools it is separate but because we are immersion they wanted to keep everyone with their teachers and not split up teaching teams (every kid has a Spanish and English teacher). So the teachers rotate with two in person classes (because they can only fit 6 kids per class) and one virtual.

So in k-2 at our school the teachers teach the same lesson 6 times a day.to 6 different groups of kids. My k kid only gets each of his teachers for 30 minutes a day. But it has wound up being better than 3rd because during the asych periods they have the assistant who plays with them (reads stories/plays games) and then they get two extra 30 minute recess periods, so 2 hours of total outside time a day, including outdoor lunch.

Much better than just doing 60 minutes on a math app.

[ssmjlm]

karinothing, ok yeah, that sounds like too much to organize coordinate. I can see why kids just end up doing school on their devices, while in school. We are having the same issue in middle/high because they didn't separate.

[lexus]

Mar 11, 2021 8:44:09 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Mar 11, 2021 8:16:08 GMT -5 lexus said:

I know in my district we won’t be able to offer things in person that our online students can’t do. So even when we start hybrid learning in a few weeks the Autoshop teacher can’t have kids work on cars because the online kids can’t do it too.

Wow! That’s wild to me! Our virtual and in-person is so vastly different that I finally contacted the school board about it. (I have been talking to virtual principal all year trying to get changes made.) Our virtual teachers have two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. So the kids are in school 2.5 hours a day. Art and Music are recorded, about 15-20 min, with varied quality...and never a consistent teacher. PE is literally a document emailed to the kids (not parents) once a week. Like my 1st grader is going to do that! And no guidance classes at all. They attempted a science and social studies program, but it wasn’t to their standards, so they’re back to the drawing board in the 3rd quarter. The librarian did an “all-school” reading challenge, but the virtual kids were not included.

Basically, the school only seems to care about reading and math (conveniently the subjects kids are tested on). They are at least on track with that...but kids who are struggling with reading don’t have extra assistance.

Honestly, I feel like they’re in prime territory for a lawsuit. Schools are required to provide an equitable education, but it’s nowhere close. They seem to have the attitude of “If you want anything better, you have to come back to the building.”

So a few things that are different. I’m talking about kids who are all enrolled in the same class with the same teacher just some are online only and some are on campus a few days a week. If your virtual teachers are only working with virtual students and the in person kids have a different teacher the pressure to be the same is lessened. In a regular year students in my class might get different opportunities than other teachers who teach the same class and no one has raised equity concerns.

[abs]

Mar 11, 2021 7:53:19 GMT -5 timorousbeastie said:

Are schools actually able to maintain 6’ (or even 3’) of distance between the kids? Here, the recommendation is 6’ of distance, but 3’ is the required minimum. From what I’ve seen from pictures on my district’s FB, there is no distancing going on at all. They’ve gotten rid of in person cohorts, with only 1 virtual class per grade for the entire district, so classes are basically full again. Almost every picture the district posts has kids huddled together to work on group projects, or sitting at tables right next to each other like in a normal year. I’m curious if this is the norm, or if my district is an outlier.

Between that and yet another email from the superintendent basically saying “if you want in person school to work, please stop sending your kids to school when you know they have COVID,” I am very grateful that we are in a position to be able to make virtual school work for DD.

At the beginning yes.  When we started school in September it was a pretty even split of who was in person and who was on-line.  Now 80% of the kids are in person so I am positive distancing isn't happening except at lunch (they are spread all over the school to eat so they can be 10 feet apart).  Ironically DD has more kids in her class then she ever has this year.  All years until this one she has had 16-17.  This year she has 24.  The reason for this is so the teachers don't have to teach on-line and in person at the same time and I do support that.  Luckily the rooms are big and mask compliance among the elementary kids is very high.  From what I understand our elementary school has been one of the strictest when it comes to masks and our Covid numbers support that.

[formerlyak]

Our elementary school maintains 6 feet. DS tells me all the rules and I’ve seen pictures. I don’t know how that will work when high school goes back as the class sizes are larger. DS will be at the high school I went to, and if thing shake out the way I anticipate, he will go to periods 2,4,6 in person and Zoom in to periods 1,3,5. For him that means attending science, math and golf in person. Our science rooms are quite large so I think 6 feet can easily happen there. And golf is outdoors and distanced (he already goes to this class in person). The only one where it may be tough is math.

ETA: our schools all go home by 1:00, and don’t do lunch on campus. The elementary school assigns seats to the kids for snack time that are six feet apart. High school won’t get a snack time, but their passing periods are 20 minutes (our campus is huge - one of the largest in CA), so they can eat a snack then. That’s the only risky time I can think of.

[Velar Fricative]

Ours maintains 6 feet. That plus masks still didn't prevent my kid from getting infected - I'm assuming it happened when they were eating lunch and maybe she somehow did get too close to the other kid at one point. I really have no idea.

[keh2oblue]

Mar 10, 2021 16:18:24 GMT -5 mouse said:

I do need some better masks for an 11 year old glasses wearer. What he has is fine for outdoors, but he’s not used to wearing them indoors much, plus the fogging.

Check out the Crayola ones. They have large kid and adult sizes and a really good nosepiece. My 8yo has been wearing the smaller kids size since September, and while he’s starting to grow out of them, they are holding up very well. No fading, breaking, or holes.

[karinothing]

Mar 11, 2021 10:30:14 GMT -5 keh2oblue said:

Mar 10, 2021 16:18:24 GMT -5 mouse said:

I do need some better masks for an 11 year old glasses wearer. What he has is fine for outdoors, but he’s not used to wearing them indoors much, plus the fogging.

Check out the Crayola ones. They have large kid and adult sizes and a really good nosepiece. My 8yo has been wearing the smaller kids size since September, and while he’s starting to grow out of them, they are holding up very well. No fading, breaking, or holes.

Ditto these. I actually wear the Caryola ones too. I really like them. My 9 year old wears the adult size the kid is too small. He had some issue with them sliding down, but I now use mask tape so it basically just tapes around his nose (I touch it a few times so it is less sticky). Supposedly it helps with glasses fog too.