The fact that the date on the kids vaccines keeps changing from September to October to November to Midwinter/ Jan/ Feb is killing me. Do any of these people actually know anything or are they just blabbing their lips? Because as far as I know, Pfizer says they will give the data in September and then the FDA emergency approves, so shouldn't it just be Pfizer and the FDA not everyone else commenting on it? We have the NIH, CDC, other organizations and doctors and they all give a different time. Can't we all just agree on a timeline? It's the end of August. If Pfizer submits data in September that would be 4-5 weeks at a maximum, and no one knows anything yet on timelines 4-5 weeks before they submit the data? I mean can't all the people in charge get together and say well if Pfizer submits Sept 30, then the FDA will need about X amount of time to review and then will do an emergency authorization after X amount of time?
THIS!
FFS talk to each other and get on the same page here. The key players here are Pfizer and the FDA. I don't care what Fauci, CDC, or NIH people say unless they are quoting Pfizer and the FDA.
AND what we care about is EUA, not FULL approval. SO SPECIFY WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
That man is such a fucking POS. He seriously used the argument that if the county follows the CDC recommendation of requiring masks, then they’d wind up having to mandate 2 year olds masking in their own home. I stopped watching the video at that point because WTF.
That man is such a fucking POS. He seriously used the argument that if the county follows the CDC recommendation of requiring masks, then they’d wind up having to mandate 2 year olds masking in their own home. I stopped watching the video at that point because WTF.
That one was as good as, ‘Maybe the state doesn’t think this is really important since THEY aren’t mandating masks.’
That man is such a fucking POS. He seriously used the argument that if the county follows the CDC recommendation of requiring masks, then they’d wind up having to mandate 2 year olds masking in their own home. I stopped watching the video at that point because WTF.
That one was as good as, ‘Maybe the state doesn’t think this is really important since THEY aren’t mandating masks.’
Had a forum with our Super tonight. Our district is going to keep things looking about how they did at the end of last year. Masks for all (until 9/30 when the governor’s order expires, but they follow CDC guidelines so if CDC is still recommending masks, I think they will keep them. Especially since they still need them on the bus at least until January). Kids will be in “pods” within their classroom and sit with the same kids in the lunch room. Still cleaning daily but probably not as much throughout the days as they were doing early last year (which is understandable). Vaxxed students don’t need to quarantine or test (though they recommend testing after exposure) but that doesn’t help us since mine are all under 12. No virtual option but teachers will provide work within 48 hours for kids who have to quarantine for 10 days.
I think this is the best they can do and I appreciate that I live in an area that is still taking this seriously. I obviously don’t want my kids catching COVID but I also want them to have as few disruptions as possible with quarantines and such, so here’s hoping things go okay.
School started on Monday (indoor masking required). Third day of school they announce a host of changes including that schools must find more lunch spots, including outdoors and that any school with a cluster will be required to measure and report mask compliance. I assume this year will still be a disaster but I'm glad they are already realizing that current measures aren't enough. They also listed a slew of "potential next steps."
Post by wanderlustmom on Aug 26, 2021 12:02:31 GMT -5
Sigh. I have avoided posting because we live in GA and our superintendent is a complete moron. It’s so unsettling. We can’t afford private school, my kids hated virtual school and they love their high school. They are at least vaccinated so that’s our one consolation. My kids wear their masks. They’ve both had bad colds, no COVID. Our district started three weeks ago. Covid cases are out of control and we have no good system. The whole district ignores science and I’m terrified we will need virtual school. Sorry to be so negative, we just don’t have options and it’s even worse for parents of elementary school kids. Luckily I love our community and there are lots of like minded people—but the superintendent will not listen to reason and has made us a national embarrassment and he’s getting kids sick
Sigh. I have avoided posting because we live in GA and our superintendent is a complete moron. It’s so unsettling. We can’t afford private school, my kids hated virtual school and they love their high school. They are at least vaccinated so that’s our one consolation. My kids wear their masks. They’ve both had bad colds, no COVID. Our district started three weeks ago. Covid cases are out of control and we have no good system. The whole district ignores science and I’m terrified we will need virtual school. Sorry to be so negative, we just don’t have options and it’s even worse for parents of elementary school kids. Luckily I love our community and there are lots of like minded people—but the superintendent will not listen to reason and has made us a national embarrassment and he’s getting kids sick
Co County? It's a disaster there right now, I'm so sorry. We are in Dekalb but in private and fortunately completely masked for everyone but still getting covid notifications.
Post by bookqueen15 on Aug 26, 2021 14:48:19 GMT -5
Still waiting on our PCR results from yesterday but I think my DD has COVID now too. Complaining of a headache today and has a low fever. Not surprising after being stuck quarantining in the house with DS, it's near impossible to isolate a 3 year old from the rest of the family. We're trying but it's not easy. Ugh, this is all so frustrating.
NYC has finally released a handbook regarding school openings and covid. We open in about 2.4 weeks.
No specific triggers for school wide closure. In there past there was a low case based threshold which created a lot of issues. Vaccinated children do not need to quarantine unless they show symptoms. Elementary schools will still have whole class based closures and middle and up will send just unvaccinated kids home to quarantine with exposure. Remote learning for middle-high school students in such cases is very undefined. It is also unclear why 6th grade where kids are all 10 or 11 on day 1 since are not under the classroom closure policy. Based on cuts off the oldest 6th graders turn 12 in January.
Masks are required, random testing will be done on site, there are air purifiers, 3 feet of space is the goal in all classrooms but they will still open if it can't be reached in a specific school or in classes within a school. Lunch plans are a work in progress. Elementary schools have recommendations to keep cohorts together but older grades do not have this.
Post by breezy8407 on Aug 26, 2021 15:34:12 GMT -5
I can and can't believe it, but we just were informed our district will require masks for ages 2-12 due to increased cases until at least October 1st. I know its not perfect, but at least they are doing the right thing.
I'm angry that so many places exposed kids without taking a precaution that is both easy and non-impactful for day to day life. Anyone with half a brain could see where this was going.
Post by InBetweenDays on Aug 26, 2021 16:15:56 GMT -5
Seattle Public Schools starts next week. All staff and volunteers are required to be vaccinated by October 18 (our governor made the requirement August 18 so this is to give people time to get vaccinated).
Masks are required on the buses and on school property - both indoors (state requirement) and outdoors (district requirement). (ETA - kids don't have to mask at lunch of course)
School will provide free either hot or boxed lunches for all students that want them. Lunch areas will be spread out and (ETA: Some) schools are putting up tents so kids can eat outdoors in all weather. (just learned outdoor lunch will be an option at schools, but not all schools will have covered areas).
They will have free, on-site/in school COVID testing for anyone who wants it.
Right now there are no metrics for what it would take to return to virtual learning. They get that guidance from the state and the state hasn't issued anything. They also don't list any hard and fast rules about quarantining. I'm SURE they will require any positive cases to stay home. Beyond that it sounds like our county department of health and the contract tracing team will be consulted to determine whether others need to quarantine as well.
The district has 53,000 students. Since September 2020 there have been 395 reported cases of COVID in students and staff. But we didn't return to hybrid in-person learning until April so I'm not sure how the district was informed of positive cases before then. But it will be very interesting to see what happens to that number with school starting back up.
Our district just sent out mask guidelines and they focus completely on cloth masks and KN-95; the only mention of disposables was that they can be layered with cloth masks. Am I missing something here? Is there a reason why they would't have disposable masks on the list?
Sigh. I have avoided posting because we live in GA and our superintendent is a complete moron. It’s so unsettling. We can’t afford private school, my kids hated virtual school and they love their high school. They are at least vaccinated so that’s our one consolation. My kids wear their masks. They’ve both had bad colds, no COVID. Our district started three weeks ago. Covid cases are out of control and we have no good system. The whole district ignores science and I’m terrified we will need virtual school. Sorry to be so negative, we just don’t have options and it’s even worse for parents of elementary school kids. Luckily I love our community and there are lots of like minded people—but the superintendent will not listen to reason and has made us a national embarrassment and he’s getting kids sick
If you are in Co County, have you heard what the absolute worst school board member (DB) said? Because I couldn’t believe it.
Sigh. I have avoided posting because we live in GA and our superintendent is a complete moron. It’s so unsettling. We can’t afford private school, my kids hated virtual school and they love their high school. They are at least vaccinated so that’s our one consolation. My kids wear their masks. They’ve both had bad colds, no COVID. Our district started three weeks ago. Covid cases are out of control and we have no good system. The whole district ignores science and I’m terrified we will need virtual school. Sorry to be so negative, we just don’t have options and it’s even worse for parents of elementary school kids. Luckily I love our community and there are lots of like minded people—but the superintendent will not listen to reason and has made us a national embarrassment and he’s getting kids sick
If you are in Co County, have you heard what the absolute worst school board member (DB) said? Because I couldn’t believe it.
Yes! I heard it and he lives in my really small neighborhood. He’s awful and he’s my neighbor. Uggh. He did lose a child. Not that that makes any of it okay but it makes my heart hurt for him
Sigh. I have avoided posting because we live in GA and our superintendent is a complete moron. It’s so unsettling. We can’t afford private school, my kids hated virtual school and they love their high school. They are at least vaccinated so that’s our one consolation. My kids wear their masks. They’ve both had bad colds, no COVID. Our district started three weeks ago. Covid cases are out of control and we have no good system. The whole district ignores science and I’m terrified we will need virtual school. Sorry to be so negative, we just don’t have options and it’s even worse for parents of elementary school kids. Luckily I love our community and there are lots of like minded people—but the superintendent will not listen to reason and has made us a national embarrassment and he’s getting kids sick
Co County? It's a disaster there right now, I'm so sorry. We are in Dekalb but in private and fortunately completely masked for everyone but still getting covid notifications.
I was chatting with one of our atlanta office folks the other day (not sure exactly where she lives), she has elementary kids, and I was like, "how's school going? you guys started already, right?" (mine dont' start till monday) and she said, "well...they're both currently here with me since they're quarantined. I was amazed we made it three weeks before that happened. So that's how that's going." She seemed to be very much in the "if I don't laugh I might start crying" phase of Covid Parenting While Working From Home.
We've been watching that just sorta sweep through the whole company as the various regions send their kids to school and then they boomerang right back on quarantine in a lot of places. We talked about it at our leadership meeting - that it's just....messy, and we'll roll with it as best we can and give people flexibility as needed. I'm so nervous, but hopeful since I'm in a very masky and vaxxed area. My boss is over in the one county of the region weirdly resistant to masking in schools (like the even more rural counties to the west are also masking? but not them. So that's special) so we'll see how it goes for her as her older kid starts K.
it's seems so quaint to look back at the plans we put together for return to office next week back when our numbers were AMAZING (like days with zero new cases!) and how hopeful we were that september would be basically normal.
Sigh. I have avoided posting because we live in GA and our superintendent is a complete moron. It’s so unsettling. We can’t afford private school, my kids hated virtual school and they love their high school. They are at least vaccinated so that’s our one consolation. My kids wear their masks. They’ve both had bad colds, no COVID. Our district started three weeks ago. Covid cases are out of control and we have no good system. The whole district ignores science and I’m terrified we will need virtual school. Sorry to be so negative, we just don’t have options and it’s even worse for parents of elementary school kids. Luckily I love our community and there are lots of like minded people—but the superintendent will not listen to reason and has made us a national embarrassment and he’s getting kids sick
Sounds like you are in the same district as my sister. Superintendent Ragsdale? I am in an adjacent county (Ch.) and it is a complete shitshow.
The district has 53,000 students. Since September 2020 there have been 395 reported cases of COVID in students and staff. But we didn't return to hybrid in-person learning until April so I'm not sure how the district was informed of positive cases before then. But it will be very interesting to see what happens to that number with school starting back up.
My district here in GA has 42,000 students. Last week, we had 832 active cases among students and staff. Students went back to school August 2, with no mask mandate, no quarantines for direct exposure in school, no mitigation at all. Our local hospital is on complete diversion. But it's fine. Everything's fine.
Post by Velar Fricative on Aug 27, 2021 8:52:52 GMT -5
So DH's school has its first casualty since the vaccine mandate for school staff came down. She was just hired from outside the city, cited some conspiracy theories about the vaccine as her reasons for quitting, and now instead of shortening her commute to work at DH's school to about 20 minutes each way, she will continue to drive 2+ hours each way to her suburban school district that doesn't have the same mandate. Except...I wouldn't be surprised if the new governor will also eventually announce a vaccine requirement for school staff for the entire state.
I don't understand people. But, if she's into conspiracy theories I guess this other school district can have her lol.
DH expects that the only people who will quit over this are brand new hires (too new to be vested in the pension system and other benefits) and people who can retire but just haven't. He's betting the ones who would otherwise throw away their pensions and medical benefits will talk a good game now but eventually get it.
So DH's school has its first casualty since the vaccine mandate for school staff came down. She was just hired from outside the city, cited some conspiracy theories about the vaccine as her reasons for quitting, and now instead of shortening her commute to work to DH's school to about 20 minutes each way, she will continue to drive 2+ hours each way to her suburban school district that doesn't have the same mandate. Except...I wouldn't be surprised if the new governor will also eventually announce a vaccine requirement for school staff for the entire state.
I don't understand people. But, if she's into conspiracy theories I guess this other school district can have her lol.
DH expects that the only people who will quit over this are brand new hires (too new to be vested in the pension system and other benefits) and people who can retire but just haven't. He's betting the ones who would otherwise throw away their pensions and medical benefits will talk a good game now but eventually get it.
She is making her own life more miserable. Best of luck to her. Truly mind boggling.
Our district just sent out mask guidelines and they focus completely on cloth masks and KN-95; the only mention of disposables was that they can be layered with cloth masks. Am I missing something here? Is there a reason why they would't have disposable masks on the list?
Because whoever put together those guidelines completely doesn’t understand how masks work.
So DH's school has its first casualty since the vaccine mandate for school staff came down. She was just hired from outside the city, cited some conspiracy theories about the vaccine as her reasons for quitting, and now instead of shortening her commute to work at DH's school to about 20 minutes each way, she will continue to drive 2+ hours each way to her suburban school district that doesn't have the same mandate. Except...I wouldn't be surprised if the new governor will also eventually announce a vaccine requirement for school staff for the entire state.
I don't understand people. But, if she's into conspiracy theories I guess this other school district can have her lol.
DH expects that the only people who will quit over this are brand new hires (too new to be vested in the pension system and other benefits) and people who can retire but just haven't. He's betting the ones who would otherwise throw away their pensions and medical benefits will talk a good game now but eventually get it.
The irony is probably lost on her that that driving 2+ hours a day likely significantly increases health risks way more than the potential negative effects of the vaccine - either from being sedentary for that long, risk of car accident, and decreased sleep.
Post by Velar Fricative on Aug 27, 2021 9:14:22 GMT -5
Oh! And NYC came out with its covid guidelines. Overall solid, but I have a couple of significant problems with it. Namely:
1) They will randomly test 10% of unvaccinated students each week at school. Except, you have to consent to be tested. Last year, in order to go to in-person school, you were required to consent or otherwise must learn remotely. There is no remote option this year. Therefore, I cannot see the biggest covid assholes consenting to this. It would be the same kids getting tested, and those kids' families are most likely to be vaccinated and behaving less recklessly than the non-consenters. Yes, perfectly well-behaved and vaccinated people are getting covid, but they're also more likely to actually consent to testing and/or contact the school that there's an infection unlike what asshole parents are suggesting on Facebook (to not get your kids tested and to not tell the school or contact tracers). So the random testing would be useless. I'd rather they save the testing resources to test entire classrooms every day for a few days when a positive case is in the classroom while allowing those kids and staff to report to school each day unless symptomatic.
2) Middle and HS kids, including those unvaccinated, can test back into school if quarantined due to a positive case on or around day 5 of quarantine. Elementary school students have to quarantine for 10 days if one child or staff in the classroom tests positive, no testing back in option. Which is why I want them to implement the suggestion in #1. They will be able to learn remotely during those quarantine days. It's frustrating, but I assume they're doing it this way so the teacher can actually teach all of their students remotely, since schools just don't have the resources to have virtual-only teachers and split up the classes, particularly for young kids who need some kind of consistency.
I will have two elementary school kids as of September. If this is constant, it's not like their classrooms will magically be in sync with each other so that's 2x the possible school/work interruptions. And my little one never had to do remote learning minus a few days after the new year last year. She's 4 and in Pre-K, so it will be a shitshow when she has to do remote learning. Sigh.