Re-opening Schools in the era of COVID

[Tsing Tao]

You don't seem to understand that in most districts even when the students are remote... the teachers are required to teach from the school. Most schools near where I live have 3 to 4 teachers & assistants in a single class room teaching the students who are remote.

Similarly even when classes started on August 24th for students; the teachers were already in school for at least a week for teacher workdays to prepare the lessons, classrooms, take required training, etc. before the first class is taught.

So if all the students are remote, who gives the teachers the virus? Do the desks have COVID now? How about the chalk - is it COVID positive??

Even if you try some BS story about how the teachers infect other teachers, it can't be any worse than going to the grocery store where there are adults AND children. So please stop the crap.

You can try to poke holes and make claims that the number of sick & dead teachers is small.... or try to claim they did not catch COVID in the school. However the bottom line is that the toll is rising every week.

Of course it is. This is a virus and a virus is contagious. But its not any worse than it would be were schools NOT in session and the downside to not having students in school is MASSIVELY worse. Grow up.

The other reality is that nearly every school that has opened in the U.S. for on-premise teaching had to close or partially close within two weeks reverting to virtual teaching due to COVID. This is because they are not following the best public health practices of only opening a school for students when the positive testing rate in the community is below 5%. Failing to adhere to basic common sense practices leads to the obvious results of COVID widely spreading in the school.

There's that "nearly every..." bullshit you spout. Please show support for this by listing the percentage of schools that had to close because of COVID after reopening. Nearly Every. Should be close to 100%, right? Certainly above 75%.

Incidentally, my son's school has been open for three weeks now. Still open. So is every other school down here that I am aware of. I'm sure you'll find the one exception in your google bot search.

 

[fan27]

So if all the students are remote, who gives the teachers the virus? Do the desks have COVID now? How about the chalk - is it COVID positive??

Even if you try some BS story about how the teachers infect other teachers, it can't be any worse than going to the grocery store where there are adults AND children. So please stop the crap.



Of course it is. This is a virus and a virus is contagious. But its not any worse than it would be were schools NOT in session and the downside to not having students in school is MASSIVELY worse. Grow up.



There's that "nearly every..." bullshit you spout. Please show support for this by listing the percentage of schools that had to close because of COVID after reopening. Nearly Every. Should be close to 100%, right? Certainly above 75%.

Incidentally, my son's school has been open for three weeks now. Still open. So is every other school down here that I am aware of. I'm sure you'll find the one exception in your google bot search.

I think it is working well in our area. Half the kids are doing e-learning resulting in much smaller class sizes. I have a co-worker who elected to do e-learning for his kid and he is seriously regretting it...wife is having to juggle her work from home while facilitating their child's e-learning. She is not happy and they are looking for alternatives.

 

[gwb-trading]

So if all the students are remote, who gives the teachers the virus? Do the desks have COVID now? How about the chalk - is it COVID positive??

Even if you try some BS story about how the teachers infect other teachers, it can't be any worse than going to the grocery store where there are adults AND children. So please stop the crap.



Of course it is. This is a virus and a virus is contagious. But its not any worse than it would be were schools NOT in session and the downside to not having students in school is MASSIVELY worse. Grow up.



There's that "nearly every..." bullshit you spout. Please show support for this by listing the percentage of schools that had to close because of COVID after reopening. Nearly Every. Should be close to 100%, right? Certainly above 75%.

Incidentally, my son's school has been open for three weeks now. Still open. So is every other school down here that I am aware of. I'm sure you'll find the one exception in your google bot search.

Let's get to the basics. Teachers are in classroom with other teachers & assistants teaching 8 hours per day without facemasks during video sessions -- many times there is no social distancing. So if one teacher brings it to a classroom then all are likely to get it.

When you go to a grocery store you are socially distanced in the store and only wearing a mask. You are in the store for a few mere minutes. It is a totally different situation.

While not having students in school is unfortunate. The spreading of a highly contagious deadly virus is much worse than not having students in school. First lets get the positive COVID-19 test rate below 5% in a community as per public health guidelines then we can get students back into school. Sadly for the most part our country is doing nothing (unlike Germany, etc.) to effectively contact trace and test to reduce COVID to an acceptable level to start school and open other activities. You should note that in most other first world countries schools are open and are only shut down when COVID rates in a community rise. This is because these countries addressed COVID properly and the U.S. is not even following basic public health tenets.

I have provided numerous examples of K-12 schools that needed to close or partially close after COVID outbreaks less than two weeks after students were allowed on premise. The same has happened at nearly all the universities. Nearly every major university in our state has now gone virtual except for Duke.

 

[gwb-trading]

CDC: Kids can spread coronavirus to their households
https://www.axios.com/cdc-coronavirus-households-kids-394130d9-f884-450b-ace8-ab3fe5a93a71.html

Children can and do transmit the coronavirus to members of their household, a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms.

Why it matters: As the coronavirus spreads through schools across the country, the people who live with exposed children — some of whom may be older or have preexisting conditions — are also at risk of catching the virus.

Details: The study looked at coronavirus outbreaks associated with three child care facilities in Utah.

• It found that 12 children acquired the virus in these facilities, and then transmitted it to at least 12 of their non-facility contacts — about a quarter of such contacts.
• One parent was hospitalized, and two asymptomatic children transmitted the virus.

The bottom line: If you are a parent or a grandparent who is sending their child to school, and there is a coronavirus outbreak at that school, you are also at risk of catching the virus. That is a terrible predicament for millions of caregivers across the country, especially those who are vulnerable.

 

[El OchoCinco]

CDC: Kids can spread coronavirus to their households
https://www.axios.com/cdc-coronavirus-households-kids-394130d9-f884-450b-ace8-ab3fe5a93a71.html

Children can and do transmit the coronavirus to members of their household, a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms.

Why it matters: As the coronavirus spreads through schools across the country, the people who live with exposed children — some of whom may be older or have preexisting conditions — are also at risk of catching the virus.

Details: The study looked at coronavirus outbreaks associated with three child care facilities in Utah.

• It found that 12 children acquired the virus in these facilities, and then transmitted it to at least 12 of their non-facility contacts — about a quarter of such contacts.
• One parent was hospitalized, and two asymptomatic children transmitted the virus.

The bottom line: If you are a parent or a grandparent who is sending their child to school, and there is a coronavirus outbreak at that school, you are also at risk of catching the virus. That is a terrible predicament for millions of caregivers across the country, especially those who are vulnerable.

I think we all knew this...that was the big issue of schools re opening...not the kids themselves but the teachers, staff and homes with at risk individuals.

 

[gwb-trading]

Schools soldier through coronavirus outbreaks
https://www.axios.com/schools-coronavirus-cases-quarantine-892915ab-1ee4-4403-aa24-5e5284b775d3.html

Only a few weeks into the school year, hundreds of students, teachers and staff across the country have been diagnosed with the coronavirus or sent home to quarantine after being exposed.

Why it matters: For now, most of the affected schools are opting to play coronavirus whack-a-mole, providing a complicated alternative to in-person and virtual learning.

The big picture: The bizarre new reality that we've all had to adjust to is no different than what is now playing out in classrooms across the country: We all have to monitor our contacts, and if we're unlucky enough that one of them gets sick with the coronavirus, we have to stay home for two weeks.

• Although plenty of school districts — including most large ones — opted to begin the year online, those that began in-person learning generally aren't rushing to fall back into virtual school as soon as a case arrives on campus.

Yes, but: America has failed miserably at containing the coronavirus via testing, contact tracing and isolation. Families across the country are now relying on schools — which are not staffed by public health professionals, although often are working with public health departments — to do better than the country as a whole has so far.

Between the lines: There's no one-size-fits-all approach, as evidenced by a crowdsourced spreadsheet detailing school outbreaks across the country.

• A popular strategy is to send classrooms home for two weeks after one student or teacher tests positive.
• Mirroring the trend across the country, some states are seeing many more school cases than others. One Georgia county had seen 11 schools implement some level of quarantine by the first week of August, according to the Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News.
• Some sports teams are also quarantining after being exposed to the virus, including two in Idaho.
• One Indiana school district had quarantined 228 students about a week after it reopened, the AP reported.

The decision of how to handle outbreaks isn't immune from politics. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration has asked school district superintendents not to close a school without first calling state officials to discuss it, per the Washington Post.

• “Before you get to that point of closing a classroom or closing a school, we want to have that communication with you because we want to be as surgical as possible,” Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said on a phone call reported on by the Post.

The other side: Some schools are shutting down temporarily or throwing in the towel indefinitely after seeing cases, the Wall Street Journal reports.

 

[gwb-trading]

Incidentally, my son's school has been open for three weeks now. Still open. So is every other school down here that I am aware of. I'm sure you'll find the one exception in your google bot search.

Let's take a look at all the K-12 schools in Florida that have been fully or partially closed due to COVID outbreaks.
WARNING - Many Rows.
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=9ad18796704f4863aecd906bca390158

Let's take a look of a map with schools in the Tampa Bay area with COVID cases from ABC Action news.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=14lJl3rIx3XekdIKSYvYZQ6lpG2hL50tt&ll=28.01193920000002,-81.9148002&z=10
(Oh my, Tampa Bay looks f@rked - over 270 schools with COVID cases)

You can look up the information for other states here -
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=00a2d3fbe4184e75b06f392fc66dca13

 

[Tsing Tao]

I think it is working well in our area. Half the kids are doing e-learning resulting in much smaller class sizes. I have a co-worker who elected to do e-learning for his kid and he is seriously regretting it...wife is having to juggle her work from home while facilitating their child's e-learning. She is not happy and they are looking for alternatives.

My employees are all complaining about the e-learning, which kinda makes me look at them like "duh, what did you think this would be like?"

 

[Tsing Tao]

Let's get to the basics. Teachers are in classroom with other teachers & assistants teaching 8 hours per day without facemasks during video sessions -- many times there is no social distancing. So if one teacher brings it to a classroom then all are likely to get it.

BS. I literally sent a text to my son's teacher to ask this question and she replied that she was the only one in front of her laptop - but she did say she was in class. So even if there ARE classrooms where there are a few people in one, why can't they properly social distance? They do it at Walmart. They do it at Lowes. Don't try to blame it on the fact that they enter the school building and suddenly, like magic, the virus is ultra contagious. Its' all the school's fault. What a complete load of crap.

When you go to a grocery store you are socially distanced in the store and only wearing a mask. You are in the store for a few mere minutes. It is a totally different situation.

Bullshit. Few minutes. Some people shop for well over an hour. And the time has nothing to do with it.

While not having students in school is unfortunate. The spreading of a highly contagious deadly virus is much worse than not having students in school. First lets get the positive COVID-19 test rate below 5% in a community as per public health guidelines then we can get students back into school. Sadly for the most part our country is doing nothing (unlike Germany, etc.) to effectively contact trace and test to reduce COVID to an acceptable level to start school and open other activities. You should note that in most other first world countries schools are open and are only shut down when COVID rates in a community rise. This is because these countries addressed COVID properly and the U.S. is not even following basic public health tenets.

I have provided numerous examples of K-12 schools that needed to close or partially close after COVID outbreaks less than two weeks after students were allowed on premise. The same has happened at nearly all the universities. Nearly every major university in our state has now gone virtual except for Duke.

You're so unbelievably full of excrement. The good thing is that more and more people are waking up to that fact.

 

[Tsing Tao]

Let's take a look at all the K-12 schools in Florida that have been fully or partially closed due to COVID outbreaks.
WARNING - Many Rows.
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=9ad18796704f4863aecd906bca390158

So this is a spreadsheet of what? COVID incidents at schools? I've already said if schools open, people at school are going to come down with the virus. This doesn't say ANYTHING about all the schools closing. In fact, many of the entries are just incidents of people getting COVID or people be suspect. Where is your backup for "nearly all schools have had to shut down"??

Let's take a look of a map with schools in the Tampa Bay area with COVID cases from ABC Action news.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=14lJl3rIx3XekdIKSYvYZQ6lpG2hL50tt&ll=28.01193920000002,-81.9148002&z=10
(Oh my, Tampa Bay looks f@rked - over 270 schools with COVID cases)

Again, over 270 schools with at least 1 COVID case proves exactly what? Absolutely nothing. It shows kids get sick. Want to see the hospitalizations of COVID for Hillsborough (the county)? Warning, it won't show you numbers you will like.

You can look up the information for other states here -
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=00a2d3fbe4184e75b06f392fc66dca13

You've shown nothing at all to support the case that

nearly every school that has opened in the U.S. for on-premise teaching had to close or partially close within two weeks reverting to virtual teaching due to COVID.

You are literally making lies up as you go at this point.