The asymptomatic surveillance testing is beyond useless. Clearly, they found the cases - but now what? Omicron doesn’t care about masks or social distancing, only 100% lockdown, meaning sending the kids home, would defer it. And when I say defer, that’s what I mean. It will eventually find you (likely completely asymptomatically) anyway.
They should donate the money they could save - by not surveillance testing the lowest risk pool of people (college students) - to a good cause instead.
That study was for DELTA, Omicron is a completely different animal. The R value of Omicron is higher and it spreads much much more efficiently asymptomatically. Wait for the studies that will come out later that show that (non N95) masks had almost no effect on the spread of Omicron - especially the way students wear them.
My teacher friend said that the childrens cloth masks were disgusting - they would chew on them, they were filled with bacteria. In a class with 25 children not even a quarter of them wore the masks properly for the entire day. Omicron would have spread in that scenario anyway.
When they dropped the mandate last week, She said some children she didn’t even recognize because she hadn’t really seen them without masks . Sad. The learning has been greatly affected by masks in elementary and high schools.
This is off topic so I will make this brief (Ha).
I work in an elementary school. The younger kids had/have no problem wearing masks- it’s really the parents who don’t want it. Yes they can get disgusting, but they had plenty of mask breaks and we always provided new masks. BTW sneezing and coughing without a mask is also disgusting. Kids came to school sick all the time prior to Covid.
We were back in school full time with lunch and snack in September of 2020. Group projects were limited, but I would not say there was no learning. There was plenty of learning. It was also very, very scary (pre vaccine).
What impacted learning the most? Teachers and staff being out for long periods of time, the lack of qualified subs, and the huge exit from the field.,
So children should be kept in masks until when? Forever since they will always cough and sneeze? SMH
No, there is no need for masks now unless somebody chooses to wear one. This was not true 2 months ago when we could barely keep the school open due to a lack of staff.
I did not state in my post that everybody should be fully masked at this time. I referenced last year (school year) in the fall of 2020.
If I quit my job due to coughing, sneezing and other bodily fluids that I am exposed to…I would have left my profession 30 years ago.
Princeton dropped mask mandates as of March 14 and went to monthly rather than weekly testing.
The physics that do make masks effective, as well as the physics of particles travelling/lingering between people in proximity is not effected by whatever chemical details of the spike proteins of a particular variant!
So while Omicron will more readily infect someone, and has a higher percentage of breakthrough infections, that doesn’t invalidate the effectiveness of precautions.
With all this understandable desire of wanting to move on, there currently are still more than a terrifying 1,800 American dying of Covid every single day.
Under those circumstances people taking precautions is neither inappropriate, nor any less effective than last year.
I’m not even going to mention my scientific claims. As far as I’m concerned, Russia ended the pandemic a week ago. It seems war is far more deadly and destructive than any virus. I’m just glad that things are returning to normal…whatever THAT is!
Went to a hockey game at DU today. Masks still required in the arena but not required by city or the high school athletic association (running the tournament). It must be a DU requirement.
Now it wasn’t enforced very well, but it was required to enter the building.
Simmons University will no longer require masks, effective March 14th (return from spring break). Testing will continue for the remainder of the semester, and all students are required to take a rapid test before returning to the dorms on 3/13.
Purdue is also moving to mask optional, in all spaces except health care settings, starting 3/14.
Harvard also on 3/14 (unless requested by a professor). Kids very happy.
I see the CDC map, showing Low transmission, yet the University of Maryland requires KN95 masks for boosted students in classrooms.
What is a logical public health mask policy that “follows the science” for boosted college students ?
Surely there are many states that do not require college students to wear masks in classrooms.
There is no logical public health policy.
Masks should be a matter of choice.
Why is this such a big deal?
I think if we’re looking to get back to “normal” at some point we get to where masks are not required but are optional. There are masks that provide protection for the wearers. If the community covid numbers are low and the population is fully vaxxed and boosted (most colleges) then why not get back to “normal”?
If these aren’t the metrics, low numbers and fully vaxxed, than what is? Many don’t want to wear masks any longer in these environments. Those that want to still could.
Two years of mask-wearing doesn’t qualify as “normal”?
Masks are now optional in the university where I work classroom settings as of last week - unless the class is held in a health care setting. This is a mid-sized university.
I think a lot of factors go into these decisions. It’s March. At this point most universities have maybe 2 more months of classes. The class struggle (virtual, hybrid, whatever) has been real and maybe universities would just like to finish out the traditional school year/spring semester before making changes or risk increasing outbreaks again.
Purdue announced they will be mask optional (except in health care settings) starting 3/14.
Northwestern said they were re-evaluating their policy on 3/19.
No, I don’t think it does. Why should mask wearing for all, longer than necessary, be “normal”?
UMD, the college quoted by the OP, recently lifted the masking almost everywhere else. No masks required in the dining halls, libraries, packed sporting venues, hallways outside of classrooms, dorms, parties, gymnasiums, etc.
So those areas are now “normal” but classrooms full of vaccinated and boosted students and staff are not. UMD even stated recently that classrooms were not the areas where spread was occuring.
I think it’s time to go to masks optional in classrooms at UMD.
