I wonder when we will have studies on whether all pain and loss to so many students this year had much effect. Where I live, public and private K12 have been open in person since labor day-the marching band is marching, the athletes are competing, the theatre kids put on a musical, the math club is calculating-all with masks, but really not that very different than before COVID. Are there cases? Of course. But fewer, on a per capita basis, than in some of the places where schools are still closed.
My college kid is jealous of the inperson experience her high school classmates had here. It was much different than her remote semester, or her very limited college experience now. It would all be worth it if the COVID numbers were substantially better there than here, but they are not.
So school is running as normal except with masks? No distancing?
Kids are more spread out in the private school I follow. The weather permits it. I dont know what public schools do, but they are open full time. Kids are in class learning, sports and clubs meet
Our K-12 is running, as far as I can tell, pretty normally too, with masks. Sports and activities are all on. I donāt have a kids in it anymore so donāt know what the inside looks like, but weāve been 100% since August and I think very few opting to be online. 1-2 cases crop up here or there, but no outbreaks.
DDā19 is 100% in person at college. Last semester was about 50%. Dashboard is showing 4 active cases currently.
Hm. I wonder how much the K-12 or the college is testingā¦
At the k12, employees can request tests if they wish or have symptoms. For the kids, the school relies on parental reporting. Even assuming that many cases go undetected, we arent having more cases show up in hospitalizations or deaths, which would be detected. School publishes daily covid dashboard of known cases.
Life goes on for the kids. A few stayed remote for the year, but even some of those come to school for swim team or whatever extracurricular, so I am not sure it matters.
I should mention, the school ( or maybe the PTA?) Bought special masks for the band so they could play their instruments, and the musical kids wore plastic masks. A bit muffled on the sound, but it,was ok.
Iād be wary of the school districtās dashboard. Ours created one several weeks ago. We KNOW there are lots more cases in certain schools than on the website. Someone was told that they only update with new cases that they feel were obtained while in school. But, with their precautions, they feel that very few cases can possibly be connected. (Essentially, there is no contact tracing.) But of course, the website does not say that at all.
In January, we were averaging 125 new cases/day per 100K people - and week after week, the website would show 0-2 new cases or quarantined students/staff within the whole school system. Uh huh. Sure.
Understood, but if there were really that many more undetected/unreported cases, at some time it would show up in hospitalizations and deaths.
The latest COVID report from Pitt just came out. They currently have only 11 students in isolation. All students living in dorms have been back for about a week and a half. Off campus students have mostly been back longer. There have been only three positive tests from surveillance testing since winter break.
Iām not sure about vaccinations, but the kids (on and off campus) are required to do 2x weekly asymptomatic testing at the Mullins Center. I think some is processed by Broad, and some of it is processed on-site.
Following up to say that our DS has decided to come home from UMass Amherst. Heās so disappointed, but just doesnāt have faith that it will change. Iām really sad for him, but know that he will rally once he mourns it.
Oh Iām so sorry. This stinks.
I work in elementary. We are open full day with lunch, recess, and snack. We have masks, distancing, plexiglass dividers, floor markers, class pods, morning health screenings, etc.
We have had cases, but I think they have been managed well (we are always learning). Most of our cases were (?) transmitted in the home/community- we āonlyā have 2-3 that seem to have come from in-school transmission.
What kind of learning is happening? Well, itās tough. I think itās easier to do this in high school. Lower grades need groups, hands on, projects, etc. Thatās not happening. Itās very unnatural. Also- kids float in and out of remote. Every day the remote list changes and families are permitted to come and go between live and remote instruction. This creates a tremendous amount of added stress and work for the teacher.
Teachers are also very stressed. Itās hard to do lunch duty, sitting with kids who are not masked. Also, teachers are dealing with Covid related family issues- many have tremendous anxiety and are asked to put on a happy face and come to school. Itās not like they can sit at a desk all alone and work- they are always āon stage.ā
There are pros and cons to both remote and in person during a pandemic.
So very sorry. A hard but likely wise decision.
I feel for you and all the teachers around the world that are so stressed out and exhausted. I honestly can only imagine the neverending challenges.
So sorry to hear this. I remember how excited he was last year when we were talking about the boysā acceptances.
When did we go from a goal of flattening the curve to one of avoiding anyone getting sick?
Actually, it seems that a lot of people have just given up on trying to avoid getting the virus or giving it to others. The winter family gathering explosion of cases filling the ICUs, the parties on college campuses (as @CTCape has mentioned), etc. are all evidence of that. People are not patient enough to wait just a few more months for widespread vaccine availability.
Residential colleges this term will probably have to choose between giving up and letting the virus win, or going all-remote and shutting down all in-person activity on campus. Or maybe the former choice with token measures to make it look like they are doing something, even though the virus will be out of control on their campuses and the surrounding communities.
I am all for going back to normal once this vaccine is widely available, but I donāt think for a minute that will mean the virus is going completely away. Viruses usually do not. They mutate and return and infect some of those unvaccinated, and even some of those already vaccinated, for years to come.
To paraphrase Gov. Newsome, if we are waiting for there to be no cases before reopening schools, we should tell people now that we will never reopen schools.