Just listened to the Yale doctor who authored a study saying testing every 2 days (can be a cheaper test that’s less accurate- do we have those?) together with strict social distancing is the only way to safely open colleges. Admits that many schools won’t be able to afford to do this either monetarily and/or logically.
I still haven’t had a chance to look at the presser, but other parents chimed in on the facebook page: Cuomo was taking about K-12, not NY colleges.
https://www.wired.com/story/a-wisconsin-city-experiments-with-a-faster-diy-covid-19-test/
Big unis could do this, non fda, call it a study, PCR only those that need to be PCRd. Loads of smart bio/biochem/premed/med/eng/faculty/students/campus labs can do this. Sign up the whole uni, run multiple stations. Until Mina’s lick and go strip is out.
^^I hope these type of tests are fast tracked somehow.
No money in cheap testing.
There are many doctors (even that high up in academia) who have many different opinions on college reopenings. There was one on NPR who argued that colleges should reopen no matter what because mental health issues were a much greater concern for college communities, in his opinion, than COVID-19. There is a doctor to support virtually every viewpoint out there: just look at Stella Immanuel! @homerdog has said that in her conservative school district, the parents find doctors to argue whatever the opposition tries to say. If you have an opinion on COVID-19, there’s a good chance a doctor out there will support it. There are very few issues related to COVID-19 where there is a consensus (basically, the only consensus is that universal testing and mask-wearing are positive).
I don’t know about that. Most of us here would buy cheap tests.
@GKUnion
There can be if you sell billions of tests for a couple dollars more than it costs to manufacture them.
@RosePetal35
Completely agree about doctor shopping … thought it interesting he’s one of the few that I’ve seen who have a concrete opinion of what it would take to safely open colleges, under the parameters and data used in his study/modeling. My personal preference is all colleges online for at a minimum the fall semester. But we don’t always get what we want.
For those of you who remember the discussion a week or so ago about Michael Mina and cheap, rapid Covid tests, I was just listening to TWIV 648 (This Week In Virology podcast) and at about 8:26 the guest says that the Broad Institute will be using rapid antigen tests like Dr. Mina discussed in TWIV 640 to test schools in the Boston area (and presumably the rest of the NE.) This is the first I’ve heard of those rapid tests actually being produced and used, and would explain how Broad is able to do so much testing.
We are definitely having our D20 quarantine when she comes home for Thanksgiving. Luckily, we can compartmentalize our home where she can have a bedroom and bathroom to herself, and the rest of us have the rest of the house plus the other bathroom to ourselves. As for the length of quarantine, we might go less than two weeks, depending upon her symptoms (or lack thereof) and our ability to get her a test when she comes home, the timing of the test/results, and the best practice recommendations at that time. Can’t really say for sure because that is more than 3 months away and a lot can happen between now and then. Suffice it to say, we are planning to do our best to quarantine appropriately.
I, myself, will quarantine in a similar fashion, after I come home from helping D20 move into her dorm in a couple of weeks.
@vpa2019 – I think this is the paper you referenced. Co-authored with Harvard Med School and MGH.
Yale has not adopted an every two to three day testing schedule, but close with planned twice weekly testing of all students, on and off campus.
@shuttlebus I watched the Cuomo briefing and did not for s second get that impression
I wonder if the logistics become so challenging, or the on-campus experience becomes so compromised, that’s it’s just not worth the risk. Especially if there is no football.
So interesting! And I’ve been waiting to hear about the antigen tests in use for several months since I first heard Dr. Scott Gottleib talk back in May about how they could be real game changers on CNBC. It does seem like a smart strategy to me—to be able to very frequently test, even if there’s 10-20% false negatives. But I am confused, my child’s school is using Broad (I thought), and she has been told she will be doing the self-administered shallow nasal swab twice a week, which I didn’t think was the antigen test. I guess we will find out very soon!
[quote=“RosePetal35, post:12339, topic:2088334”]
This technology is not mature yet for general commercial use. If I were paying Amherst’s tuition, I would be pretty angry they wasted so much money on this. Those $ could be put to much better use.
I am also confused. Both of the schools that my children will be attending are using The Broad Institute for testing and both schools indicated that the tests will be nasal swabs. Looking at Broad’s website, I did not see any mention of rapid antigen testing being used.
well here in GA one of the K-12 districts opened with in person. The HS class of 2021 decided it would be wise to take a class picture without 95% of the kids wearing masks in front of the school. This happened in at least two high schools. Masks are optional in this district and not sure they are doing SD. I give it a week. at most.
I just heard that Franklin and Marshall is only having juniors and seniors on campus this fall.
My school district just voted ( right along political party lines) to do school completely remote until November.
The behavior of many parents during this virtual meeting was downright embarrassing and obnoxious.
@Leigh22 which state are you in? And, I agree, parents in our town are over the top. Our high school kids will be in school twice a week from 8-12:30 and parents were complaining because there’s no time built in for a snack. Is this really a problem? No way to please everyone.
I’m in PA. And I agree, no way to please everyone. It’s the attacks on the teachers themselves that make no sense.