Yesterday was our first day back since dropping mask mandates as well. My daughter told me she saw five unmasked people in her school: three teachers (two of whom were outside when she saw them) and two students. She said none of the students in her program plan to stop masking any time soon. I would say they use a mix of cloth masks and KN94 / KN 95.
Our district is large and very diverse, and each building presents a unique situation. Parents in the parts of the district with newer, more spacious buildings have been vocally unhappy with the mask mandates for a long time. It was clear a few weeks ago that the district was going to drop the mandate as soon as they were legally able to. I would imagine things look a lot different in those newer buildings this week.
Perhaps of interest would be whether the two teachers unmasked outdoors put masks on indoors, and whether others eventually do that (using masks indoors, but not outdoors unless crowded).
My familyās school district is following the guidance of the Georgia Department of Public Health, so masks are required in all school district buildings during periods of Substantial or High community spread. If the community transmission is at Moderate levels (10-50 cases per 100K) for 2 consecutive weeks, the school district would transition to strongly recommending masks in all of its facilities. My countyās most recent 14-day confirmed case rate is 292 cases per 100K.
Masks would still be mandatory on buses as that is tied to a Federal mandate.
I forgot to mention, we parents are also now allowed back in the buildings for the first time. Iām pretty happy about that. I have only ever seen the inside of my daughterās high school once.
Oh yes. Iām going to keep asking my daughter because Iām very curious to know how this will go. However, sheās not as interested so weāll see what she chooses to observe.
Itās good that your district has a methodology for changing its guidance, I wish weād had that. Although, I wonder if we would need to somehow start aligning guidance to severe cases (hospitalizations). Maybe itās too difficult to do that since hospitalizations lag cases.
Our case rate is higher, mid 300s per 100K, and arguably we shouldnāt be lifting our mandate. But parts of the district are just really opposed to masking. We are a large NC district. NC just dropped its masking requirement, though NCDHHS recommends mask usage indoors in public. And yes, masking is required on buses.
It would be nice, but the big problem with COVID-19 is that by the time you know, it is too late:
By the time you know you are sick (by symptoms or PCR test with typical delay in getting results), you have already had a few days of asymptomatic contagiousness.
By the time you see hospitalizations overburden hospitals, there are many more coming.
Iām spending much of the winter in Florida, where as best as I can tell, Covid doesnāt exist. Crowded bars with no masks, etc.
But, the community where we stay has a preponderance of elderly people, many pretty well-to-do (houses are expensive). The grocery store required masks for two years until this past week when the sign went away. In past weeks, the proportion of mask wearers had gone down inside the store. ShawWife asked one of the store employees (who wear masks) why they donāt enforce the policy. The employee said they canāt because the governor outlawed mask mandates. I donāt think the state can prevent a business from restricting who it takes as customers (except for discrimination against protected classes). A restaurant can say āNo shirt. No meal.ā But I could be wrong about this. However, in the last week, the store dropped its policy.
I am sure you are correct. I think they were trying to do the best thing for a fairly elderly customer base, but I donāt think they want to fight battles with customers.
I read that WDW is making masks optional for vaccinated people. Which effectively means all people. Iām glad they still required them when we were there in October.
While earlier would be better, ātoo lateā seems to be an overstatement. People are very often still infectious when they receive confirmation of their sickness, so the information can still help curtail the spread. Likewise regarding trends in hospitalizations.
Seems that state and local governments around here have done the same thing, masks required in indoor public places for unvaccinated people (except in places like health care where masks are still required, and businesses may still choose to require masks in their own places). With most places using the honor system, it would not be surprising if unvaccinated people (generally those with least concern about COVID-19 and strongest antimask viewpoints) were likely to be among the first to remove their masks (in violation of basically unenforceable rules).
However, it does look like masks generally are coming off more quickly than they were last June when the mask rules were being relaxed in a similar way. Even though last June was probably safer against spread (by then, everyone who wanted vaccination had a chance to get it, case rates were low, and the variants of the time generally did not break through vaccination ā this was before Delta came along), perhaps we are now seeing more mask fatigue.
Iām really glad we opted to spend this Feb in St Thomas (USVI) instead of FL where weāve been the past two years. Besides folks here not being nitwits about refusing to wear masks, itās really pretty. Havenāt had or overheard a political discussion yet and literally everyone wears masks inside. If they forget, someone mentions something and they put it on, often apologizing for forgetting. But few forget.
And everyone seems to still be having a good time. Imagine that.
Masks havenāt been on in my school district for a long time. For the brief period they were supposed to be during the last wave, so many had applied for (and gotten) exemptions any mandate was meaningless anyway. Iām glad Iām not there anymore.
Yesterday one of the tribe tested positive on a CUE test. Took and antigen testā¦negativeā¦took two more CUE testsā¦again negative. Had partner take both tests ā¦ also negative. Had sibling and spouse take both testsā¦all negative. H and I ā¦sameā¦both antigen and CUE negative. H and I and original āpositiveā tested antigen again todayā¦still negative. So, a logical mind says it was a testing error.
Butā¦those in the loop/bubble felt āoffā. I took my temp several times because I was SURE I was running a feverā¦nope. still my normal 97.4.
Waitā¦tickle in my throatā¦clearly Iāve got it. Waitā¦headache coming on.
The ongoing stress of every sniffle, tickle, flush, chill etc. sending folks to run tests is in and of itself detrimental to health.
D18 works for the mouse and has been in the parks this week. I asked her how itās been and she said very few people are wearing masks inside. She is one of them. She will wear it for work as well. She trusts no one! Honestly I am amazed she has not gotten Covid yet.
AgeofAquarius ā it is going to be ok.
weāve had the complete opposite. in our tribe; covid while masking at school for my HS last year.
but - when not wearing a mask this past year, thereās been mono, strep, flu, colds x 3 and a food poisoning incident thrown in there - and CV negatives during all of those events. You just donāt know, canāt tell. Hope your kiddo feels better. i think our immune systems are just out of wack!
