When teachers get COVID

[Kanin]

What happens inside the school? Does the whole class go home for 14 days? "Close contact" is defined as 15 minutes or more, in a distance of less than 6 feet. In a classroom, the time would be much greater than 15 minutes, even if the distance was kinda close to 6 feet most of the time. 

If the class doesn't go home... who teaches them? Our district has some subs who are willing to come in, but half of the sub pool has said they aren't willing to sub this year. 

If a teacher is not very sick, or has to quarantine because of exposure but isn't actually sick, I could see them sending in sub plans, or even Zooming in, if there could be an ed tech in the room. But if a teacher is very sick, how are sub plans going to work? Teachers can't have two weeks of plans ready to go at any given second. Two weeks of review maybe?

I'm struggling to see how this will work. 

[Matryoshka]

2 minutes ago, Kanin said:

What happens inside the school? Does the whole class go home for 14 days? "Close contact" is defined as 15 minutes or more, in a distance of less than 6 feet. In a classroom, the time would be much greater than 15 minutes, even if the distance was kinda close to 6 feet most of the time. 

If the class doesn't go home... who teaches them? Our district has some subs who are willing to come in, but half of the sub pool has said they aren't willing to sub this year. 

If a teacher is not very sick, or has to quarantine because of exposure but isn't actually sick, I could see them sending in sub plans, or even Zooming in, if there could be an ed tech in the room. But if a teacher is very sick, how are sub plans going to work? Teachers can't have two weeks of plans ready to go at any given second. Two weeks of review maybe?

I'm struggling to see how this will work. 

It's not going to work.  One only has to think through these contingency plans for about 5 seconds (as you did here) to make this abundantly clear.  

If the teacher actually gets Covid and is sick for what could be - forget two weeks, it can be months! where does the magic sub come from that is willing to teach a class full of Covid-exposed kids?  If this is high school with classes mixing that teacher hasn't just potentially exposed one class, but multiple classes.  And then what are the chances of other teachers getting it with that many kids now exposed?

I think it might be worth a try with elementary if they let all the kids whose parents are able to keep them home keep them, and have the hopefully much smaller number of remaining kids in pods that don't mix with anyone but each other, and then you only have to send one class home with an exposure (and if you've already got lots of kids doing remote learning, you switch those kids to that model).  BUT.... middle and high school where there's mixing about?  Let's just put our energy into making the online stuff as good as it can be, train the teachers how to use it and how to deliver a quality class over the internet.  Or there's just going to be a cascade effect of chaos as Covid inevitably works its way through kids and teachers alike, sending them home with cobbled-together backup plans, and possibly no one even to deliver them from home if the teacher is actually sick.  Which is going to happen.

[Junie]

11 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

It's not going to work.  One only has to think through these contingency plans for about 5 seconds (as you did here) to make this abundantly clear.  

If the teacher actually gets Covid and is sick for what could be - forget two weeks, it can be months! where does the magic sub come from that is willing to teach a class full of Covid-exposed kids?  If this is high school with classes mixing that teacher hasn't just potentially exposed one class, but multiple classes.  And then what are the chances of other teachers getting it with that many kids now exposed?

I think it might be worth a try with elementary if they let all the kids whose parents are able to keep them home keep them, and have the hopefully much smaller number of remaining kids in pods that don't mix with anyone but each other, and then you only have to send one class home with an exposure (and if you've already got lots of kids doing remote learning, you switch those kids to that model).  BUT.... middle and high school where there's mixing about?  Let's just put our energy into making the online stuff as good as it can be, train the teachers how to use it and how to deliver a quality class over the internet.  Or there's just going to be a cascade effect of chaos as Covid inevitably works its way through kids and teachers alike, sending them home with cobbled-together backup plans, and possibly no one even to deliver them from home if the teacher is actually sick.  Which is going to happen.

This.  Absolutely.

[Kanin]

I just feel... down today. I work at a little school in a rural-ish area... no cases in the county for a few weeks... but I still don't feel safe. Admin is decreasing the 6 foot spacing to 3 feet in some rooms, because the recommendations are "guidelines" to follow "when feasible." (UGH WHY IS THAT LANGUAGE IN THERE. IT'S JUST ASKING FOR FUDGING.) They're putting fans in the windows, oh joy. According to a staff survey, half the staff don't want to wear masks or do any distancing, so are they really going to keep a mask on in the bathroom, in the copy room, etc? The room I'm supposed to be in is like 8x8, so even with just one kid, I'm breathing in their air. 

Then I'm torn because like others have pointed out, lots of people have been working through this entire pandemic, which means I can get food, get my car fixed, get my mail. Why am I so special that I can complain? But when I think of DH getting COVID from me, it breaks my heart. He always gets every weird, uncommon symptom of every illness, so I assume he'd be one of the ones to get really sick with this. 

Maybe my principal would let me work remotely, or do a hybrid schedule, because I'm the special ed teacher. I can see kids 1-1 and remote is pretty okay. But what will my colleagues think? They're going to be right in the classroom risking illness, and then I'm home? At  the same time, just because they're willing to risk it, with poorly ventilated rooms, not enough distancing, etc. doesn't mean that I should accept it. My best friend at school has a serious autoimmune condition and has been in and out of the hospital already this year. There's a teacher going through cancer treatments. It feels like we're just putting our heads in the sand and hoping like heck that no cases will come our way.

I could raise a stink. I could make it clear that I think the school is not physically set up well enough for safety. (Which it isn't.) I could file a grievance with the union. As John Lewis said, make good trouble. Is this the time? Ugh. I'm so conflicted.

[MEmama]

50 minutes ago, Kanin said:

I just feel... down today. I work at a little school in a rural-ish area... no cases in the county for a few weeks... but I still don't feel safe. Admin is decreasing the 6 foot spacing to 3 feet in some rooms, because the recommendations are "guidelines" to follow "when feasible." (UGH WHY IS THAT LANGUAGE IN THERE. IT'S JUST ASKING FOR FUDGING.) They're putting fans in the windows, oh joy. According to a staff survey, half the staff don't want to wear masks or do any distancing, so are they really going to keep a mask on in the bathroom, in the copy room, etc? The room I'm supposed to be in is like 8x8, so even with just one kid, I'm breathing in their air. 

Then I'm torn because like others have pointed out, lots of people have been working through this entire pandemic, which means I can get food, get my car fixed, get my mail. Why am I so special that I can complain? But when I think of DH getting COVID from me, it breaks my heart. He always gets every weird, uncommon symptom of every illness, so I assume he'd be one of the ones to get really sick with this. 

Maybe my principal would let me work remotely, or do a hybrid schedule, because I'm the special ed teacher. I can see kids 1-1 and remote is pretty okay. But what will my colleagues think? They're going to be right in the classroom risking illness, and then I'm home? At  the same time, just because they're willing to risk it, with poorly ventilated rooms, not enough distancing, etc. doesn't mean that I should accept it. My best friend at school has a serious autoimmune condition and has been in and out of the hospital already this year. There's a teacher going through cancer treatments. It feels like we're just putting our heads in the sand and hoping like heck that no cases will come our way.

I could raise a stink. I could make it clear that I think the school is not physically set up well enough for safety. (Which it isn't.) I could file a grievance with the union. As John Lewis said, make good trouble. Is this the time? Ugh. I'm so conflicted.

Sending virtual hugs.

I'd offer irl hugs if I could. 😞 

[Storygirl]

Our local school has not given specific information about this to the parents, but has said that the health department will do contact tracing and tell the people involved what they need to do. They presented it hopefully in the reopening plan, with language such as "our plan will help keep cases low."  But once you start to think about it, it's easy to see how things can quickly fall apart.

We have a friend who is a school superintendent (not our district). He is worried about how they can keep the schools open. He gave an example that they are facing now: one of their custodians is quarantining, because they have a family member who tested positive, and the custodian is being tested. If the custodian comes back positive, it will then require their entire custodial team to quarantine and be tested, because they work closely together. How, he said, can he operate a school without custodial staff for two or more weeks?

That's just one small example. The problems will be magnified when large numbers of students and teachers return to campus.

[lmrich]

The sub shortage has not been addressed. Even if the teacher is not sick but has a family who is, would have to quarantine for 14 days. 

It is just so difficult. 

 

[PerfectFifth]

My school hasn't sent out any guidelines...at all. They told the parents that they purchased thermometers, set up hand sanitizer stations and plexiglass at the secretary's desk 🤪 I am not saying that they DON'T have a plan but if they do, shouldn't they at least communicate said plan to their faculty?!?!? I don't think we are going back F2F because I've seen the letter from our Archdiocese but the last email from our principal (same day as Arch email) says we are hoping to be F2F. I'm sure she's not wanting to panic parents into dropping from the school but maybe a little note to the faculty?!?!  Sorry, I'm frustrated. I don't want to be in class. I love my school kids but we are in a hotspot and I have my family to think about....my son is T1 diabetic. A little heads up from the admin would be lovely. 

I don't handle unknowns well...can you tell?!?!

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Matryoshka said:

 

I think it might be worth a try with elementary if they let all the kids whose parents are able to keep them home keep them, and have the hopefully much smaller number of remaining kids in pods that don't mix with anyone but each other, and then you only have to send one class home with an exposure (and if you've already got lots of kids doing remote learning, you switch those kids to that model).  BUT.... middle and high school where there's mixing about?  Let's just put our energy into making the online stuff as good as it can be, train the teachers how to use it and how to deliver a quality class over the internet.  Or there's just going to be a cascade effect of chaos as Covid inevitably works its way through kids and teachers alike, sending them home with cobbled-together backup plans, and possibly no one even to deliver them from home if the teacher is actually sick.  Which is going to happen.

Yup. That people are still insisting high schools stay open, when we know they spread this more than adults or at least as easily, and they are less likly to comply with distancing (um, hello - teen hormones plus rebellion) and the campuses are often huge with thousands of people....all so that their kids gets the very BEST AP government class possible and not an online version....it's driving me crazy. I get it. Online AP class won't be as good. Right. But wanting something doesn't mean it is wise or possible. Your kid will struggle a lot more with AP government if the teacher is sick or hospitalized, or if your student is sick for weeks, or if your student is worried to death about a sick classmate, etc. 

1 hour ago, Kanin said:

 

Then I'm torn because like others have pointed out, lots of people have been working through this entire pandemic, which means I can get food, get my car fixed, get my mail. Why am I so special that I can complain?

Because in all honestly it is a very few jobs that are going to have a person in a room for 6 hours a day with a group of the same people, any one of whom may be positive, without much air space. Grocery store workers have high ceilings, more air flow, and if they have contact with a positive person it is for a few minutes at a time, not hours and hours and days and days. That doesn't mean they are not at risk, they are, and we should stay out of the stores when we can, and mask when we can't to lower their risk. But it isn't the same situation. 

[Ali in OR]

So many unknowns. I guess we all just get to live it and see what happens. I'm an educational assistant in a high school, but also credentialed. I could be one of the people stepping in to cover if necessary. We'll be hybrid and can go online only if needed.

@Kanin We will have some staff who are online only. They surveyed all of us to see what we are able to do and are comfortable doing based on our risk factors. I work with a cancer survivor who wants to be online only. In your situation, can you work with kids outside for awhile? September is some of our best weather and we have a lot of people talking about taking classes outside. If I work with subgroups of students, I think I'll have them grab a white board and head outside, 6' apart. That'll work until late October!

[Kanin]

6 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

In your situation, can you work with kids outside for awhile? September is some of our best weather and we have a lot of people talking about taking classes outside. If I work with subgroups of students, I think I'll have them grab a white board and head outside, 6' apart. That'll work until late October!

Yes! I was just looking at pop-up tents on Wayfair. For $150 I can get a pretty big outdoor tent. For a bit more, the school could build a few semi-permanent outdoor spaces.

[Arcadia]

MAY 15 2020

Reopening Schools in the Context of COVID-19: Health and Safety Guidelines From Other Countries

https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/reopening-schools-covid-19-brief

“Quarantine: Students and staff are immediately sent home if they exhibit any symptoms of the virus or if they report having been in contact with someone who is infected. (In Singapore, contact with infected individuals is also tracked by the voluntary use of a phone app.(06)) If symptoms are identified upon arrival, the individual must wait in a designated room until picked up. Quarantine procedures vary by country. In Denmark, children who come to school with symptoms are sent home immediately for 48 hours, and students who live with someone known to be infected with COVID-19 are not allowed to come to school. Norway allows students to return to school after they are symptom-free for 1 day, and students with a cold or pollen allergies are specifically allowed to attend school if they do not have a fever. In China, students who have had contact with someone with COVID-19 must self-quarantine for 14 days before returning to school; students who have symptoms themselves must be taken to a hospital for evaluation and may return to school after they recover.

School Closure

Administrators must develop contingency plans for closing classrooms or schools in the event that students or staff contract COVID-19. Taiwan, for example, follows procedures, called classroom suspension, that it used during the H1N1 influenza outbreak. If one or more students or staff persons in a class is confirmed to have COVID-19, that class is suspended for 14 days; in high school this applies to all classes the person attended. If two or more cases are confirmed in a school, the school is closed for 14 days. If one third of schools in a city or district are closed, then all schools must close

...

Taiwan, in contrast, has not set maximum class sizes. Schools keep students in a homeroom class with a core teacher, while subject-specific teachers move between classes. Studies suggest that, during the H1N1 outbreak, this approach to social distancing, combined with Taiwan’s classroom suspension procedures described above, contained the spread of disease and reduced social disruption.(09) In addition to maintaining stable homerooms, students as young as kindergarten wear masks supplied by the government, and desks are separated from one another, sometimes using dividers. 

In Singapore, usual class sizes were maintained at about 30 students, but classrooms tended to be large already, allowing for students to be spaced 1–2 meters (3–6 feet) apart. In kindergarten through Grade 2, children sit together in stable clusters. In Grades 3 and up, children have assigned seats in rows set up as if they are taking examinations, and they may not move around.(10) Similar measures are being taken in China, although practices vary locally. Some schools have reduced class size from an average of 50 students to fewer than 30.(11)”

[Kanin]

1 hour ago, PerfectFifth said:

I'm sure she's not wanting to panic parents into dropping from the school but maybe a little note to the faculty?!?!  Sorry, I'm frustrated. I don't want to be in class. I love my school kids but we are in a hotspot and I have my family to think about....my son is T1 diabetic. A little heads up from the admin would be lovely. 

I don't handle unknowns well...can you tell?!?!

I completely empathize with you, and this is not just a little unknown, it's a big one!!

[Kanin]

1 hour ago, Ktgrok said:

ecause in all honestly it is a very few jobs that are going to have a person in a room for 6 hours a day with a group of the same people, any one of whom may be positive, without much air space. Grocery store workers have high ceilings, more air flow, and if they have contact with a positive person it is for a few minutes at a time, not hours and hours and days and days. That doesn't mean they are not at risk, they are, and we should stay out of the stores when we can, and mask when we can't to lower their risk. But it isn't the same situation. 

Thank you for saying this again, it makes me feel a bit less like the one crazy person in the room. I'm totally up for being the squeaky wheel, but sometimes I doubt my own perceptions. 

[Matryoshka]

4 minutes ago, Kanin said:

Yes! I was just looking at pop-up tents on Wayfair. For $150 I can get a pretty big outdoor tent. For a bit more, the school could build a few semi-permanent outdoor spaces.

You guys must just have huge school grounds.  I'm not seeing how a school of, say, a couple thousand kids or more (ours has 1700, but I know there are parts of the country where even that is small), has enough outside space to put up pop up tents for that many kids.  (and are the kids seated 6' apart?  How close are these tents to each other?  I have a feeling this is going to look like kids seating outside for graduation on the football field.... which everyone seemed to agree was too close...)

And lol, I'm thinking a lot of high school teacher are going to have a harder time teaching a class outside without their powerpoints and smartboards than converting that same class to online where all that stuff is possible...

Edited July 21, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Kanin]

1 hour ago, Storygirl said:

We have a friend who is a school superintendent (not our district). He is worried about how they can keep the schools open. He gave an example that they are facing now: one of their custodians is quarantining, because they have a family member who tested positive, and the custodian is being tested. If the custodian comes back positive, it will then require their entire custodial team to quarantine and be tested, because they work closely together. How, he said, can he operate a school without custodial staff for two or more weeks?

That's just one small example. The problems will be magnified when large numbers of students and teachers return to campus.

I didn't even think of the custodial staff... that makes perfect sense, though, because they are working together all day, touching the same stuff, etc. 

[Kanin]

Just now, Matryoshka said:

You guys must just have huge school grounds.  I'm not seeing how a school of, say, a couple thousand kids or more (ours has 1700, but I know there are parts of the country where even that is small), has enough outside space to put up pop up tents for that many kids.  (and are the kids seated 6' apart?  How close are these tents to each other?  I have a feeling this is going to look like kids seating outside for graduation on the football field.... which everyone seemed to agree was too close...)

Yeah, we're rural and there aren't that many kids. I think we could fit a couple 10x10, or even bigger, tents outside. 

[Matryoshka]

Just now, Kanin said:

Yeah, we're rural and there aren't that many kids. I think we could fit a couple 10x10, or even bigger, tents outside. 

Yeah, but even so, if kids are supposed to be 6' apart, almost no kids would fit under a 10x10.  It's about 12 kids if you put them 3' apart and leave a 3' space at front for a teacher.  Which still seems really tight and still a very small class...

[Kanin]

1 minute ago, Matryoshka said:

Yeah, but even so, if kids are supposed to be 6' apart, almost no kids would fit under a 10x10.  It's about 12 kids if you put them 3' apart and leave a 3' space at front for a teacher.  Which still seems really tight and still a very small class...

Oh, for sure. A regular class would need an enormous tent. Luckily I teach special ed and I can have 1-2 kids at a time. Now that kids will be in "pods," I can't have kids from different rooms or grades together anymore. 

[mathnerd]

3 hours ago, Kanin said:

What happens inside the school? Does the whole class go home for 14 days? "Close contact" is defined as 15 minutes or more, in a distance of less than 6 feet. In a classroom, the time would be much greater than 15 minutes, even if the distance was kinda close to 6 feet most of the time. 

If the class doesn't go home... who teaches them? Our district has some subs who are willing to come in, but half of the sub pool has said they aren't willing to sub this year. 

If a teacher is not very sick, or has to quarantine because of exposure but isn't actually sick, I could see them sending in sub plans, or even Zooming in, if there could be an ed tech in the room. But if a teacher is very sick, how are sub plans going to work? Teachers can't have two weeks of plans ready to go at any given second. Two weeks of review maybe?

I'm struggling to see how this will work. 

It will not work out (especially in a litigious country like ours). That is why we will see more and more governors mandating home based online education (in my state, it is mandatory for private and public schools to go online in the Fall).

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Storygirl said:

. How, he said, can he operate a school without custodial staff for two or more weeks?

 

16 minutes ago, Kanin said:

I didn't even think of the custodial staff... that makes perfect sense, though, because they are working together all day, touching the same stuff, etc. 

Japan have students doing their part. When I was in public school in Singapore, we have duty roosters to clean up our classrooms and the common corridors.

[Anne]

The idea of outdoor tents is great - until it starts snowing and temperatures drop!  Then that’s not going to work.   

I’m totally torn here - I don’t see how it’s going to work to open F2F for all the good reasons listed above, but I also have deep reservations over how well online education is going to work, particularly for young children and for children in difficult/impovershed/etc. circumstances.  Who’s going to supervise those kids?  Help them understand?  Etc.?  

It’s all such a mess!!

Anne

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, Kanin said:

Oh, for sure. A regular class would need an enormous tent. Luckily I teach special ed and I can have 1-2 kids at a time. Now that kids will be in "pods," I can't have kids from different rooms or grades together anymore. 

Ah, in that situation outdoors makes a lot of sense, especially in elementary where the kids can otherwise be kept in those 'pods'.

Until it gets cold... (I live in the north!)

Edited July 21, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Matryoshka]

6 minutes ago, Anne said:

The idea of outdoor tents is great - until it starts snowing and temperatures drop!  Then that’s not going to work.   

I’m totally torn here - I don’t see how it’s going to work to open F2F for all the good reasons listed above, but I also have deep reservations over how well online education is going to work, particularly for young children and for children in difficult/impovershed/etc. circumstances.  Who’s going to supervise those kids?  Help them understand?  Etc.?  

Since Plan A just isn't going to work, I think it's time to stop pretending it will and start brainstorming about how to solve all the legitimate issues you've raised above, instead of spending all our energy figuring out F2F, have it fail in a matter of weeks, then send everyone home to a Plan B online situation where we still haven't figured out any of those issues!

[Matryoshka]

Just now, Arctic Mama said:

The data I have seen internationally seems to indicate teachers aren’t catching it in droves from students, so there is that. If a teacher catches it here I believe they’re quarantining the whole class though, just on presumption of transmission, and might not bother finding a sub unless the teacher is out sick for longer than the quarantine.

So, no teaching for two weeks up to a few months if the teacher gets sick (assuming they get better).  When you say 'the whole class', is that every class a high school or middle school teacher teaches in the course of a day?  Which could be, say, 150?  What about the fact that each of those kids has now had contact with all the other kids in different classes they're in throughout the day.  

If you're only talking elementary, that makes at least a bit more sense.  Though still no school for that class for weeks or months still seems a bad Plan A.

[Matryoshka]

Just now, Arctic Mama said:

The only plan I have seen in detail is a preschool-3rd, it makes sense there.

Yeah, okay.  Even I think they could make those grades work with a bit of creative effort, podding, and letting kids whose parents would rather they stayed home do that.

It's middle and high school that's giving me nightmares...

[kokotg]

yeah, it's just not going to work. Like the surgeon general said this morning, the number one thing you have to do is get transmission rates down before you can open schools. Right now many, many parts of the country are looking at starting school in a couple of weeks and almost certainly, based on the numbers, having undiagnosed cases in every single school. Georgia has had over 300 cases since June in high school athletic programs, and school hasn't even started yet. There won't be enough subs. People will give their kids ibuprofen and send them to school sick because they're positive it's just a cold and they don't have enough sick leave to stay home. Teachers who would normally come to work with allergies or a mild cold will need to stay home this year. And, again, not enough subs. Put aside how there's still so much we don't know about long term complications. Put aside the fact that teachers exist and just focus on how very few kids will die. It's still just not going to work logistically. An overnight camp in North Georgia had an outbreak that started with one counselor and 18% of campers and counselors (all under 23) ended up testing positive, even though they shut the camp down quickly. Even though they tested everyone before camp started. Even though it was mostly outside. I've told that to people and had them respond, "sure, but how many of them are okay now? Was anyone hospitalized?" It doesn't matter when you're talking about keeping schools open. Imagine school after school having 18% of students and teachers out sick at any given time (not just for a day, but for many days or weeks in most cases). Imagine quarantining (or deciding NOT to quarantine) people who in were close contact with the 18%. It's not going to work. Get the transmission rates down, put every reasonable precaution in place, and be ready to step back if and when outbreaks pop up. Otherwise it won't work no matter how much we want it to. 

[Matryoshka]

6 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Honestly if the entire school catches it and 99% of the student body makes it back reasonably well in a month, that is probably considered a win for public health goals overall. It’s not popular to say that having it spread through the student populations could hurt or kill kids or teachers and still be the best choice, though 😞

Even if they didn't go home and give it to their parents who could get very sick or die (even forgetting the teachers), they're not all getting it and getting over it all together.  It will be a rolling wave of people getting it, so like some large percentage of kids out but not everyone yet, rolling along through the year, so huge amounts of kids are going to be missing instruction and have to be caught up all along, all through the year.  Even assuming magically immune teachers and parents.

[Pen]

32 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Honestly if the entire school catches it and 99% of the student body makes it back reasonably well in a month, that is probably considered a win for public health goals overall. It’s not popular to say that having it spread through the student populations could hurt or kill kids or teachers and still be the best choice, though 😞

 

If that’s your theory of a good way to do it,  why have any higher risk adults involved at all? Why not send all the children (at least those who don’t mind and whose parents agree) under some given age to a Covid Party type situation in lieu of school, ideally residential so they don’t infect adults at home, with a skeleton staff of adults (ideally young and low risk staff as well as thoroughly PPEd). Only after that when the children have gotten the disease and recovered (or not as case may be) then when some close to herd immunity level is reached in the student body, start school 1.5 - 2 months later ???? 

This isn’t my choice, but it seems like it would achieve what you suggest with somewhat less risk of staff getting severe cases. 

 

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, mathnerd said:

It will not work out (especially in a litigious country like ours). That is why we will see more and more governors mandating home based online education (in my state, it is mandatory for private and public schools to go online in the Fall).

well, my state government did the opposite and mandated that schools reopen, providing face to face instruction for students five days a week. So..yeah. 

31 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

You’ve actually made the argument for why sending the entire school back at once might make sense though, the more students infected in one go the better, long term. But that’s what is so hard, isn’t it? Delaying draws things out, and in a low risk population that’s tough to manage emotionally even if it might make sense strictly from the numbers. And kids don’t seem to be readily transmitting it to family members overseas, but that’s younger kids more than older. You could potentially max out the health system very quickly if it does spread unhindered through family units and they happen to be higher risk or have complications. Fortunately that doesn’t seem to be borne out in numbers elsewhere, but that’s the risk the schools are wrestling with, when staying home or going fifty percent isn’t a zero harm option either.

 

I think the latest I saw was that kids over 10 spread it MORE than adults do....so middle and high school students will likely spread it to their families and then through the community. So yeah, easy way to overwhelm hospitals. 

Also, pediatricians here are pointing out that they are seeing lung damage on xray even in kids without serious respiratory signs, and they don't know how long that will take to resolve or even if it does. 

[Matryoshka]

3 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Do you have a source for the pediatrics spread and damage? That is contrary to most of the studies I’ve seen so far, but I’d like to read it.

I think it was linked over in the Reopening Schools thread?  I'd have to hunt to find it, whoever finds it first, link it here! 😉

[Twolittleboys]

No idea about teachers but here a child was just diagnosed (in our county, not our school). Two classes and the respective teachers have been sent home/into quarantine for two weeks. They are all being tested but no results yet. I don't know about that school but at my son's classes at the moment are still split in half and meet only every second week. There is also some effort to avoid classes mingling together (i.e. separate places for recess). I assume something similar is true for the school in question which is probably why only two classes have been isolated.

[Junie]

I just think opening schools is going to be a disaster.

Our church has a Christian school; my kids have always been homeschooled, but this decision will also affect our church.

If my kids were in school, they would be in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11.

So if someone in 11th grade tested positive, then everyone in 11th grade would have to stay home for two weeks.  Because of sibling interaction in my family, everyone in grades 9, 7, and 5 would have also been exposed -- assuming that this wasn't caught in less than 24 hours , which it wouldn't be.  Then consider anyone else in 11th grade who had siblings in other grades...  This would essentially close the school really, really fast.

Or if one of the cafeteria workers... close the whole school.

Or any of the high school teachers -- for instance, there is only one English teacher for grades 7 through 12.  (In fact, I used to be her...) -- close the whole middle and high school plus any grade including siblings...

I guess the only other solution would be to test everyone every day.

[Kanin]

5 hours ago, MEmama said:

Sending virtual hugs.

I'd offer irl hugs if I could. 😞 

Thanks... just having you and everyone respond to this thread cheered me up a bit.

[Kanin]

38 minutes ago, Junie said:

I guess the only other solution would be to test everyone every day.

I've been asking my union rep, the state union, emailing the newspapers, etc. to get the word out about testing - or not testing. Someone from the state union replied to my message and said there's no plan for testing in schools here, but she's forwarding my email on to other people who can work on "feasibility." It was nice that she emailed me back. I'm curious to see if the papers get back to me. 

[Starr]

I can't imagine how this is going to work. I live in a green area and personally know someone who tested positive and is in the hospital. No one thinks the colleges will say open for long. We are still waiting to see what the plan is for schools but teachers and parents are very concerned. Two family members are teaching a class at the university and plans change all the time. 😞