Coronavirus and the Schools

[Volkonski]

Children now playing 'huge role' in spread of COVID-19 variant, expert says

https://abc13.com/10486843/?ex_cid=TA_K ... ce=twitter

Dr. Michael Osterholm is the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He was also a member of Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board during the time between Biden being elected president and inaugurated.

Osterholm previously supported sending children back to school. He said the virus was not a major threat to children. Now, the situation has changed.

"Please understand, this B.1.1.7 variant is a brand new ball game," Osterholm said on NBC's Meet the Press. "It infects kids very readily. Unlike previous strains of the virus, we didn't see children under 8th grade get infected often or they were not frequently very ill, they didn't transmit to the rest of the community.



In Minnesota, Osterholm said more than 740 schools reported cases of the variant. In Michigan more young people are ended up in hospitals fighting more serious symptoms than previously seen in children with COVID-19. This is similar to what health officials have seen in other countries.

[tek]

Not to belabor the point, but this is why you have to control the spreads as best you can, however you can..

"Please understand, this B.1.1.7 variant is a brand new ball game," Osterholm said on NBC's Meet the Press. "It infects kids very readily. Unlike previous strains of the virus, we didn't see children under 8th grade get infected often or they were not frequently very ill, they didn't transmit to the rest of the community.

Viruses are 'designed' to improve their ability to spread and survive. I am not a virologist, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that not worrying about children gave the virus a laboratory full of children - to use to figure out how to infect children.

[Volkonski]

Reuters
@Reuters
Toronto cancels in-person schools as variant-driven cases rise http://reut.rs/3wAJ1Zu

[LM K]

My county reopened elementary schools on March 29. By Fri, April 2nd, covid rates amongst elementary school aged children doubled.

My county was finally in the "lower risk" category. We have about 10 days to get numbers under control.

[LM K]

Well, schools reopened and now we have a local jump in cases. Color me unsurprised. Yesterday my county moved back to "extreme risk". We were at "low risk" the week K-5 opened on March 29. 6-12 reopened last week.

Lane County continues to see rising COVID-19 cases in children, with 67 new cases in Eugene and Springfield alone over the past two weeks.

However, county health officials are not seeing the transmission of cases in classrooms, said Lane County Public Health spokesperson Jason Davis. Most of the cases are being traced to extracurricular activities and gatherings outside of schools and in homes where public health guidelines aren't being followed.

"The majority of our transmission really is around extracurricular activities — that includes sporting events," he said. "Also, just sort of one-off gatherings, hanging out with each other, and those gatherings are maskless. It's happening outdoors in parks, it's happening at people's homes, it's happening all over the place. That's really where we're seeing the majority of the transmissions."

On the flip side of this news, everyone in Oregon 16 and older became eligible for the vaccine on April 19. Davis said Tuesday that LCPH has already vaccinated at least 40% of residents 16 and 17 years old. It's likely more have been vaccinated through school health clinics and pharmacies.

"Our school districts and our schools are really working hard — we're not seeing transmission there," Davis said. "So I think the message goes back to those age groups and certainly parents, please, please, please have the talk with your kids about how to responsibly socialize. Certainly that's needed in these age groups, but there's a responsible way to do so with masking, distancing and really just trying to stay vigilant so we don't see these numbers spiral out of control."

I'm angry. I know that kiddos need to be back in the classroom. Our nation's students lost a lotyear of education. Our kiddos are experiencing mental health crises because they're isolated, overwhelmed, and family life stresses have increased.

That said, part of the pandemic equation must take into consideration that children, esp teenagers, make risky choices. (The prefrontal cortex isn't finished until our mid-20s. Teens simply cannot evaluate risk/consequences adequately. Their brains can't do it. But during our teen years, we engage in increasing risky behavior.)

It's a pickle. Our kiddos need to be in the classroom. Our communities need to get covid better controlled. In my county, it appears we can't do both at the same time.

[AndyinPA]

My grandkids start back to school for the first time in more than a year next week, but only for two days a week. My grandson will go Monday and Tuesday; my granddaughter Thursday and Friday. Most of her friends will be going on M-T. She's not too happy. She has seen friends occasionally over the last year, but has missed being with them regularly. Now, she's still not going to see them, and she's going into a new school. She's now 11, almost 12. I think she will do okay over the long term. She's got a good head on her shoulders.

My grandson, on the other hand, is 7, and a very immature 7. He's going into first grade. He has missed out on a LOT in the last year. He has ADHD, and his kindergarten teacher had to do a lot of one-on-one work with him (as have his parents over the last year while working full-time jobs from home). I'm not so sure that he's going to get that in first grade, not in 11 days. He's as smart as they come, but he needs someone to really focus him. He didn't make enough friends in kindergarten that he could keep up with over the last year, so he's going to have a tough time. He's very small for his age because of illness when he was younger. The smartest and smallest kid in the class is not a good combination. He also needs speech therapy. I'm afraid for him the last year will be more devastating.

With two days a week, they will have a grand total of 11 days of school this year.

[LM K]

My grandkids start back to school for the first time in more than a year next week, but only for two days a week. My grandson will go Monday and Tuesday; my granddaughter Thursday and Friday. Most of her friends will be going on M-T. She's not too happy. She has seen friends occasionally over the last year, but has missed being with them regularly. Now, she's still not going to see them, and she's going into a new school. She's now 11, almost 12. I think she will do okay over the long term. She's got a good head on her shoulders.

My grandson, on the other hand, is 7, and a very immature 7. He's going into first grade. He has missed out on a LOT in the last year. He has ADHD, and his kindergarten teacher had to do a lot of one-on-one work with him (as have his parents over the last year while working full-time jobs from home). I'm not so sure that he's going to get that in first grade, not in 11 days. He's as smart as they come, but he needs someone to really focus him. He didn't make enough friends in kindergarten that he could keep up with over the last year, so he's going to have a tough time. He's very small for his age because of illness when he was younger. The smartest and smallest kid in the class is not a good combination. He also needs speech therapy. I'm afraid for him the last year will be more devastating.

With two days a week, they will have a grand total of 11 days of school this year.

That's so sad!

I encourage your grandson's parents to request a formal evaluation for an Independent Education Plan asap. Federal laws requires that schools create an IEP for students whom, after formal evaluation, are determined to qualify for accommodations. Your grandson definitely qualifies. Your grandson's teacher can tell his parents whom to contact to get the evaluation system started.

A friend of mine has a 7 year old with severe ADHD and a speech impediment.

My friend's son has a classroom aide, is provided with finger spinners and other hand engaging tools that help him stays focused, extra recess as needed, and other things that I can't remember.

My friend's son is now learning on schedule. He's doing well.

Your grandson and family must be so overwhelmed. I believe that an IEP would make a tremendous difference for your grandson.

[AndyinPA]

The school has worked with him, but he barely got started with just kindergarten. His parents are well aware of his needs and what help is available. I just don't think any of that can happen in eleven days of school. I'm sad that he lost the year. It took him out of the scheduled routine he needs. The speech problem isn't severe, but I think some therapy would be good for him. He's on medication for the ADHD, which has helped a lot. I felt bad about his being put on it at first, but there's a real difference. They found out in kindergarten that he's color blind, although like my husband, not severely so. They were helping with that, too.

I appreciate all your advice. I'll double-check with my daughter and SIL, but I really am pretty sure they are in close contact with the school and are getting whatever help they can.

His dad has ADHD, so they didn't go into this blindly. Sometimes he can be a real handful in a way I never knew as a parent. In spite of everything, he's an absolute joy.

[Estiveo]

Good.

[LM K]

My college has announced that we're mandating vaccines. Sorta. Oregon law ties our hands; Oregon allows for "philosophical exemptions". I'm glad we're taking a stand, though.

Lane becomes first Oregon community college to require COVID-19 vaccine for all students, staff

Lane Community College is the first Oregon community college to require COVID-19 vaccines for all students and employees on campus this fall.

The Board of Education unanimously approved a vaccine mandate for students, faculty and staff for in-person instruction at its meeting Wednesday night. The mandate came at the recommendation of college administrators, students, reopening work groups and employee group representatives who spoke during public comment.

Out of Oregon's 17 community colleges, only one other — Central Oregon Community College in Bend — has announced it will require the vaccine. However, COCC's requirement only extends to students living in residence halls and faculty and students working in clinical settings or with patients for their programs.

While many others are "strongly encouraging" people get vaccinated, a handful of community colleges have stated they would not require the vaccine, including Portland Community College, which is the state's largest higher education institution, with more than 60,000 students. Oregon's seven public universities and some private schools have taken the opposite approach and announced COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

Now LCC will follow suit.


Medical and nonmedical exemptions will be allowed under this new mandate, as per Oregon law.

The mandate was strongly supported by employees. An all-employee survey had 92.73% indicating they had been or planned to be vaccinated. Leaders from both Lane Community College Education Association and the Lane Community College Employees Federation spoke in support of it in a joint statement to the board. These groups represent faculty and classified staff at the college.

"We believe that a mandate is critical — not only for the health and safety of the campus, but also for the community," said Adrienne Mitchell, LCCEA president. "As a community college with a health clinic, mass vaccination site and wide ranging career technical education offerings in health professions, LCC is uniquely positioned to promote public health in Lane County for the common good.


On top of overwhelming support, Hamilton also recommended the mandate because the CDC has guidance for colleges and universities that are fully vaccinated versus those that are not. Fully vaccinated campuses don't have to physically distance or require masking, and can return to full capacity under this guidance. For "mixed" campuses or campuses not fully vaccinated, colleges should maintain some of these rules to mitigate spread of the virus.

Employees at LCC are now having an online discussion about how to handle unvaccinated folks on campus. Staff is asking that the college require all unvaccinated individuals to wear masks. I wrote that because Oregon law ties our hands, we continue with our mask mandate. I don't trust unvaccinated folks to follow a "mask request".

I'm extremely happy that 93% of employees are or will be will soon be vaccinated. That is so much higher than I expected. Most of the remaining 7% is likely folks who cannot be vaccinated for medical/religious reasons.

[Lani]

Mandates work. This below is from my morning news brief from NYT. I can't access the website, but this synopsis is informative.

Before Houston Methodist became one of the first hospital systems in the U.S. to mandate Covid-19 vaccines, about 85 percent of its employees were vaccinated. After the mandate, the share rose to about 98 percent, with the remaining 2 percent receiving exemptions for medical or religious reasons, Bloomberg’s Carey Goldberg reported. Only about 0.6 percent of employees quit or were fired.

Schools — including Indiana University and many private colleges — that require students and workers to get vaccinated have reported extremely high uptake.

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey of Americans who had been opposed to getting vaccinated and later changed their minds found that mandates — or restrictions on the unvaccinated — were one common reason. One 51-year-old man told Kaiser that he began to feel as if he had “limited options without it.”

The French government will soon require that people show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test to eat at a restaurant, attend a movie or participate in many other activities. After President Emmanuel Macron announced the policy last week, the number of vaccine appointments surged. Italy announced a similar policy yesterday, The Times’s Marc Santora explains.

100k French protesters, many of whom wore the yellow star, claimed Macron was a nazi.

[LM K]

Mandates work. This below is from my morning news brief from NYT. I can't access the website, but this synopsis is informative.

Before Houston Methodist became one of the first hospital systems in the U.S. to mandate Covid-19 vaccines, about 85 percent of its employees were vaccinated. After the mandate, the share rose to about 98 percent, with the remaining 2 percent receiving exemptions for medical or religious reasons, Bloomberg’s Carey Goldberg reported. Only about 0.6 percent of employees quit or were fired.

Schools — including Indiana University and many private colleges — that require students and workers to get vaccinated have reported extremely high uptake.

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey of Americans who had been opposed to getting vaccinated and later changed their minds found that mandates — or restrictions on the unvaccinated — were one common reason. One 51-year-old man told Kaiser that he began to feel as if he had “limited options without it.”

The French government will soon require that people show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test to eat at a restaurant, attend a movie or participate in many other activities. After President Emmanuel Macron announced the policy last week, the number of vaccine appointments surged. Italy announced a similar policy yesterday, The Times’s Marc Santora explains.

100k French protesters, many of whom wore the yellow star, claimed Macron was a nazi.

I agree; mandates are brilliant. And they work. In Oregon, saying "I don't want to" is a legitimate reason to be exempt from the mandate.

I'm going to write my state reps and governor about this. Oregon has a strong and well organized anti-vaxxer population. The law must change.

When Frontline did a documentary on the anti-vaxxer movement, Ashland, OR was the focus city. Them people be crazy!

[sugar magnolia]

We stayed at home and had stuff delivered and missed out on festivals and concerts, and didn't eat out and basically hibernated for a year waiting for the vaccine. We did everything we were supposed to do while waiting on the vaccine. When it finally got here, we were in line as soon as possible to receive it. All the freedumbs were screaming "stay home if you're so scared!" so we did. We did exactly what was asked of us. Not it's time for the freedumbs to stay home if they aren't vaccinated. It makes perfect sense to me to put legal mandates on either getting your vaccine or wearing a fucking mask. It's their turn to stay home this time.

[AndyinPA]

[SlimSloSlider]

For real.
My son turns 12, Sept. 1st.
Gets his first shot as a birthday present.
If he’s going back to school in September, after over a year of Zoom school, …

But will all the teachers be vaxxed?
They have to speed up the changing of the status of the vaxx from experimental and emergency.

All the want-out crowd need a serious cold shower.

[AndyinPA]

My granddaughter turns 12 August 22. Vaccine very soon after that. She's looking forward to it.

Pittsburgh Public Schools will have all children masked. There hasn't been too much grumbling about that. There was a serious push in the spring to get teachers vaccinated, and they were given priority, so I'm not quite so worried about the teachers.

[Lani]

My granddaughter turns 12 August 22. Vaccine very soon after that. She's looking forward to it.

Pittsburgh Public Schools will have all children masked. There hasn't been too much grumbling about that. There was a serious push in the spring to get teachers vaccinated, and they were given priority, so I'm not quite so worried about the teachers.

[Lani]

First week of school in Hawaii ended with 105 covid cases. Great start! And that's with masking while inside.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Slim Cognito]

Hubs just read a news article to me that our school district is going to defy Gov DeathSentence and require masks, although parents can opt out.

[p0rtia]

Hubs just read a news article to me that our school district is going to defy Gov DeathSentence and require masks, although parents can opt out.

'

Does that include Pine Island?

[Slim Cognito]

I would assume so. It's the Lee Cty school district.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/44 ... t-opt-out/

The mandate delivers a stunning rebuke of an executive order by the Governor in the county where he promised Florida’s public schools would not have mask mandates in place or they would risk state funding.

[LM K]

First week of school in Hawaii ended with 105 covid cases. Great start! And that's with masking while inside.

That's worse than I expected!!