How is it where you are?

[Tmacs]

Ok here. Numbers are higher but masks are required and I think they’re working. Still too many people doing big gatherings. We are one of the only schools open in our area (private) and we are doing great! Only one family positive from an outside contact. Zero spread and we’ve been in person since September. Masks, cleaning, barriers, temp checks and parents being cautious.
Gym has been almost back to normal since the summer. Praying no shut down.

 

[ernestine]

Terrible.

My mom, who is a kg teacher, is sick and got tested yesterday but has to wait days before the results arrived.

My cousin's 10 year old daughter is very sick with covid. She's been vomiting for days, her intestines have shut down and aren't moving anything through. She is in a lot of pain. And both my cousin and his wife are persons with disabilities and are higher risk of complications from Covid if they catch it.

My son's soccer coach is out with Covid. Luckily they are very strict with masks for outdoor practice and everyone wears a mask. So my son is considered low risk for catching it.

My grandfather's nursing home has multiple cases of Covid.

And my other grandfather is in the hospital after a fall. He doesn't have Covid but my dad can't visit him. Which sucks bc they are overmedicating my grandpa. Who is normally very with it, and is now unable to even communi

Hey, y'all how is COVID-19 where you are? Please tell

Schools never opened. Gym is open and has not had any cases. It is a very careful place with strict cohorting. All meets this year will be in-house. I am thrilled about that as we would absolutely not set foot in another gym. Our coaches all wear masks and the girls maintain 6 feet of distance (other than when there's spotting. Only from the head coach.)

 

[Mrs. Puma]

Cases are on the rise here. We had been around 1% positivity for a long time, and yesterday our county was over 6%, and my area over 8%. My kids only go to in person school once a week anyway, so if schools shut down it wouldn’t be that different for us, but I really hope gymnastics and my older daughter‘s theater group can stay open!! Sadly, I think things will only get worse as the weather gets colder and with the holidays. Definitely stressed....

 

[thefellowsmom]

Positives are way up here. Much higher than even back in the spring, but hospitalizations are up but still pretty low and deaths are very low. Hopefully they stay that way. Based on demographic data it looks like they are doing a good job protecting the elderly and we have very good mask conformity.

there has been no talk of additional restrictions but things here Are not nearly and never have been as open as other places. I feel like the balance is good and long as the hospitals are doing ok they should likely leave it as is.

School never opened, all remote. Very pleased with how our district has handled things and stepped up for families in need.

Gym is open and business as usual same since June. No cases or anyone having to quarantine because of exposure as of yet.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

No cases or anyone having to quarantine because of exposure as of yet.

We have had some quarantines, as far as I know, all just precautionary? Our gym’s rule is that if anyone in the house has to quarantine, the gymnast cannot come. I fully support this. My older daughter was quarantined since a kid in her class was positive (the school did not notify us until Day 10, and the health department called day 12, but that’s another story...), so Puma Jr joined via zoom, which we were thankful for. Another teammate is quarantined right now. I’m glad people seem to be being honest about it. I think this rule and people following it has kept the kids and coaches safe so far. I’ll do whatever to keep the gym open.

 

[mommyof1]

We have had some quarantines, as far as I know, all just precautionary? Our gym’s rule is that if anyone in the house has to quarantine, the gymnast cannot come. I fully support this. My older daughter was quarantined since a kid in her class was positive (the school did not notify us until Day 10, and the health department called day 12, but that’s another story...), so Puma Jr joined via zoom, which we were thankful for. Another teammate is quarantined right now. I’m glad people seem to be being honest about it. I think this rule and people following it has kept the kids and coaches safe so far. I’ll do whatever to keep the gym open.

It’s great that people where you live are doing the right thing. In our county, the school district and health department are actively concealing information about exposure. Parents are only notified and told to quarantine their kids if the school seating chart shows that the kid sat next to an infected person. The rest of the class is not notified. There are rumors that parents are avoiding having kids tested so they won’t have to keep them home from school. We do hear which schools have new cases, and most schools are now having new cases announced every day. In public, many people wear their masks with their noses hanging out. The way things are going, we are in for a long and dark winter.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

It’s great that people where you live are doing the right thing. In our county, the school district and health department are actively concealing information about exposure. Parents are only notified and told to quarantine their kids if the school seating chart shows that the kid sat next to an infected person.

That’s not “actively concealing” anything. Looking at the seating chart and room sign ins is called contact tracing. It’s following contact tracing protocol and not violating HIPPA. They can not by law violate privacy.

Only those deemed a direct exposure need to be notified and quarantine.

What constitutes a direct exposure should be clearly spelled out by the health department and the school district. I can easily access those guidelines on the CDC site, my state site and school site.

When we get notified of a case (and we have had several) the superintendent clearly states Who tested positive (student, teacher, staff) and how many folks need to quarantine. He also clearly states, due to privacy laws he cannot give specfics and if you do not hear from the board of health your student does not have to quarantine.

We have had a dozen cases in our district. Not one was “caught” at school.
And don‘t assume a child is sick because they are positive. In fact as per the FB parent group the 8 recent cases were from a Halloween party, while were already in quarantine. So there are 8 students who have had their quarantines extended.

 

[mommyof1]

That’s not “actively concealing” anything. Looking at the seating chart and room sign ins is called contact tracing. It’s following contact tracing protocol and not violating HIPPA. They can not by law violate privacy.

Only those deemed a direct exposure need to be notified and quarantine.

What constitutes a direct exposure should be clearly spelled out by the health department and the school district. I can easily access those guidelines on the CDC site, my state site and school site.

When we get notified of a case (and we have had several) the superintendent clearly states Who tested positive (student, teacher, staff) and how many folks need to quarantine. He also clearly states, due to privacy laws he cannot give specfics and if you do not hear from the board of health your student does not have to quarantine.

We have had a dozen cases in our district. Not one was “caught” at school.
And don‘t assume a child is sick because they are positive. In fact as per the FB parent group the 8 recent cases were from a Halloween party, while were already in quarantine. So there are 8 students who have had their quarantines extended.

Without getting into a discussion of how HIPAA and FERPA do and don’t apply, one issue is how the district has chosen to define direct exposure. The CDC definition of exposure (must be within 6 feet of an infected person, regardless of ventilation, etc.) is woefully inadequate, but the district is not even following this definition. For example, kids are waiting in lunch lines for 25 minutes in close proximity to one another, but those contacts are not being identified and notified.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

Our area is doing ok. Cases had slightly increased a week ago, but the number of new cases have declined again the last few days. We’ve remained at 6%. The number of hospitalizations have not increased since the summer and remain low and we haven’t had a Covid related death in weeks. In a county of 80,000, we’ve had less than 20 total deaths. I’m not making light of those that lost their lives, but it’s good news for our area that the virus isn’t more deadly.

My children’s school has been open since Labor Day (full five days) without a single reported case. A couple of other schools have had a few isolated cases, all outside school transmissions, and yet no cases have been traced to being spread within school. Those staff members and those that were in contact with them per CDC guidelines were quarantined. So no school outbreaks.

Our gym opened in June and again no cases have been transmitted through gym. One family contracted it outside of gym and one coach contracted it outside of gym. No one else in the gym caught it. Gym took appropriate safety measures recommended by CDC. We had DD tested to be safe and she was negative. Teammate’s family and coach all recovered well. The teammate and siblings symptoms were all very mild.

My other children have been involved in fall baseball and soccer. The children were not required to wear masks, just coaches and officials. Again no issues.

I’m sure some will take issue with what I’ve stated but this is what it is like in our area. We are not and have not been a hot spot. The majority of people here wear masks and take precautions. And life can have some semblance of normalcy. Online school and delivery services and other options have been made available for those who are more at risk or have a lower comfort level with this virus.

The majority here do not fear the virus, they fear another shutdown. Their chances of recovering from the virus are exponentially higher than their livelihood recovering from another shutdown. And a shutdown just isn’t needed here at this time.

 

[josie55]

Not sure if this will come through here but I find this visual a fascinating view of how things are in the U.S.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Not sure if this will come through here but I find this visual a fascinating view of how things are in the U.S.

Not sure if this will come through here but I find this visual a fascinating view of how things are in the U.S.

Cases are not a good measure, as we are testing like crazy. Deaths and hospitalizations are down. That is good.

 

[JessSyd]

Cases are not a good measure, as we are testing like crazy. Deaths and hospitalizations are down. That is good.

Covid hospitalizations are literally, today, at an all time high for the US.

 

[coachmolly]

I work for a non-profit but we operate within a school district, I'm still working remotely but the district itself is a complete mess. They were doing full, in-person instruction and have gone back to virtual until after Thanksgiving because of a massive explosion of cases as well as the death of teacher due to COVID. I've heard it's being traced back to a parent run Halloween party. Our area is seeing a major resurgence of cases and hospitalizations and still the school's game plan is to return to in-person instruction between Thanksgiving and Christmas which seems incredibly risky given we are setting a new record for cases daily and travel and family gatherings for Thanksgiving is likely not going to help that. We are above the threshold the state set for schools to return to full remote learning and health experts from a major local hospital system are asking schools to close, especially middle & high schools, but most of them are not listening.

 

[mommyof1]

That’s not “actively concealing” anything. Looking at the seating chart and room sign ins is called contact tracing. It’s following contact tracing protocol and not violating HIPPA. They can not by law violate privacy.

Parents are calling the school and asking if there was a case in their child’s class. They are being told that the school cannot provide that information. The school is actively concealing information.

Privacy laws do not preclude the disclosure of cases in a class. We get a letter if someone has lice.

 

[raenndrops]

Parents are calling the school and asking if there was a case in their child’s class. They are being told that the school cannot provide that information. The school is actively concealing information.

Privacy laws do not preclude the disclosure of cases in a class. We get a letter if someone has lice.

Our school sends out a letter from the health department whenever anyone in the "district family" tests positive. The letters explain that the school and health department are working together to determine who may have been in contact with the affected person for 15 minutes or more. They do not publicly announce who or what class and their reply if asked about which classroom, or was so and so's class affected are met with "The health department will contact anyone that is at risk due to contact."
There have been a total of 5 confirmed cases in our district:
First was a student in the Digital Academy (the online option).
Second was a staff member at the middle school. The person had last been at work the day before the Health Department sent the letter to the school to share with parents.
Third was a staff member at the "district level" ... so either at the board office OR a staff member that goes between schools. The person had last been at work the day before the Health Department sent the letter to the school to share with parents.
4th and 5th (I am going to guess they are siblings because it was in 1 letter) were students in the high school and the middle school. The students have not been in school since November 4 ... and we got the letter at 3:54pm today.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Parents are calling the school and asking if there was a case in their child’s class. They are being told that the school cannot provide that information. The school is actively concealing information.

Privacy laws do not preclude the disclosure of cases in a class. We get a letter if someone has lice.

No they are not actively concealing information. They can not share health information, the exposed person is protected by HIPPA. It is the DOH and contact tracing that decides who gets contacted. If a child has an exposure the parents are notified. If you are not notified, there was not exposure. Nothing to conceal. And if the DOH contacts you they are not going to give you specifics. They are going to say you or your child had and exposure, thats it. The school does not make that decision. Our superintendent likes his job and his pension. He is not going to tell us more then the DOH allows.

Again, I can't speak to your school. We have gotten case notifications at least once if not more a week for over a month. Our superintendent, notifies us that a school has a case. He notifies us how many students/staff had exposure. And then he clearly states it is our local Department of Health that is doing the notification of those with exposure. If you do not hear from the DOH. You or your child was not exposed. The school can not/does not do that. And side note if your child is on the exposed list, they will not be allowed in school. No slipping through the cracks.

I work in a hospital. We had 2 cases in our department. The only people notified were those who had direct contact. Our butts would be fired if shared any information. I happened to have exposure to both cases. The first case didn't know who the 2 second case was as he was already diagnosed. I certainly wasn't going to put my license and job on the line and tell him.

Seriously there is no concealing. Concealing would be a child was within 6 feet of a known positive case for more then 15 minutes (or what ever your local DOH defines as an exposure) and a parent was not notified. That would be concealing or neglect.

Just because you want to know and don't, doesn't equal concealment. Heck in our district they don't even tell you specifics about head lice.

Really, would you like folks spilling your health information to any one who asks?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Side note. Every case in our school and my lab had no tracing to the school or lab....

Thats 0 cases spread at school or work... out of 25 cases I know about.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

@Deleted member 18037 is correct with her information. That’s how it works here as well and I’m in a different state. And I agree with how they are handling it. If your school is social distancing the children and requiring masks, then not every child in the classroom will meet the DOH’s criteria and therefore not at risk of contracting the virus. Notifying everyone could create unnecessary panic. If you don’t like the DOH’s criteria, then you have an online option for education. Your need to know does not entitle you to possible exposing of my child’s medical confidentiality.

 

[mommyof1]

@Deleted member 18037 is correct with her information. That’s how it works here as well and I’m in a different state. And I agree with how they are handling it. If your school is social distancing the children and requiring masks, then not every child in the classroom will meet the DOH’s criteria and therefore not at risk of contracting the virus. Notifying everyone could create unnecessary panic. If you don’t like the DOH’s criteria, then you have an online option for education. Your need to know does not entitle you to possible exposing of my child’s medical confidentiality.

Notifying the entire class, as is done with other contagious illnesses and with allergies, does not violate any privacy rules. The infected person is not identified when the entire class is notified.

Furthermore, our school is NOT distancing students and is having them remove masks to eat lunch in classrooms, with a prohibition on opening doors and windows. Everyone in the classroom is at risk.

 

[MILgymFAM]

All schools in our district are switching back to remote next week.