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Showing posts with label COVID 19 OUTBREAKS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COVID 19 OUTBREAKS. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

NANCY BAILEY: Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust

Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust
Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust





Covid-19 is a strange phenomenon without any proven how-to guides. Recommendations and contradictions surrounding Covid-19 and schools have raised uncertainty. When there’s a lack of clarity, people become suspicious of what they’re told, and they wonder what and who to believe.

Parents and Teachers Can’t Agree

Many parents believe schools are safe, few children get sick, Covid-19 is not real or not as bad as it’s made to sound, and teachers’ unions are remiss for their caution about in-person learning.

On the other hand, persons of color are hesitant to send their children back to school.

According to Mother Jones:

The pandemic has dealt a disproportionately heavy blow to Black Americans. According to CDC data published in September, Black youth accounted for 29 percent of COVID-19 deaths among people under 21, twice the percentage for white youth. The federal agency also found Black children under 18 at a significantly higher risk of hospitalization—almost four times higher than white children and teens.

Mixed Messages From the CDC, Pediatricians and Dr. Fauci

Parents who blame teachers for schools not fully opening, do so partly due to a sloppy push to make schools sound safe from the CDC, pediatricians, and Dr. Fauci.

Many claims ignore problems with school infrastructure and how schools work, while CONTINUE READING: Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust

Monday, March 15, 2021

March 14, 2020 | JD2718

March 14, 2020 | JD2718
March 14, 2020

TOP POSTS THIS MONTH 3/14/20


One year ago today.

One year ago today was Saturday. NYC public school attendance had been plummeting. But schools were scheduled normally for Monday, March 16.

Cuomo and de Blasio were still insisting that schools stay open. Not just de Blasio, but Cuomo too. Those of you blinded by him not being batshit nuts during his press conferences, don’t forget how bad he was. And not just about nursing homes. And group homes for the developmentally disabled. March 14, 2021, the mayor and governor were insisting that schools stay open.

1199 did not want to close schools. They were concerned about how their members – crucial hospital workers – could work if they suddenly had childcare needs thrown on them. Many teachers were sympathetic. Eventually we got REC centers, but on March 14 this was very much part of the conversation.

The UFT was recommending to de Blasio that he close schools. “Recommend” is weak language, right? And that recommendation was not made until Friday March 13. Read Mulgrew’s press release. He agreed to disagree? Also, the UFT leadership started a petition on March 13 to de Blasio to close schools. It got lots of signatures, though not nearly as many as the earlier member-initiated petition to Cuomo.

Side note – it was already clear that the UFT leadership was afraid of criticizing Cuomo. This foreshadowed April, when they went ballistic when de Blasio took away Good Friday, but Mulgrew told members to suck it up when Cuomo stole Spring Break.

I have heard some confusion about Mulgrew threatening to go to court. We need to be precise. Mulgrew DID threaten court action – but it was not to close NYC public schools. The NYCDoE was violating its CONTINUE READING: March 14, 2020 | JD2718

Monday, January 18, 2021

WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog

WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog
WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread



Last spring and summer, we read many articles about Europe’s success in keeping its schools open, based on the belief that young children are less likely to get sick with COVID-19 and less likely to spread it.

Ruth Bender reports in The Wall Street Journal that European nations are closing their schools because new studies show that children do get the disease and are likely to spread it.

As U.S. authorities debate whether to keep schools open, a consensus is emerging in Europe that children are a considerable factor in the spread of Covid-19—and more countries are shutting schools for the first time since the spring.

Closures have been announced recently in the U.K., Germany, Ireland, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands on concerns about a more infectious variant of the virus first detected in the U.K. and rising case counts despite lockdowns.

While the debate continues, recent studies and outbreaks show that schoolchildren, even younger ones, can play a significant role in spreading infections.

“In the sec­ond wave we ac­quired much more CONTINUE READING: WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog

Education Matters: Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district.

Education Matters: Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district.
Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district.




Those numbers are beyond scary, and they beg the question, how can effective contact tracing occur? The answer is it can't, and that means more people will get sick and worse. So what is the district doing to improve it? If you guessed nothing you would be correct.


When I got COVID, I notified my school on Sunday. The health department got in touch with me on Wednesday and promptly did nothing, even though I had been within six feet of everybody in my class every day, including days when there was no doubt I was infected. 

I got this note last night,

Still, no word from DOH, and now the whole family has it, so he’s out another week. Another 5th grader has it in one of my switch classes! We were told to send packets home, but no concern for our safety or the other children who have been exposed!

Unfortunately, I get CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Is it safe to send your kids to school? | Salon.com

Is it safe to send your kids to school? | Salon.com
Is it safe to send your kids to school?
Health experts worry the issue has become politicized, and argue it's safer than one might think — with a catch


Ten months into the pandemic, the prospect of reopening K-12 schools is divisive. Yet unlike wearing a mask to stop the spread of the virus — a politicized act which is scientifically proven to work — there is far more nuance between the "right" and "wrong" option for in-person schooling. And it can be wildly variable depending on the region.

Recently, Chicago has found itself facing this very question of reopening schools. Mayor Lori Lightfoot hoped to reopen public schools today for the first time since March, though her plans faced fierce opposition from the teachers' union. Emily Oster, an economics professor at Brown University, told the New York Times that the Chicago school reopening was "probably the most contentious and unpleasant reopening, in terms of how the different sides are interacting with each other."

Indeed, the stand-off in Chicago is a microcosm of the tensions that many communities have faced throughout the pandemic. From an education standpoint, some are concerned that their children will be set back; from a social standpoint, some children are more safe at schools than at home if they live with abusive guardians.

Yet from a public health perspective, congregating in schools increases the probability of transmission to or from students and teachers. That fear is heightened if there is an immunocompromised parent or grandparent living in the house.

Perhaps, then, the matter comes down to how much one trusts masks and distancing guidelines. In search of ascertaining what is the "safest" option for children, Salon interviewed three medical experts who unanimously agreed: sending children to school is safe if the proper precautions are being taken — and those precautions should be a priority for policymakers, community leaders, and parents alike. CONTINUE READING: Is it safe to send your kids to school? | Salon.com

Monday, January 11, 2021

New studies provide more info for in-person school and community spread

New studies provide more info for in-person school and community spread
PROOF POINTS: Two new studies point to virus thresholds for in-person school
Researchers looked at hospitalization and coronavirus case rates



Two new studies on whether to keep schools open during the coronavirus pandemic come to strikingly similar conclusions: it’s not a simple yes or no. Instead, there are public health thresholds that can indicate when in-person classes are safe. 

The similarity in the results is striking considering that the research teams used different data and took different approaches to crunching the numbers.

“The fact that it seems safe [to open schools] in some places but perhaps not in others isn’t surprising,” said Tulane University economist Douglas Harris, a researcher on one of the studies. “Schools should spread the virus less in places where there is less of it to spread.”

Harris’s study, released on Jan. 4, looked at every 2020 school opening in the country through the fall and tracked how many people in each county landed in the hospital because of COVID-19 for the following six weeks. Harris and two Tulane health researchers found that school openings didn’t add to the number of people in the hospital, as long as the COVID-19 hospitalization rate was below 36 to 44 people per 100,000 residents per week CONTINUE READING: New studies provide more info for in-person school and community spread

Education Matters: Duval Courts close, Duval schools stay open, um wait what?!?

Education Matters: Duval Courts close, Duval schools stay open, um wait what?!?
Duval Courts close, Duval schools stay open, um wait what?!?


Chief Judge Mark Mahone and Superintendent Greene must be looking at the same information. So what do they do? The chief Judge closes the courts until February 22nd while Superintendent Greene encourages children to return to the buildings. Greene's reckless behavior is going to get (more) people sick or worse.  

From the Times Union, 

In a Jan. 6 email to top officials in the courts and criminal justice system, Chief Judge Mark Mahon said virtually all in-person courthouse functions will be suspended until Feb. 22. Mahon stopped short of officially returning to Phase 1 Covid protocols, but his email directive is materially identical to the Florida Supreme Court's definition of Phase 1...

... “Duval, Clay, and Nassau Counties’ health conditions have drastically deteriorated over the last month to the point that the entire Circuit is now trending up faster than or exceeds the state averages for weekly new cases and positivity rates,” Mahon said in his email. “As a result, we must modify our current operations plan.”

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/coronavirus/2021/01/09/chief-judge-orders-shutdown-all-person-court-functions-until-feb-22/6608868002/?

The judge is right. The situation in Duval has deteriorated, and it is bound to get a lot worse before it  CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: Duval Courts close, Duval schools stay open, um wait what?!?

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Surge Since New Years | JD2718

Surge Since New Years | JD2718
Surge Since New Years




Nationally there was a dip in new cases after Thanksgiving (New York State did not experience that dip; we have special leadership). But after Christmas the numbers have roared back. We are currently seeing a surge that is steeper than the spring (once the unreported cases are factored in.)

7 Day moving averages, for the US, NY, NJ, CT, MA:

 



Thursday, January 7, 2021

CURMUDGUCATION: In Seattle, A Tough Back To School Choice

CURMUDGUCATION: In Seattle, A Tough Back To School Choice
In Seattle, A Tough Back To School Choice




Seattle's school board made a decision, just a few weeks ago, to re-open face-to-face school for pre-K, kindergarten, some special ed, and 1st grade students. It's a good example of the kinds of re-opening challenges that parents and teachers are facing, the kind of thing that is being pushed out as a "plan" by a major district.

Parents received an e-mail inviting them to complete a "survey" and commit themselves to either continuing at-home instruction via computer, or sending their child back for in-person learning on March 1st.

The e-mail was sent out January 5th. The decision must be made by January 10th. 

The e-mail includes a link to a FAQ page that is not, well, as helpful as it might be. For one thing, the tone is perhaps not unpleasant, but certainly brusque. For instance, on the matter of the deadline.

Can I change my decision after March 1?

The decision a family makes by January 10 will continue through the end of the CONTINUE READING: 
CURMUDGUCATION: In Seattle, A Tough Back To School Choice

California governor pressures schools to reopen as health care system nears collapse - World Socialist Web Site

California governor pressures schools to reopen as health care system nears collapse - World Socialist Web Site
California governor pressures schools to reopen as health care system nears collapse



The Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee will be holding a national online meeting at 12 p.m. CST (1 p.m. EST) this Saturday, January 9, titled, “Stop in-person learning until the pandemic is contained!” We urge all educators, parents, students and workers who wish to join the struggle to close schools and nonessential businesses to register today and invite your coworkers and friends.

The state of California recorded its highest number of new COVID-19 cases on Monday at 74,000. Statewide, 96 new daily cases are now being recorded per 100,000 residents, 50 percent greater than the national average of 64 cases per 100,000, giving California the second-highest such figure in the nation, trailing only Arizona’s 112.

The most severe outbreak in the state has occurred in the Los Angeles metro area, which has become the national and global epicenter of the pandemic. As of Wednesday evening, 11,382 Angelinos have died thus far while 852,165 cases have been officially reported in a region of nearly 11 million people.

Over the past week, Los Angeles County has averaged roughly 13,800 cases and 183 deaths per day, among the county’s highest average daily death tolls. Since Christmas alone, at least 2,044 deaths have been recorded in the county.

As of Wednesday, Los Angeles County was hospitalizing 8,098 COVID-19 patients while 1,620 were in intensive care. Los Angeles now has zero percent ICU capacity, with ambulances waiting up to eight hours to offload patients, oftentimes until a bed becomes available due to another patient’s death.

Los Angeles hospitals are now openly being given directives as to which patients should be treated and which should be allowed to die. Ambulance workers have been told not to transport patients who have little to no chance of survival. Hospitals and ambulances have also been ordered to ration oxygen as supplies run critically low. Oxygen is only to be administered to patients with blood oxygen levels below 90 percent even though levels below 95 percent are considered to be below normal and CONTINUE READING: California governor pressures schools to reopen as health care system nears collapse - World Socialist Web Site

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Students Set to Return to School as COVID Cases Spike – Tennessee Education Report

Students Set to Return to School as COVID Cases Spike – Tennessee Education Report
STUDENTS SET TO RETURN TO SCHOOL AS COVID CASES SPIKE



The head of the Knox County Education Association (KCEA) is calling on that district to begin school this semester in a hybrid or virtual model as COVID-19 cases spike in Knox County and across the state.

WBIR has more:

The Knox County Education Association called for the county’s schools to start the semester in the “red zone” with no in-person learning, or with an alternating hybrid schedule where students alternate in-person days, the group’s president said Monday. 

“We can’t sacrifice lives over politics and we need to do what’s right and what’s best for everyone,” Tanya Coats told 10News. “Educating kids is a priority for us, but we just need to do it remotely from home.” 

The push in Knox County to move to remote learning comes at time when new cases of COVID-19 in Tennessee and in Knox County are increasing.

As WBIR notes, since December 11th:

. . . the county’s health department has reported in excess of 10 thousand more positive tests and more than 100 new deaths tied to the virus. The number of active cases has increased by 62 percent. 

In fact, Tennessee achieved “best in the world” status for COVID transmission rate (the highest rate) in December and the entire state is currently identified as CONTINUE READING: Students Set to Return to School as COVID Cases Spike – Tennessee Education Report

Matt Barnum: Do schools spread COVID? It depends on the community, new studies suggest - Chalkbeat

Do schools spread COVID? It depends on the community, new studies suggest - Chalkbeat
Do schools spread COVID? It may depend on how bad things already are around them



Opening school buildings doesn’t increase the spread of COVID-19 in places where cases or hospitalizations from the virus are rare, according to two new studies.

Reopening schools in areas with higher caseloads, though, does spread the virus, one found, while the other couldn’t rule out that possibility. It remains unclear exactly at what point school reopening becomes more risky.

The papers are the most rigorous efforts yet to understand the link between schools and COVID spread in the U.S. It’s research that could guide school officials and health officials grappling with whether to reopen or keep open school buildings. But there aren’t simple answers for places with higher numbers, at a moment when some counties are seeing COVID cases peak.

“It appears that, when hospitalizations rates are low, it is safe to reopen schools in person,” said Douglas Harris, a professor at Tulane University who co-authored one of the studies, which examined national data. “This is important given the side effects of closure for students, such as limiting access to essential services, social isolation, and learning loss.”

At the same time, his co-author Engy Zieden warned that these conclusions don’t apply everywhere. “Given the recent spike in hospitalizations in recent months, policymakers should be cautious,” she said. “It may not be safe to reopen schools where the virus is already widespread.”

The national study, released Monday, examined whether opening schools increased COVID hospitalization rates in surrounding communities. The answer was no, up to a CONTINUE READING: Do schools spread COVID? It depends on the community, new studies suggest - Chalkbeat

Monday, January 4, 2021

The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant - The Atlantic

The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant - The Atlantic
The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant
Even in places where schools want to reopen, too many teachers are sick or quarantining for classrooms to operate, and substitutes cannot fill the void.


For months, the debate about whether to open schools has centered on one question: Are schools safe? The only trouble is, this hardly matters anymore. Except in the few remaining regions with modest rates of viral spread, the transmission risk from and within schools is now beside the point. So many teachers and staff members are sick, quarantining, or have stepped down that many schools trying to remain open or to reopen just do not have the personnel available to do so well.

The examples are countless. Littleton Public Schools in Colorado, in announcingtheir shift to remote learning, stated that one of their primary reasons for doing so was that “keeping enough staff in schools for supervision is becoming a real concern. It is especially difficult, and impossible on some days, to have enough licensed teachers in classrooms delivering quality instruction.” Jeannine Nota-Masse, the superintendent of Rhode Island’s second-largest school district, was quoted in a local news story as saying, “Now you have students in the building and not enough adults to cover for the adults that are home for various reasons.” One elementary school near Milwaukee lacked 10 teachers on a recent day; Metro Nashville Public Schools has, according to The Tennessean, “had more than 200 teachers or staff members in quarantine or self-isolation each week since the end of October.” In a Reuters survey of 217 districts across 30 states, about half reported significant staffing issues—and this was before Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the arrival of deep winter.

[Nina Schwalbe: Why are we closing schools?]

The reason for the shortages isn’t intransigent teachers’ unions or unreasonable fear; it’s simply that the virus is too widely spread. Upwards of 200,000 new COVID-19 cases are reported most days, and Anthony Fauci recently warned that January numbers will likely look even bleaker. The new viral variant, if it takes  CONTINUE READING: The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant - The Atlantic


Friday, January 1, 2021

Education Matters: DCPS is full steam ahead while other school districts play it cautious.

Education Matters: DCPS is full steam ahead while other school districts play it cautious.
DCPS is full steam ahead while other school districts play it cautious


Duval County has been averaging a thousand cases a day. Our positivity rate is close to ten percent. The new even more, contagious strain of COVID has been found in Florida, and we are undoubtedly going to get a holiday bump in cases, so what does DCPS do? Nothing, as more districts take their students and staff safety seriously, DCPS does nothing about their reckless policies. 

Pittsburg pumps the breaks, 

From WPIX.com,

Officials with Pittsburgh Public Schools said they are delaying the spring return to in-person learning.

“I talked to the board about not coming back on Jan. 4 because I knew the numbers would be high. We tentatively are going to bring our educators and staff back into our buildings on Jan. 18,” said Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet.

https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/pittsburgh-public-schools-delays-spring-return-in-person-learning/TSOINMVU3RCEXJR25A2UOH7XJI/

Ware County slows things down too,

From ActionNewsjax.com,

The school district released the following CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: DCPS is full steam ahead while other school districts play it cautious.



Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Opinion: Teachers are more than Covid data points - CNN

Opinion: Teachers are more than Covid data points - CNN
Too many parents and decision makers treat teachers like they don't matter



(CNN)Julie Davis, 49, was an inspirational third grade teacher, a "mother to everyone," who attended her students' extracurriculars and donated to children in need. About three weeks after a student at her North Carolina school tested positive for Covid-19, Davis fell ill. This mother and grandmother died certain, her brother said, that she caught the virus at school (an assessment the superintendent said was unproven). One week after Davis's death, her school system shifted to virtual instruction because of rampant Covid-19 infections in the schools and community.

Alexandra Robbins
Amid growing numbers of Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths, I've spoken to educators who told me they're afraid for their lives and the health of their loved ones. Meanwhile, some organized groups of parents are issuing increasingly forceful calls to reopen schools. But too many of them neglect the teachers.
This neglect fits a pattern. In March, some districts initially failed to heed teachers' pleas to close, forcing them to keep working in person; at least 70 school-based staff died in New York City alone, though it's unclear whether they contracted the disease in schools. In a statement emailed to New York City outlet THE CITY in response to questions in May about how the Department of Education had handled the situation, a spokeswoman said that DOE's practice was to "immediately" notify school communities about Covid cases confirmed by the state Department of Health and added, "All our decisions are informed by public health experts in order to protect the health and safety of our students and staff." In the summer, some decision makers excluded teachers from discussions about how to operate pandemic classrooms. And now, many parents and pundits alike are ignoring teachers again.
    America faces a dissonant, CONTINUE READING: Opinion: Teachers are more than Covid data points - CNN

    Monday, December 7, 2020

    Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools

    Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools
    Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools




    Los Angeles campuses will shut down completely beginning Thursday for all in-person tutoring and special services, as prospects for fully reopening the nation's second-largest school district recede further into 2021 amid a dangerous coronavirus surge, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday.

    The move immediately affects some 4,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and outdoor conditioning for athletes. Beutner's emergency order comes on the first day of a sweeping stay-at-home order across much of California and as Los Angeles County's coronavirus rates reach unprecedented numbers.

    "My commitment has been throughout to protect the health and safety of all in the school community," Beutner said in an interview with The Times. "We have an imperative to get kids back to school as soon as possible the safest way possible. But all that comes through the front door, and the front door is what is COVID in the overall Los Angeles community. Right now it's at extraordinary and quite dangerous levels."

    The superintendent's remarks follow those from teachers union president Cecily Myart-Cruz, who said Friday on social media that it has become a question of "if" rather than "when" campuses would reopen for the spring semester.

    Beutner is not alone in pulling back from campus-based services, but there's been a range of responses across California.

    The school board in San Bernardino City Unified, which serves about 47,000 students, voted Nov. 17 to keep campuses closed in that district, the state's eighth-largest, for the remainder of the school year.

    In northwest L.A. County, Las Virgenes Unified, with about 11,000 students, has expanded in-person instruction — bringing back third-graders to campus on Monday. About three-quarters of students in transitional kindergarten through second grade had already returned under a county-approved waiver that is available to any school.