No not at all. It is just laying out a possible plan to try and stop the spread of C-19 and protect the most vulnerable. It’s just a plan.
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This popped up in my FB feed this morning. (I very rarely post, but have been reading this thread since the very beginning. I greatly appreciate the information and thoughtful discussions posted here, though I miss @qwerty6! I hope everything is ok!)
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Just returned from camping at Big Bend with my family. Dare I say we had as much fun as we did at Disney?
For our Disney trip last year I bought trekking poles because I just couldn’t bring myself to buy a cane (I’m not even 40!) for any longer stretches of walking. I used them a few times.
When we planned this trip to Big Bend I envisioned some really short trails (.5 mile easy ones) for me and DH taking the kids on more adventurous hikes. But, y’all, with my bought-for-Disney trekking poles I could handle all of the moderate 3-hour hikes we tackled! Plus waving a couple of trekking poles in the air while yelling seemed like a good way to scare off any unwelcome wildlife, as an added bonus. (As if any wildlife hangs around long enough to even be seen by my loud family of 7).
Creepiest moment was waking up to the screaming of a mountain lion. I really did think it was a woman yelling at first.
Mask compliance was great the whole drive and stay. Campground bathroom? Masks. Hiking on the trail? Masks. The popular area of the parks were busy but everyone was courteous. I am sure that the staggering prevalence of the virus in west Texas can be attributed to that.
I enjoyed catching up on this thread and will circle back to read some of the articles. I’m hoping that working in a school is enough to qualify as a teacher for an early vaccine. I am so ready to get back to normal living.
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
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This is an interesting bit:
The researchers found that the chances of a person with coronavirus, regardless of their age, passing it on to a close contact ranged from 2.6% in the community to 9% in the household.
Although other studies have found household attack rates to be a bit higher, it just keeps bringing me back to the weirdness of this virus. As they pointed out in this report, it definitely gets around by superspreading. For example, it’s not unusual for one spouse to get it, and the other not, even if they are both older or in poor health. That is the only reason DH gets to come home, lol!
And yet, it seems to be a highly communicable disease- but only by certain people in certain situations. It would be so very, very helpful if we knew what those situations and/or physiologic properties were, so the restrictions can be tailored. It’s terribly frustrating that we don’t know with any certainty what these variables are, at least not to the degree that we can do more than just have blanket restrictions & generalized guidelines.
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Interesting, a co-worker recently told me her DH had C-19. Her and her DS segregated from DH, whom they kept in the basement (that last bit sounds odd 
). Anyway, neither her or her DS caught it, but DH was sick for about 10 days.
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I know multiple people who have gotten it and had their primary caretakers be in the same household with them and the caretaker not get it. I also know people who have gotten it and everyone in the household gets it. It’s very strange.
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Just more to pile onto the unknown stressors 
I really need to get the guest room in the house set up for a possible segregation C-19 is spiking here, like everywhere else, and I just think it’s a matter of time before DH catches it and brings it home. His work is not good w/ mask use. He does his best to stay away from others… but…
Here is an interesting random tibit from our HS PTO meeting - the principal stated that all cases at the high school were able to be traced back to where they got the virus and none of them came from spread in school. We have had 25 incidences at the high school to date (this week we started virtual). Cases were traced back to exposure from family members, Halloween parties, and other outside school activities.
I really wish the kids were still in school . I am concerned about how the full year of content will be covered by the end of the year. In hybrid, one day was in person, the off day was asynchronous. Now in virtual they have even periods one day odd periods the next. Either way they are only getting half the teaching time from a teacher. My high schooler is taking several AP classes. I’m just not confident this will work out well.
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This is really good info. And I think it’s great that they’ve been doing the tracing too.
I have great faith in our educators and students
Coronavirus colds could be a factor.
Are they including students and adults? Do other cities/towns have the same level of contract tracing?
Staff that live outside of the school’s city/town makes some of the data, at times, questionable for us.
Yes this includes staff and students. In our high school, it breaks down to 23 students and 2 staff.
I don’t know what other schools have done. Contact tracing from the county has had a lag of several days (sometimes a week), so the school notified all close contacts immediately upon finding out of the positive student (or staff) when called in by the parent, and put the classes into quarantine. The school would beat the county by many days notice.
Other surrounding schools have had major teacher issues. One local school was shut down because staff went on a limo wine tasting tour together, many caught the virus. We are having substitute shortages (before virtual) due to the number of teachers that were on quarantine. The teachers would teach from home via computers (zoom/google classroom) but there still needed to be a sub in the room.
Beautiful! Big Bend is on my list of places I want to visit!
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It is very odd how it’s playing out.
I live in NJ, which is on another upswing in cases.
My county is also doing poorly.
Many of the surrounding towns have gone back to virtual after they reached the threshold of positive students and teachers.
My town is still hybrid. With the exception of SpEd, kids are on a one week in, one week virtual schedule. Some kids are on a fully remote schedule at parent request.
We have only had 3 cases of a student or staff testing positive. Of those three, only one was ever in the school during a time when they may have been contagious. When all the surrounding towns are having high cases, why are we not? The only difference that I know of is we are the only town doing week long cohorts, all the others are doing every other day.
Edit: we were also the first town in the area to go back to in person, in mid September. All the surrounding towns didn’t go back in person until mid October.
It’s not. My 2nd grader’s teacher says this year is a lot like the year we lost two weeks of school to Harvey. Yes. They have covered the material but they had to cover it more quickly, and the gaps are already apparent in some of the kid’s understanding of the material. My 5th grader’s teachers had him fly through some “easy” material, but some of it’s so foundational that I worry that not having full understanding is going to be a problem. My 8th grader seems to be rolling along without issue, however at the 8th grade level much of her learning is more independent. I’m thankful for the style of schooling we’ve chosen as I think we are already set up for minimal gaps, but even we have some.
Eventually it will all wash out. But it won’t be by the end of the school year for a large number of kids.
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I just read in the DFB that Disneyland Paris will remain closed through the holidays… Why is Disney world in Orlando still open? Is Paris having a much worse time of it then we are in the states? Or Orlando? Is WDW doing a better job than DLP? I just thought it 
curious…
Paris is closed because the government mandated it, not because Disney chose to close. If not for the government mandate, I suspect Disney would remain open. The limited reopening guidelines the government has set forth for the holidays do not apply to Disney Paris.
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My 8th grader’s social studies teacher told them at the end of 1st quarter that she has now brought them up to 8th grade level, as they had just finished what they were supposed to learn during shutdown in the spring.
I have total confidence in my 8th grader’s teachers. I requested this group of teachers for a reason. They are awesome. Many parents dislike them because they are considered more difficult. I see my daughter coming out of this better than most, especially with what I am hearing from parents of other 8th graders with different teachers.
Don’t get me wrong, I feel most teachers my kids have are doing an awesome job within the parameters they have been given. Face to face teaching every other day is just not the same as every day for my kids. They both have told me they learn better from face to face teaching full time.
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Guess what?! The rapid COVID test DD took today is apparently a combo with a flu test.
Guess what my vaccinated-for-the-flu child has?
Flu. She has the flu.
So much for the “flu has vanished” theory.
We had plans to see family tomorrow, and I wanted to have her tested quickly to confirm it wasn’t COVID. Apparently she picked it up sometime traveling. We were cautious on our trip but if it wasn’t cautious enough to keep from catching the flu, who is to say one of us didn’t also catch COVID? 
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I commend you for being cautious! This week, as well as Christmas, are full of tough choices for everyone. I honestly don’t believe anyone should be dictating the decisions, but I am grateful for everyone who makes even a small sacrifice for the greater good. Every little bit of caution helps.
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