US Doctor On Opening Schools

[mac12]

Dr James Hildreth, CEO of an American hospital and public health adviser to the mayor of Nashville, has a clear message about the opening of schools.

6 minute video well worth everyone's time.

Usforthem are morons

@Moretolifethanthis2020 I consider Covid an issue at the moment because we are in a pandemic. The world would be not have shut down if Covid was so trivial. It's not just about death that is very unlikely for most of us and our children. It's the unknown implications we don't know yet. For the record I want schools open I work with Lac/vulnerables some I am very concerned about with lockdown plus I have 4 of my own at various school ages including going into y11. I just want safer measures in place.

It's not good if it leads to illness.

@RaspberryRuff
You have no way of knowing that any more than anyone else.

The experience of US states which reopened too quickly and without adequate measures in place to limit community spread doesn't count?

All of the problems in southern US states are very well known and documented.

Perhaps you think covid will behave differently in the UK?

He explains how it's transmitted from person to person and that high tech air filters have proven that sharing the same air space REGARDLESS of distance between person to person puts you at risk of contracting the virus.
But we all know this because when one colleague in an office comes in with his snotty nose and head cold, you can sit in the other end of the room and still catch it.
He does not explain how masks reduce this risk. He also isn't wearing a mask whilst indoors and sharing a room with other people (or maybe it's just him and a camera).

[quote mathanxiety]@RaspberryRuff
You have no way of knowing that any more than anyone else.

The experience of US states which reopened too quickly and without adequate measures in place to limit community spread doesn't count?

All of the problems in southern US states are very well known and documented.

Perhaps you think covid will behave differently in the UK?[/quote]
Rates are much lower here (I’m in Scotland where rates are very low, about 1 in 20000 people with it) and there are other suppression measures in place throughout society including masks, SD and contact tracing. I don’t think you’re comparing apples with apples.

mathanxiety No - and you could be right that a more cautious approach yet would be even better. But I do think that to a certain extent, you have to temper what might be the best scientific approach because you need to carry the public with you. It may well be that stricter measures might work better in the long term and that we would benefit from acting much more proactively to prevent a second wave. Unfortunately, I think if people can't see the storm coming, they won't prepare for it. Right now, lots of people think Covid is over, or was overstated in the first place, isn't serious, etc. I think as we come into winter, people will feel its presence again. I think until they do, they won't be prepared to make any more sacrifices. We don't have enough trust in our government for them to take pre-emptive steps (not that they want to, anyway). Which is all sad, because it's a lot easier to keep cases low than to reduce them afterwards.

I agree with RaspberryRuff - the US is right in the middle of a big old wave, we've got ours more or less under control (for now, touch wood, fingers crossed, not wanting to tempt fate).

I do think that's the big difference between the places that are saying "Children aren't big spreaders" and "Children spread at the same rate as adults". The places that are saying schools went back safely had very low cases, the places that are getting lots of outbreaks in schools had much higher cases generally.

Contrary to what the UsForThem bunch make out, I think most of us pessimists/realists really, really hope we're totally wrong about everything.

Of course I/we must hope that we're wrong. I don't want my children to get Covid - or anyone in our family. I don't want a second wave and I want schools to be open. My kids need them to be.

I wish that I could will all of this not to happen. I wish I could magic Covid away. I could try praying, but it doesn't always work. I will keep on trying.

However - all of the above will not make it OK for me to experiment on mine or anyone else's kids by throwing them all to the lions when school starts. No one. Just no one knows what is going to happen.

Things could go either way. They are just as likely to go one way as they are the other (and that's generous thinking).

Whose happy to send their kids back in with a 50/50 chance of survival/good health come September?

Don't bother answering this - it's rhetorical.

I was actually happy with the part time that was offered as we were getting decent provision but well it is what it is. My son was looking forward to it as all the idiots he can’t stand were going to be in different days to him haha.

I am still being really strict with the rules and my kids (well my eldest anyway) are really responsible and given cases are low here and the contact tracing seems to be working fingers crossed it will not be as bad as people fear. A bigger worry is what people are doing and letting their kids do out of school as we have no control over that and some people just aren’t being careful.

@pontypridd 50/50 it what world is it 50/50 the margins/risks are nothing like that for survival/good health

You can’t conflate the odds for it being a bad winter/second wave and school opening as being the same as individual risks for good health survival at all

If masks are not mandatory everywhere including schools, then it's only a matter of time before community transmission becomes a problem again.

While the US as a whole has horrible numbers, there are places where rates of infection have been relatively well controlled. My municipality has had 506 confirmed cases since March 17th, out of a population of 54,000. This was enough for the high school to go to online only education.

The us handling has been awful schools are not ready to go back there at all

A bigger worry is what people are doing and letting their kids do out of school as we have no control over that and some people just aren’t being careful.

Not sure if I've misunderstood you RaspberryRuff - Do you mean this is a bigger worry than kids being in school?

This is my main worry about my kids going back to school. They'll be packed in with kids whose families haven't been and aren't being careful at all.

In the street we can cross the road if someone's coughing. We can leave the shop if we feel uncomfortable etc

Our kids are going to be locked into a situation that they may want to run away from - but they won't be allowed.

I'm not understanding much now - I must be really tired. Quartz - do you mean the odds of catching Covid and being ill are worse than 50/50?

If you did. I would agree.

Sorry @pontypridd - more meant that we are following all the rules and being super careful still so I’m as comfortable as any of us can be that we are low risk. But there are plenty of people who aren’t bothering with SD and letting their teenagers hang out with groups of kids with no SD and they are then going to be in class with my kids. My eldest is wearing a mask in class at his choice as he says he’s very wary about spreading it.

It brings home how much we rely on everyone else doing the right thing doesn’t it.

We can't rely on everyone else - because everyone has their own take on what the rules are, what they feel comfortable with,whether they believe the virus is a threat or not ...

I'd love to be able to trust all the other parents and the school and even the government - but I can't because the whole things a muddle and a mess.

Frustrating isn’t it.

I am currently baffled by people who break the rules and say “I’m doing my own risk assessment”. So can you see or tell someone has the virus then? How does that work?

Masks recommended but not mandatory, high community transmission, school closed after numerous students and teachers test positive: (Georgia, US)
www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1236898
www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cherokee-county/creekview-becomes-3rd-cherokee-high-school-temporarily-close-over-covid-19-cases/AQH446HBKVHHFMG2BYOCSGIYAE/%3foutputType=amp

People can be relaxed about schools returning while also being concerned about vulnerable people. I find I’m agreeing more with the “it’s an overreaction” side as we don’t need to close down this much. BUT we do need to protect the vulnerable. The young and healthy can start things going again, using masks and hand sanitizer as appropriate to minimise risk. Kids don’t appear to be badly affected or cause large outbreaks, so let’s follow the example from other countries. While allowing teachers at risk to stay home, or even teach via zoom while the kids are in school for example. We can recruit more TAs to support teachers and manage smaller bubbles. Without giving it a go we won’t know the outcome.

Interesting to hear masks are allowed to be worn by kids in schools. Our school won’t allow it, primary age.

Our school district and many others are all online learning for the first 3 weeks starting Wednesday. Then those who choose to can do in person. The % split for the first 6/9 weeks was 51% virtual schooling, 49% in school. We’re all waiting to see what happens. It also frees up the school space for families who have to do in person to enable them to SD.

Terrifying. Makes me glad I don't have school age children, but I am so worried for others. There are going to be a lot of deaths this autumn

@zafferana

Do we actually know what's going to happen in secondary schools yet? My DS's school (admittedly, it's private), told us they would write to us the week starting 24th August to let us know what the arrangements will be for the start of term. I haven't yet heard whether it's even certain that they'll return, let alone what the exact conditions of return will be.

We had the 'Return to school' booklet last week (independent school, largely boarding - we're day pupils) 8 page 'welcome back'. I waded through that, to see the 50 page 'booklet' attached!!

Usual flowery waffle, but, the planning team have done a good job (though still things they've missed) but if they manage to implement 50% of it with actual students & teachers I'll be astounded!

Hundreds of pupils arriving from all over the world - how could that possibly go wrong?!

Their online provision was excellent. Why on Earth they didn't just stick to that this term I don't know?!

Masks are required in a small number of areas & 'allowed' everywhere). They can bring their own (certain guidelines around what can/can't be printed on them, but nothing the quality etc) or school ones are available at a cost (didn't say how much)

I expect the teachers won't be allowed to wear them except in certain lessons/groups where the students have been told they have to wear them.

Case numbers are quite low around here, but I'm worried about the international students coming back.

School will only arrange testing if a student has symptoms. I was hoping they'd test all the boarding students as they returned. But they say with school staff, day pupils & visitors Coming & going daily, there's no point testing boarding pupils - which to me is wrong. Local numbers are low (0 for a few weeks). So it's FAR more likely to be brought in by a boarder and if the kids were boarding I'd bloody well want their room mates tested on arrival!!!