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*** OFFICIAL *** COVID-19 CoronaVirus Thread. Fresh epidemic fears as child pneumonia cases surge in Europe after China outbreak. NOW in USA (10 Viewers)

Has anyone really explained what the going theory is on why AZ exploded?  When I think of AZ I think of mostly open space and not many just massive communities with transit or multi family housing.  Could easily be my lack of understanding of what AZ is like

 
Getting some hopeful notes from my friend that went to rgv to help take care of kids for a family.  

Sounds like today was flat ish.  Some of the deep cases got moved.  Lots of discharged.  

She has one in hospital (non ICU) and two never gone hospital.  With four kids with what appear to be negative tests been isolated from family since prior Tues.  

 
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Just got a long threatening email from USABL (NJ travel baseball organization) that if people don't start wearing masks and social distancing Gov Murphy will shut down baseball and is already contemplating doing so.

 
RUSF18 said:
Is it being political mentioning that Trump wore a mask in public for the first time today? 
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Joe should waive the white flag (can I still say that?) honestly. You can’t discuss anything today without it becoming political. And let’s face it, this pandemic is completely political at this point. No matter what story pops up in the news, you can guess who’s going to post what on your Facebook feed. American politics are no longer politics. It’s tribalism. Being in the middle is a pretty awful place to be right now. 

 
Wife and I just got Covid and antibody tests today. We are in AZ so we figured we’d go get it done. Only an hour wait and pretty easy to get done. But 7-10 days for results. 
 

I’ll report back with results.

 
culdeus said:
Has anyone really explained what the going theory is on why AZ exploded?  When I think of AZ I think of mostly open space and not many just massive communities with transit or multi family housing.  Could easily be my lack of understanding of what AZ is like
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@Biff84 did a decent job of explaining, but I still think the numbers are way out of whack, relative to Arizona's location.  As I said, the death totals aren't really mind boggling, but the cases are.  Let's divide the USA into east and west for a minute.  States in the west are bigger, but there is a very noticeable line down the middle.  In the west, you have:

AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY
No other western state is even remotely close to AZ's cases per million count.  None, nada.

Of the nearly 120K cases, roughly 110K are concentrated in the southern half of the state, in and around Maricopa County.  Right now, AZ stands at the top of the positivity ladder.  Perhaps they are only testing really sick people?
 

 
TheWinz said:
@Biff84 did a decent job of explaining, but I still think the numbers are way out of whack, relative to Arizona's location.  As I said, the death totals aren't really mind boggling, but the cases are.  Let's divide the USA into east and west for a minute.  States in the west are bigger, but there is a very noticeable line down the middle.  In the west, you have:

AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY
No other western state is even remotely close to AZ's cases per million count.  None, nada.

Of the nearly 120K cases, roughly 110K are concentrated in the southern half of the state, in and around Maricopa County.  Right now, AZ stands at the top of the positivity ladder.  Perhaps they are only testing really sick people?
 
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Ok. So this sounds a lot like what is happening in Texas.  It's the counties that border Mexico that are really struggling.   In that region the people are by and large unhealthy and poor.  

 
so...there are a growing number of people seizing on the poorly labeled covid case deaths to push a narrative that we've been lied to about the numbers and how deadly this is. It's unfortunate that some systems have labeled deaths as from COVID that were clearly driven from other factors, but from what I can tell those aren't common.

(Such as the long term cancer pt. dying from cancer who just happens to test positive for covid without having the issues COVID deaths typically expire from, such as ARDS)

The most frightening aspect of this is that some people in health care (mostly peripheral people but still in health care) are helping to push this narrative

 
Man In The Box said:
Joe should waive the white flag (can I still say that?) honestly. You can’t discuss anything today without it becoming political. And let’s face it, this pandemic is completely political at this point. No matter what story pops up in the news, you can guess who’s going to post what on your Facebook feed. American politics are no longer politics. It’s tribalism. Being in the middle is a pretty awful place to be right now. 
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being in the middle is next to impossible these days. You're constantly being accused of being a dumbtard liberal commie or of being a racist science denier

 
Mr Anonymous said:
234 reported Covid-19 deaths today nationwide. 254 Covid-19 deaths nationwide yesterday. (New York still recording the highest numbers of daily deaths btw) Compare to the single highest daily U.S. death total which came on April 21st when 2,749 people died in the U.S. from Covid-19. Yesterday's total represents a 92% decrease in deaths from the worst day during this crisis some two and a half months ago.

Also...

2 More Weeks!!!

Or is it 3 more?!?!?!

Perhaps 4  More Weeks?!?!?!
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What are you talking about?

 
Mr Anonymous said:
Just odd seeing the replies to this CNN Breaking News Tweet from 25 minutes ago...

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1281967341278986242

"New York state recorded its lowest three-day death toll average from coronavirus since March 16, the governor said"

A sample of replies...

How brainwashed do you have to be to make comments like that?

Deaths

New York - 32K

TX, FL, AZ, GA - 12.4K combined

If only we were all more like New York, hooray NY!
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Are you drinking?

 
renesauz said:
so...there are a growing number of people seizing on the poorly labeled covid case deaths to push a narrative that we've been lied to about the numbers and how deadly this is. It's unfortunate that some systems have labeled deaths as from COVID that were clearly driven from other factors, but from what I can tell those aren't common.

(Such as the long term cancer pt. dying from cancer who just happens to test positive for covid without having the issues COVID deaths typically expire from, such as ARDS)

The most frightening aspect of this is that some people in health care (mostly peripheral people but still in health care) are helping to push this narrative
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This has been going on since the beginning. 

 
Slapdash said:
30-year-old dies after attending 'COVID party' thinking virus was a 'hoax'
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I saw this and it made me want to check in on this thread. It's not like I haven't been in here for a week or something but it really got to me reading this story. We don't talk about this enough...

A. Everyone who posts in here in general wants to do their part to make this go away as soon as possible even though it's become crystal clear they are on the verge of canceling college football and some schools already have...but I'm going to make a Match Game leap to B please...

B. Everyone else is having Raves at the House and I hope it's not news to people but even if you could totally lockdown almost all businesses you could never put a stop to people getting together no matter what you do. There's always going to be some farmhouse with 250 people gathering thinking they can get away with it until someone ends up dead over basically stupidity and eats up another hospital bed. 

The amount of house parties spreading this virus is VAST!!! 

If you have been in one of the hard hit areas over the last month and I would say Florida counts, this is a nightmare that is difficult to explain to people who might be in an area more laid back or not having as many people testing positive...YET! and that's kind of what I'm saying. The good people in Florida who live their year round...the CV-19 didn't magically rise out of the beaches, it was brought in here from all of the flights that enter from NYC daily...Miami is NYC South in case there was any doubt. I'm not mad at the good folks who live in NYC, it's not their fault but the airlines never stopped and it was naive to believe people were quarantining for 2 weeks when they got here, that never happened.

And the folks from Florida and Texas and Arizona...tell MOP he's totally wrong but the airports in these States are not shut down or locked down, right? So people infected have been spreading this to other States and the 2 that Floridians like to go outside of New York would be North Carolina and Colorado, we love those places because they are not flat as a pancake like Florida, there's real appeal of taking a vacation there. My guess is those states if not already, eventually will be in the next phase or crisis of this, so on and so forth. It feels like we have been fighting this hard since March, it's getting to be Mid-July and no end in sight here in Florida.

My son had to send home HALF of his work force on Friday because 1 person tested positive CV-19 and they quarantined everyone who came in contact with this guy. How this happened, the associate voluntarily wanted to know if he had either had the virus or was asymptomatic because he has grandparents at home, actually was doing the right thing but the results are half the staff loses time at work for 2 weeks, and worse perhaps one of those individuals doesn't shake it off as easily and ends up in the hospital. 

And the temperature of the general public when you have to be out and about is not pleasant right now. I try to put blinders on but you just cannot imagine how the level of driving decreases and courtesy has gone right out the window. At first it seemed like folks were working together but I don't feel that as much when I am running for groceries or maybe a quick take out, it's difficult to describe but "Edgy" is probably a good word. 

I'm sorry to be depressing and I want all posters to know that there are no absolutes or All right/wrong answers. I think it's obtuse to not keep an open mind. I think there is merit in several different thoughts going on in this thread, we should all try to listen to each other, not jump on each other right now IMHO. 

 
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Otis said:
Are you drinking?
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Are you?

Are you proud of New York's response?

Are you proud of the delay in shutting down from Cuomo?

Are you proud of the decision to direct Covid-19 patients to nursing homes?

Are you proud that New York accounts for nearly 1 in 4 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S.?

 
gianmarco said:
Some ideas for discussion: (and I mean that, this is meant to have real dialogue. Plus, last time I checked, I don’t have access to any public official that matters.) All of these ideas deal with K to 12th grade.
1. I look at the younger age groups (k-2nd) as the group who should go to school with the fewest restrictions. Definitely wash hands, smaller class sizes, lots of outdoor time, less mixing, temp checks, etc. For this group and all others, work toward “pods” and cohorts that do not mix; thereby limiting cross exposure but still achieving group socialization benefits. I would also encourage placing younger teachers in those classrooms. Teachers should wear masks, but I think it is frankly unrealistic for children that age to wear them.
2. Grades 3-5. This group can learn to wear masks. Teachers definitely. Again, all the checks outlined above. This is where I would consider local prevalence regarding plexiglass dividers at every desk and in front of the teacher’s desk. Consider alternate day or split day classes in order to decrease density.
3. Middle school and HS. This is the group that starts to be able to transmit more. These grades MUST wear masks as much as possible. Definitely consider building plexiglass dividers in front of each desk and for the teacher. (we did it for grocery stores) 
4. Across all grades, if we are used to students moving from classroom to classroom for different subjects, that has to stop. Move the one individual, the teacher. While that means that a student is either in one class all day other than lunch and outdoor time; it is better than isolated at home.
5. Across all age groups, older or at-risk teachers should be given the option to teach remotely. Turn the tables. If the children are at low risk, let’s protect those that are at risk. Have them on the video screen. This, of course, would mean hiring individuals at low risk and in full PPE to sit in classrooms to maintain discipline and control. 
6. All of this must be accompanied by an increase in salary for any teacher, regardless of remote status or not, who continues to teach in this environment. Consider it combat pay.
7. All of this must be paid for by the DOE. (or DeVos) This cannot be another unfunded mandate. This cannot be done as a threat for no money at all.
8. Parents should be given the opportunity to decide if their child will go to school each day based on their own evaluation of risk. However, parents must be owners of the process locally regarding each of the steps above. 
9. Finally, who and how to come up with formal recommendations for each school. Could we envision a group made up of local parents, teachers, administrators, AND a pediatrician, a developmental psychologist, an epidemiologist or public health official. (all depending on local resources and environment). This would be no more than 6-10 people entrusted by each individual school (not state or district) to review data, present the first set of recommendations, and (this is the hard part) will meet either weekly or even daily to review data on an ongoing basis and would have the authority to open or close schools based on their interpretation of prevalence, risk, etc. This would require a lot of trust, flexibility, and work.

I will finish this longer than usual post (even for me) with a request to consider the available data, not just the headlines; account for agendas, but don’t be angry about them; embrace some uncertainty, but at the same time demand clarity on the points you personally value the most. There is no perfect solution, however maybe, just maybe this is the point in our national discussion which allows us all to come together to achieve something that works. This is our responsibility as parents. I love the quote by Elizabeth Stone: “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Well, now we have to walk this road with them in a way we never thought we would; but we can do it.
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Two things...the first is obvious from the end statement of "we did it for grocery stores". It's impossible not to read this and say something like "See, this is why we should have dug in harder to begin with" or "Give an inch, take a mile" and the CV-19 is certainly not alone in this rationale, people do it in verticals of all kinds but we have a forum for those other verticals, right? Even though this thing says it was avoiding the "P-Word" it seems loaded with it, depending on who is reading it.  

2nd and more important...Middle school and High School masks? Good luck with that...the masks and plastic partitions are enough to just keep the schools closed until everyone can agree it's safe. I'm sure distance learning will do the trick, these kids are on their phones all the time anyways, just load the classroom lessons on to an App on the iPhone and they'll figure it out. Put a cute insect or animal on it, call it Bee a Good Student 😉 

 
Countries around the world have shown that this virus can be brought under control in as little as 2-3 weeks with universal mask usage. I'm not going to sit back and fawn over New York finally getting things under control after 4 months. It appears to have run its course there more than anything. And that's not even getting into their terrible initial response.

 
At a zoom hangout yesterday, a former colleague told us he went to a pool party last week. This week he could barely taste his food; as in bacon didn't have much flavor. He got tested and is waiting for the results, but this dude is a slam dunk to be positive for COVID.

 
Mr Anonymous said:
Are you?

Are you proud of New York's response?

Are you proud of the delay in shutting down from Cuomo?

Are you proud of the decision to direct Covid-19 patients to nursing homes?

Are you proud that New York accounts for nearly 1 in 4 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S.?
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Hey friend, let's relax a minute. I understand where you are coming from but do you also understand the dire straits some folks have had to live thru. This man has been working out of his GD attic for several months now trying to do legal work with candle light, I think Otis is very proud of how most New Yorkers have responded to the crisis in terms of CV-19. 

I'm not proud that Government somewhere at the top didn't shut down the airports, I'll let others point their rage or place their blame at whoever or whatever they like but I think airports/airlines transporting people to and from outbreak areas into other areas of the country that would have felt much less impact, why are we not irate about that? I'm not trying to get everyone in an uproar but doesn't that question ever get asked?

Why are we putting folks feet to the fire over decisions their local officials are making? All local officials or governments or whatever you want to call it, they have passed emergency procedures that basically give them the power to do anything they want. Nothing should surprise anyone and I don't think anyone should feel like they have to defend their area. Nobody has all the right answers, nobody. 

 
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Why is there almost no talk of ways to improve things outside if the usual talking points that clearly arent being listened to. 

Today was the first time I saw suggestions regarding air conditioning. 

What else could we be doing? 

We arent closing grocery stores and plenty of other places so no matter what we should be talking about these things. 

 
Ministry of Pain said:
Hey friend, let's relax a minute. I understand where you are coming from but do you also understand the dire straits some folks have had to live thru. This man has been working out of his GD attic for several months now trying to do legal work with candle light, I think Otis is very proud of how most New Yorkers have responded to the crisis in terms of CV-19. 

I'm not proud that Government somewhere at the top didn't shut down the airports, I'll let others point their rage or place their blame at whoever or whatever they like but I think airports/airlines transporting people to and from outbreak areas into other areas of the country that would have felt much less impact, why are we not irate about that? I'm not trying to get everyone in an uproar but doesn't that question ever get asked?

Why are we putting folks feet to the fire over decisions their local officials are making? All local officials or governments or whatever you want to call it, they have passed emergency procedures that basically give them the power to do anything they want. Nothing should surprise anyone and I don't think anyone should feel like they have to defend their area. Nobody has all the right answers, nobody. 
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He responded to me in the way he chose to, not the other way around. And what he was responding to were my thoughts after seeing people praise NY for their handling of things, including wishing Texas could do so well. And those notions are absurd any way you slice it.

 
parasaurolophus said:
Why is there almost no talk of ways to improve things outside if the usual talking points that clearly arent being listened to. 

Today was the first time I saw suggestions regarding air conditioning. 

What else could we be doing? 

We arent closing grocery stores and plenty of other places so no matter what we should be talking about these things. 
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Not to be too belaboring but it still to this day appears as simple as wearing masks. I had a lot of running around to do today in the Las Vegas area and everywhere I went, mask usage was 100%. Granted it took a gov't mandate to get there but I'm confident we'll reap the rewards going forward. I just wish this would have been the response way back in March. The shutdowns wouldn't have had to been nearly as long as they were.

 
parasaurolophus said:
Why is there almost no talk of ways to improve things outside if the usual talking points that clearly arent being listened to. 

Today was the first time I saw suggestions regarding air conditioning. 

What else could we be doing? 

We arent closing grocery stores and plenty of other places so no matter what we should be talking about these things. 
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Collectively, Americans aren't smart or humble enough to adhere to simple safeguards. Other countries that were hit hard and early have it under control. Not this dumb place. People will continue to die and it will be drawn out over a long period of time. We just need to accept it and prepare for a extremely high body count. 

 
Mr Anonymous said:
He responded to me in the way he chose to, not the other way around. And what he was responding to were my thoughts after seeing people praise NY for their handling of things, including wishing Texas could do so well. And those notions are absurd any way you slice it.
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I say this with just the logic from where I am positioned in Florida...they were testing 1:3 positive in Dade one day...every 3 tests one positive and so I ask this question...at that rate I can't figure out how ANYONE in Miami would be able to avoid catching this virus, in fact in a week or two it should be a shock if someone tested negative. Does that make any sense? 

I'm for herd immunity if you can even achieve it and eventually we are going to back into that IMHO or a lot of folks will have had this. 

I never thought of long term impact because I never think about it with any other cold or flu but perhaps if people thought they were going to chop a few years off their lives or decades, maybe they could take it more seriously. Until you have a family member in the hospital or have seen a couple of these patients first hand/up close, it's just not real to you. I'm not saying you don't believe but it gets a little more intense when you are in an impact area or know someone who has it and is showing symptoms. 

 
Mr Anonymous said:
Not to be too belaboring but it still to this day appears as simple as wearing masks. I had a lot of running around to do today in the Las Vegas area and everywhere I went, mask usage was 100%. Granted it took a gov't mandate to get there but I'm confident we'll reap the rewards going forward. I just wish this would have been the response way back in March. The shutdowns wouldn't have had to been nearly as long as they were.
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Correct, it's actually quite simple. But people still scream about how mask requirements are unconstitutional. As if a virus gives a damn about anyone's laws. 

 
parasaurolophus said:
Why is there almost no talk of ways to improve things outside if the usual talking points that clearly arent being listened to. 

Today was the first time I saw suggestions regarding air conditioning. 

What else could we be doing? 

We arent closing grocery stores and plenty of other places so no matter what we should be talking about these things. 
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And we haven't yet. I hate to say this but it's too late. You cannot stop the spread of this at this point IMHO. The airports have made it very easy for this to pop up in almost all major cities. And that's NOT an endorsement to shut things down, anyone who knows me knows I'm a cutthroat capitalist at my core, I fired up a re-opening thread in April 🤷‍♂️   and remember that Fauci and Birk were on the TV everyday back then, I was thinking we were going to be fully open by Memorial Day, what a farce. I didn't know any better, things were pretty quiet here in Florida back in April, why wouldn't we open back up? 

That's the reality of what many were led to believe. 

 
EYLive said:
Correct, it's actually quite simple. But people still scream about how mask requirements are unconstitutional. As if a virus gives a damn about anyone's laws. 
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I’ve been hammering masks but beginning to fear we may try to make it a magic potion - we are not doing a good job of social distancing.  My state has basketball tournaments and church services going.  School starts back in 3 weeks and we had our biggest day of cases yesterday- almost 4,500.  Does anyone really think if we don’t get things under control in 3 weeks that masks across the board will fix that?  We have our governor and mayor of our capital in a pissing contest.

 
AAABatteries said:
I’ve been hammering masks but beginning to fear we may try to make it a magic potion - we are not doing a good job of social distancing.  My state has basketball tournaments and church services going.  School starts back in 3 weeks and we had our biggest day of cases yesterday- almost 4,500.  Does anyone really think if we don’t get things under control in 3 weeks that masks across the board will fix that?  We have our governor and mayor of our capital in a pissing contest.
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CDC warns of school openings

 
AAABatteries said:
I’ve been hammering masks but beginning to fear we may try to make it a magic potion - we are not doing a good job of social distancing.  My state has basketball tournaments and church services going.  School starts back in 3 weeks and we had our biggest day of cases yesterday- almost 4,500.  Does anyone really think if we don’t get things under control in 3 weeks that masks across the board will fix that?  We have our governor and mayor of our capital in a pissing contest.
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Sure do. 100% mask + distancing.
Or better yet, 100% of the population stays our butts home. But we aren't all pulling in the same direction because we have no leadership as mentioned.

 
gianmarco said:
For those of you ( @AAABatteries) with thoughts/concerns about school, this is a post from a colleague that might help you organize some information and thoughts about returning to school.

It's long (sorry).

I’m a pediatrician and therefore only care for and about kids. That said, what I write here are my own thoughts and views and do not represent any institution or organization. This is going to be a long post (even for me), but the topic of school openings is full of nuance and interpretation; none of which can be done in a tweet. 

Let me also cut to the end, I will not have any firm answer because I am struggling as a parent and pediatrician just like many of you. What I will hope to do is put forth some data, add some interpretation, and put down onscreen some of the ideas that have been bouncing around my head. I would also state that I believe on this point we are arguing about two sides of the same coin and that we are stuck. Look at it from should and can versus can and should. If one group starts the question with should schools be open and then follows with can they, it appears to be different than starting with can schools be opened and then follow with should they. Please ponder your position on this perspective as we move forward together.

There’s the preamble, now for the heart of the issue: school in the fall.

Let me start by saying that we MUST separate this from politics. This is becoming increasingly more difficult for me. I’m angry about a lot of things right now, but I will make every attempt to be data driven and balanced. You can have at each other all you want about wearing a mask in Walmart and your “rights”; but this is about our children. 

This is a very well written article on the subject, I encourage spending some time with it. (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks ) 
It is clear that children are far less affected by SARS-CoV-2. Please read that again, I said less affected; not less infected. They are far less susceptible to severe infection. That is a well-documented, though not fully understood, phenomena. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0962-9) If they are not as affected, can they infect others? Are they vectors? That is less clear, but it does appear that they are far less efficient ‘infectors’ than adults. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7311007/ ) In fact, evidence in this review suggests that overall they are less likely to transmit the virus AND that the likelihood of transmission decreases with younger age. This does not account for any underlying conditions, but every available piece of evidence points to the fact that even children with underlying co-morbidities have far less severe disease than adult counterparts. (more on this in another post) What we also know is that the current “surge” of infections (or rather continuation of the initial round of infections) is driven by the 20-50-year-old set mixing in groups. What can we learn from what’s going on this summer; i.e. summer camps? There are reports of summer camps serving as infectious clusters, but I would like to keep a balanced view of those incidents as well. First, we don’t know the specifics of the “index cases”. Were these counselors who went “offsite” in the evenings only to bring infections back? Did one camper whose family member was “just a little sick a couple of days before they left” bring the infection with them? Second, there have not been hospitalizations reported. Third, we need specific data around age groups. Yes, caution; but balance that with the view of what can we learn from these examples as we move forward. In my mind, I have to count these reports into the bucket of ‘I really don’t know what to make of it yet.’

Now the data around parents and families. There are concerns that children will bring back the virus to families after being at school. If you read the above references, it’s potentially the opposite. Of course, I would still be concerned about anyone, regardless of situation, having contact with a high-risk population (>60-year old with underlying conditions). That doesn’t change with school opening. The data about the stress placed on families is clear. If you close schools, families suffer. They suffer financially as well as psychologically. 

As a great friend who is a teacher stated that he doesn’t “envy our district administrators.” The data around teachers and school employees is practically unknown; and therein lies a problem. What can we learn from other situations? We know that in today’s state of being (not initially when there wasn’t adequate PPE), healthcare workers are far more likely to be infected in the community or by coworkers at work than directly by an infected patient.  I think we can learn from that and apply the lessons to protection of teachers. Additionally, we know that there are significant number of teachers who fit in the higher risk categories. (https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/05/07/teachers-at-higher-risk-for-covid-19-worry.html ) Does that guide a solution for teachers? (more later)

I’m going to try to avoid politics, but we must all understand that everyone in this discussion has an agenda. That does not imply that having an agenda is nefarious in any way. The definition of one type of agenda is a list or outline of things to be considered or done (a hated adult meeting reference), but another definition is an underlying often ideological plan or program. Again, having an underlying program is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that we as parents must understand as we listen to any speaker, argument, or statement. I ask that as you read my post keep some questions in mind: Where are they coming from? What do they want? What are they afraid of? Finally, if we grasp that having an agenda is not a bad thing, we can simply begin to understand each group and then really work toward a solution that can account for each agenda. That would be called understanding and empathy.
As far as an agenda, I think we can all agree that a child’s only agenda is to be a child. They are the innocents. If anyone has a problem with that statement, you probably aren’t going to read this anyway. As a parent, we have several agendas at play. We demand, first and foremost, that our children are safe. We also have the agenda that states we want them to thrive and succeed in life. Finally, we do have an agenda driven by economics. The later, however, does NOT supersede the former. Teachers and school officials have agendas. First is protection of children; I firmly believe that is their primary concern. They also want to educate and produce successful, functioning adults who thrive in society. (who could run for president someday) What must also be accounted for is the financial agenda. If we ask for all these extra protections, who will pay for this? (DeVos and her personal checkbook? Doubt that.) There are considerations of resources for the physical environment such as classroom space, as well as work/class hours, soap, and PPE. There are considerations of teacher’s health concerns such as accommodations for those who are sick or who really fear working. (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/03/30/after-coronavirus-subsides-we-must-pay-teachers-more/ ) There are considerations of hiring more teachers. Again, these are the realities of the situation and the agendas that each group has to develop.

(I’m going to digress for a moment into politics, feel free to skip if you like. The federal government agenda on this is something I am not going to take into account. The problem with the way this administration has handled this entire situation means they have ceded the moral and ethical authority to be considered a credible entity. You can’t say “not my responsibility, not my fault” and “everything is fake”; and then think anyone trusts you.)

OK, what about solutions? I will finish with ideas. These are totally brainstorming thoughts, not recommendations, suggestions, guidelines, endorsements, or anything else. These are my personal musings when I’m out on my bike.
I would encourage us to learn from the rest of the world; as we should have been doing all along. These two stories have very nice insights (https://www.bbc.com/news/education-52550470 )(https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/07/06/reopening-the-world-reopening-schools-insights-from-denmark-and-finland/ ) And here is the AAP’s latest statement. (https://contentsharing.net/actions/email_web_version.cfm?ep=i6MMu18PmAmjwhkyqSinWq6sv0IvppGf1u8WJvsOi8ZL2atfRiav35fHKpXb7X3oVkFBBjIirSVJJPefdMiQfwaThsDv4EDtev6Vu-LK67lSl19fXwQKtT8PjIJVxWE_Vya8gG0ZFFDGI9mSDuVHgQ~~) 

Going back to my original perspective construct, I land on the first answering the question “should” followed by “can.” I answer in the affirmative that schools should open; now we have to figure out how they can. I completely understand if your view is that we need to answer the question if they “can” first. Please realize that we as parents have to figure out how to get the final answer regardless of how we start. I agree with most officials, regardless of party, that it is incredibly important to plan for schools in the fall. I think the risk to children is low. I think the risks to them and those listed throughout this post can be mitigated. I also think we must force ourselves to be open to novel solutions, including those from different viewpoints and groups. We must be EXTREMELY diligent. This means as parents we must be empowered with the knowledge of hyper-local, accurate data…every single day. (see below idea #9) For example, at a 26% positivity rate in TX today, close schools. However, at some other percent; keep them open. We must then make adjustments accordingly. What we do on August 18th should not be considered what we do on Sept. 12th or Oct. 4th. We must be flexible and embrace the uncertainty around this topic. I have absolutely no idea what a “cutoff” of prevalence should be: 10%, 5%, some number of new cases. No idea. What I do know is that COVID is never going away, so we have to figure out some number that represents the reality of the question at hand.
Some ideas for discussion: (and I mean that, this is meant to have real dialogue. Plus, last time I checked, I don’t have access to any public official that matters.) All of these ideas deal with K to 12th grade.
1. I look at the younger age groups (k-2nd) as the group who should go to school with the fewest restrictions. Definitely wash hands, smaller class sizes, lots of outdoor time, less mixing, temp checks, etc. For this group and all others, work toward “pods” and cohorts that do not mix; thereby limiting cross exposure but still achieving group socialization benefits. I would also encourage placing younger teachers in those classrooms. Teachers should wear masks, but I think it is frankly unrealistic for children that age to wear them.
2. Grades 3-5. This group can learn to wear masks. Teachers definitely. Again, all the checks outlined above. This is where I would consider local prevalence regarding plexiglass dividers at every desk and in front of the teacher’s desk. Consider alternate day or split day classes in order to decrease density.
3. Middle school and HS. This is the group that starts to be able to transmit more. These grades MUST wear masks as much as possible. Definitely consider building plexiglass dividers in front of each desk and for the teacher. (we did it for grocery stores) 
4. Across all grades, if we are used to students moving from classroom to classroom for different subjects, that has to stop. Move the one individual, the teacher. While that means that a student is either in one class all day other than lunch and outdoor time; it is better than isolated at home.
5. Across all age groups, older or at-risk teachers should be given the option to teach remotely. Turn the tables. If the children are at low risk, let’s protect those that are at risk. Have them on the video screen. This, of course, would mean hiring individuals at low risk and in full PPE to sit in classrooms to maintain discipline and control. 
6. All of this must be accompanied by an increase in salary for any teacher, regardless of remote status or not, who continues to teach in this environment. Consider it combat pay.
7. All of this must be paid for by the DOE. (or DeVos) This cannot be another unfunded mandate. This cannot be done as a threat for no money at all.
8. Parents should be given the opportunity to decide if their child will go to school each day based on their own evaluation of risk. However, parents must be owners of the process locally regarding each of the steps above. 
9. Finally, who and how to come up with formal recommendations for each school. Could we envision a group made up of local parents, teachers, administrators, AND a pediatrician, a developmental psychologist, an epidemiologist or public health official. (all depending on local resources and environment). This would be no more than 6-10 people entrusted by each individual school (not state or district) to review data, present the first set of recommendations, and (this is the hard part) will meet either weekly or even daily to review data on an ongoing basis and would have the authority to open or close schools based on their interpretation of prevalence, risk, etc. This would require a lot of trust, flexibility, and work.

I will finish this longer than usual post (even for me) with a request to consider the available data, not just the headlines; account for agendas, but don’t be angry about them; embrace some uncertainty, but at the same time demand clarity on the points you personally value the most. There is no perfect solution, however maybe, just maybe this is the point in our national discussion which allows us all to come together to achieve something that works. This is our responsibility as parents. I love the quote by Elizabeth Stone: “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Well, now we have to walk this road with them in a way we never thought we would; but we can do it.
Click to expand...
Do you have a link to this post? 

 
EYLive said:
Sure do. 100% mask + distancing.
Or better yet, 100% of the population stays our butts home. But we aren't all pulling in the same direction because we have no leadership as mentioned.
Click to expand...
I said masks - my point is we aren’t social distancing and about to make it worse.

 
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