Cases rising or dropping by you?

[BlueStarryHat]

2,043 new cases today in New Jersey. We're in for it again. My aunt is a school bus aide and all the schools in our district have closed except for one which is expected to close. She no longer has any schools on her bus run, but still has to go in for now and just sit there twiddling her thumbs.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We're typically on our way to the weekly low on Sunday, but we're still up over 100,000. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Climbing steadily, very scary.

Unreal that all this catastrophe comes down to soap and masks. Didn't have masks early on, then we were told don't use them, then we were told to use them, then it was encouraged to not use them, then there was a imaginary pass given to those who go to certain places. We had shortages of different sorts of cleaners all along and disposable paper products. Literally ALL this could have been prevented by masks and soap, my mind goes numb sometimes.

 

[anniemae]

so scary. I am not sure schools should be in session. I know it's hard having kids home and it's not easy for families to juggle the online learning, but it seems a little strange to keep them open when cases are surging.

 

[dreamer17555]

so scary. I am not sure schools should be in session. I know it's hard having kids home and it's not easy for families to juggle the online learning, but it seems a little strange to keep them open when cases are surging.

I think the fact we prioritized opening restaurants over schools says a lot. I wish they would triage students who need to be back in school, those with home lives that makes it dangerous to be out of school, VS this all or nothing approach. For some students remote learning is downright dangerous without teachers there to keep an eye on their well being... for many it is just an annoyance. We need to focus on those with the greatest need first

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Oh Ouch. 125,689. This is usually where it's low for the week. But if yesterday's 109k and change ends up being the low for this week we're in real trouble.

 

[focusondisney]

Western NY over 5% again. Cuomo moved our region to “yellow” with some new restrictions. Gatherings have to be 25 or less, including weddings & funerals; no more than 4 people per table at restaurants; bars & restaurants must close by 12 midnight. The county has had complaints about stores (especially national big box stores) that have not been enforcing mask requirements, so they are stepping up surveillance with those. Nothing closed yet but could be the next step. We have to follow these new restrictions for at least 2 weeks.

Also a new mandate that schools must test 20% of their students & staff if they have in person classes. There needs to be more information on that because neither the schools nor the county health department has the capacity to do that. And there is even questions because schools have no authority to do testing themselves. So things really need to be worked out with this requirement. As usual cuomo issues mandates with little guidance & lots of unanswered questions.

Still no word on where the increased cases are coming from. They’re just saying community spread, house parties, people ignoring guidelines. My sister works for a different hospital than I do.. said they have had 20 cases among staff. They don’t have covid patients there, so not acquired from work. Newspaper reported that a nursing home/ rehab facility had 40 cases among patients plus a few staff.

So it continues to escalate quickly here. As the numbers increased around the country cuomo kept talking about how great NY was doing. I knew he shouldn’t be so cocky & needed to stop bragging. It took longer to start back up, but it’s definitely happening again.

 

[amylevan]

Also a new mandate that schools must test 20% of their students & staff if they have in person classes. There needs to be more information on that because neither the schools nor the county health department has the capacity to do that. And there is even questions because schools have no authority to do testing themselves. So things really need to be worked out with this requirement. As usual cuomo issues mandates with little guidance & lots of unanswered questions.

K-12 public schools??? How on earth is that going to work? Pretty sure they wouldn’t have the personnel or money to make that happen.

 

[EACarlson]

Down to 4,300 in WI after being over 7,000 on Saturday. My 8 year old's school decided on election day they were going back to hybrid on the 12th, would verify with the data they got on Thursday the 5th, then on Monday decided they are staying virtual through the end of the year. It was the correct decision.

Gov. Walz of MN is holding a press conference at 3pm CST to detail their new restrictions. Minneapolis Public Schools opens for the first time today for those students that have special needs, including IEP's, ESL and those that are a year or more behind age group.

 

[focusondisney]

K-12 public schools??? How on earth is that going to work? Pretty sure they wouldn’t have the personnel or money to make that happen.

Exactly! Oh, and it’s also 20% each week. I have no idea how that’s supposed to happen. The schools aren’t set up for that.

There were rapid test machines sent to our county several weeks ago to be used for students with symptoms. Maybe he’ll redeploy those or send more? He hasn’t issued specifics on what will be done to make sure it can be accomplished. But the rest of the state better start making plans now. Because more areas will be impacted soon.

 

[anniemae]

I think the fact we prioritized opening restaurants over schools says a lot. I wish they would triage students who need to be back in school, those with home lives that makes it dangerous to be out of school, VS this all or nothing approach. For some students remote learning is downright dangerous without teachers there to keep an eye on their well being... for many it is just an annoyance. We need to focus on those with the greatest need first

Yes, I feel the high risk children should be in the classroom as well. Not sure about the rest of the students.

 

[kdonnel]

Yes, I feel the high risk children should be in the classroom as well. Not sure about the rest of the students.

Publicly the local school district is saying how great digital learning is going together with in person.

Privately 50% of the digital learners are failing and they are in panic mode trying to find a solution. Teachers are cracking after 12 weeks of having to simultaneously teach in person and digital.

The local school district consists of 180,000 students and 40,000 staff/admin/support. The current overall ratio is 60% digital, 40% in person which results in 112,000 in person and 108,000 digital. In 12 weeks time there have been 543 positive cases among the staff/admin/support/students.

That is .48% of the student and staff/admin/support in person, a tiny fraction.

Students need to be in the classroom.

 

[dreamer17555]

The local school district consists of 180,000 students and 40,000 staff/admin/support. The current overall ratio is 60% digital, 40% in person which results in 112,000 in person and 108,000 digital. In 12 weeks times time there have been 543 positive cases among the staff/admin/support/students.

That is .48% of the student and staff/admin/support in person, a tiny fraction.

Students need to be in the classroom.

This depends a lot on how much testing is happening. How often those in person are being honest about symptoms (we all know parents who give Advil and drop them off no matter what). I would wager they are missing cases.

 

[DeeBee3]

I would also like to have actual info on hospitalizations that is reliable. Positive cases make everyone nervous, but it would help to know if these are people who are actively sick or if they just tested positive with no symptoms (for instance, if they had to test for travel or work, etc). Our school district in NY is very large but so far we have been very lucky. Kids only in school 2 days a week, but high school and middle school just started Monday. They had been home this whole time. Elementary has been hybrid for over a month.

 

[kdonnel]

This depends a lot on how much testing is happening. How often those in person are being honest about symptoms (we all know parents who give Advil and drop them off no matter what). I would wager they are missing cases.

Even if they are missing half the cases that still puts the percentage at less then 1%.

Students need to be in the classroom.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Interesting numbers...

Yesterday, the US had (rounded) 125,000 new cases. The next 5 highest case count countries COMBINED had 127,000 cases.....

India 37,000
Italy 25,000
Russia 22,000
Poland 22,000
UK 21,000

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

so scary. I am not sure schools should be in session. I know it's hard having kids home and it's not easy for families to juggle the online learning, but it seems a little strange to keep them open when cases are surging.

When you actually look at it schools aren't really as big of an issue for transmission as we largely thought. Other things in the community are the issue. Things like private gatherings and larger such events. The transmission rate in the schools in my area are/were not the issue. It's the community that is largely the issue. Cases are found within schools but they are not spreading in the schools which was the main concern months ago when all of the school talk was going on.

It doesn't necessarily seem strange to me to keep them open. In fact I would say that at least for some areas the process for when a case is found is surprisingly swift and with much more control that can be done which can be much better than transmission within the community. It makes a case for being an effective way to balance out things. I can't help but think of the pressure we've put on everyone when it comes to all this school stuff and it's not even panning out to be the biggest issue. In part that's because of processes being utilized but also in part to our understanding of how the virus is interacting with things.

We should be learning as we go. Schools were such a big concern but with the millions and millions of kids we're seeing the private gatherings (and all throughout the world) as one of the main drivers to transmission. For some areas the schools may be the worst of the worst but as a general across the board guidance well that doesn't seem to really be what's going on. And someone will come along and say "yeah well this student infected several teachers at a school" or whatever and that is certainly something that has happened but statistically when looking at pros and cons schools may be the pro and your Sunday dinner the con.

 

[RamblingMad]

Interesting numbers...

Yesterday, the US had (rounded) 125,000 new cases. The next 5 highest case count countries COMBINED had 127,000 cases.....

India 37,000
Italy 25,000
Russia 22,000
Poland 22,000
UK 21,000

Looks like we’re winning at COVID.

 

[dreamer17555]

Oh I think gatherings are causing most of the spread but sadly many assume once schools are open that it is safe to gather. "They are hanging out together in school so why shouldn't Johnny go to Billy's sleepover party? Johnny is already exposed..."

Except Johnny likely had a mask on and distance at school and will not have either at the sleepover. The more things opened by us the more of a free for all it became. Bars are open so why not have a large wedding? And on it goes...

Yes- schools should be the priority. Over bars, over restaurants with indoor dining, over movie theaters, over gyms but sadly that is not what has happened in my state.

 

[quandrea]

I would also like to have actual info on hospitalizations that is reliable. Positive cases make everyone nervous, but it would help to know if these are people who are actively sick or if they just tested positive with no symptoms (for instance, if they had to test for travel or work, etc). Our school district in NY is very large but so far we have been very lucky. Kids only in school 2 days a week, but high school and middle school just started Monday. They had been home this whole time. Elementary has been hybrid for over a month.

Our hospital and death rates are climbing g right in step with our climbing cases. I’m in Canada and that data is reported along with cases daily. Definitely getting worse here.