Cases rising or dropping by you?

[KBoopaloo]

17 states reported record hospitalization numbers today and nationally we broke our hospitalization record as well. I am so worried about what will happen after Thanksgiving if people move forward with usual holiday plans.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1326322233820606464

 

[EACarlson]

WI back up to 7,000 Tuesday, MN at 5,000. Each states Governor made a grandstanding speech. Gov. Walz of MN is closing all bars and restaurants at 10pm for consumption on site, takeout will be allowed, no bar seating or counter service. Funerals and weddings will be capped at 50 starting in a week then in a month down to 25. Private gatherings limited to 10 inside, 25 outside.

Gov. Evers of WI: Please stay home, federal gov't please send money, legislation will be introduced in the coming days even though I haven't talked at all with the legislature about what that will be.

In the midst of these numbers, my sons' school district was still planning on going back to hybrid on the 12th. Finally the decision was made on the morning of the 9th that it was not a good idea. So now they are virtual only until at least January, so much for what they told us in August that it would be evaluated and decided based on the data every two weeks.

 

[piglet1979]

Ohio had it highest day yesterday. 6,500. This is up about 1,000 from Monday and about 2,000 from Sunday. Our Governor has a press conference on Tuesday and Thursday at 2. He switched todays to 5:30. He has been pleading with people to stop having gatherings and to wear a mask. He has said that he does not want to make any more mandates or shut anything down but he will if he has too. People are still not listening. We went grocery shopping last night and saw more people then in the past without a mask. With the switch in the time of the press conference people are thinking we will have more shut downs again.

 

[Colleen27]

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.

I agree. K12 schools do not seem to be a source of significant spread. Most school outbreaks in my state are 2-5 kids and it ends there, and even those are mostly driven by outside-of-school socialization (but if 2+ people affiliated with a particular school test positive, it is classified as a school outbreak).

But right now, what is threatening schools' ability to operate in person in my area isn't cases. It is quarantines. There were severe substitute teacher shortages even before the virus, and between increased need for subs as teachers end up quarantined and decreased interest in subbing as retirees and those with caregiving responsibilities decline because of the potential for exposure, staffing issues are becoming a big problem. We had two teachers (which doesn't sound like much, but we only have 9 in total) quarantined at the same time, one because of a spouse who did test positive and the other because of a child who was awaiting test results, and we struggled to find coverage just for that little bit of disruption. If we had an actual case at school, particularly in the middle school where a single case could have 3 or 4 teachers subject to quarantine, we probably couldn't find enough subs to stay open.

 

[piglet1979]

But right now, what is threatening schools' ability to operate in person in my area isn't cases. It is quarantines. There were severe substitute teacher shortages even before the virus, and between increased need for subs as teachers end up quarantined and decreased interest in subbing as retirees and those with caregiving responsibilities decline because of the potential for exposure, staffing issues are becoming a big problem. We had two teachers (which doesn't sound like much, but we only have 9 in total) quarantined at the same time, one because of a spouse who did test positive and the other because of a child who was awaiting test results, and we struggled to find coverage just for that little bit of disruption. If we had an actual case at school, particularly in the middle school where a single case could have 3 or 4 teachers subject to quarantine, we probably couldn't find enough subs to stay open.

This is the issue here too. We are having whole teams of teachers in the middle school quarantined at one time. We are a very large district with about 6,000 students but they are having a hard time finding subs for the many teachers that are being quarantined.

My mom is a teacher in a different district. A bit larger then us at around 7,000 students. They are having a huge issue with positive cases and quarantines. As of right now they have 18 positive cases between students and staff with 267 students quarantined. These are just this weeks numbers as the dashboard only shows the week and does not accumulate each week. They are having an issue with spread in the schools because they cannot social distance and the kids are not wearing their masks properly or taking them off completely. The superintendent wants to go to full remote again but the board will not allow them to.

 

[Ariel484]

Ohio had it highest day yesterday. 6,500. This is up about 1,000 from Monday and about 2,000 from Sunday. Our Governor has a press conference on Tuesday and Thursday at 2. He switched todays to 5:30. He has been pleading with people to stop having gatherings and to wear a mask. He has said that he does not want to make any more mandates or shut anything down but he will if he has too. People are still not listening. We went grocery shopping last night and saw more people then in the past without a mask. With the switch in the time of the press conference people are thinking we will have more shut downs again.

The last time he had one of those evening things I remember expecting more shut downs, and he was just like, "hey guys, please wear your masks. Go Buckeyes." Curious to see what he does today.

 

[piglet1979]

The last time he had one of those evening things I remember expecting more shut downs, and he was just like, "hey guys, please wear your masks. Go Buckeyes." Curious to see what he does today.

I am curious too. Part of me thinks he will do more but with his track record of doing these in the evening makes me think it will be just to do our part, stay home, wear a mask and stop having get togethers.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

142,212 yesterday. That's a record.
37 states over 1,000
21 over 2,000
17 over 3,000
13 over 4,000
7 over 5,000

I've given up even seeing if things are records any more. It's incredibly broad, and incredibly deep almost everywhere.

 

[dreamer17555]

Any thoughts on if this surge in cases is tied to Halloween? Timing makes sense and I know many people were out and gathering. They set out tables in my neighborhood for kids to pick up candy- except adults were gathering around them to talk to their neighbors. So not really a mitigating strategy.

 

[RamblingMad]

Any thoughts on if this surge in cases is tied to Halloween? Timing makes sense and I know many people were out and gathering. They set out tables in my neighborhood for kids to pick up candy- except adults were gathering around them to talk to their neighbors. So not really a mitigating strategy.

I would think between the election and Halloween lots of opportunity for spread existed. I also went to Costco this past week, and it was packed with people. The holiday shopping season isn't helping things.

 

[piglet1979]

Any thoughts on if this surge in cases is tied to Halloween? Timing makes sense and I know many people were out and gathering. They set out tables in my neighborhood for kids to pick up candy- except adults were gathering around them to talk to their neighbors. So not really a mitigating strategy.

In our area a lot has been tied to high school students having Halloween parties or gatherings. Our City did pretty good with the election but a city over from us did not. There line was never under a few hours long. No social distancing in the line and a lot without masks. This could be playing a roll in our district (we are a 3 city school district) numbers of positive cases going up this week. It is not helping that the grocery stores are not following through with the mask mandate. Lots of people in the store yesterday without a mask.

 

[tvguy]

Any thoughts on if this surge in cases is tied to Halloween? Timing makes sense and I know many people were out and gathering. They set out tables in my neighborhood for kids to pick up candy- except adults were gathering around them to talk to their neighbors. So not really a mitigating strategy.

Halloween was almost non-existent here. We had no kids come trick or treating. HOWEVER last year we only had 5 and haven't had more than about 15 in a decade. Far cry from the 100+ kids were had when we bought the house in 1983. So not sure the pandemic or just demographics impacted that. Having said that, not sure......here.....if Halloween was an issue specifically. But gatherings such as parties, restaurants and churches have been traced as points of infection.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I would think between the election and Halloween lots of opportunity for spread existed. I also went to Costco this past week, and it was packed with people. The holiday shopping season isn't helping things.

Our local Costco has always had it's busy times and slow times from the beginning so I rather doubt in my area the observation of people inside means dire news. Peeps are wearing masks, plexiglas is used (they scan your card through the plexiglas as you hold it up), floor markings at the cash register area, pushed back displays so people can social distance better at the cash registers, etc. I'd use Walmart for an example of issues to come any day before I would use Costco.

 

[HeatherC]

2495 today here in Massachusetts and 978 in Rhode Island. Highest daily total in MA since April 24. Not going in the right direction.

 

[HeatherC]

Thought this might be of interest here. It is the COVID Event Risk Assessment Tool Map...kind of cool.

https://news.yahoo.com/now-see-covid-19-risk-150036415.html

 

[cabanafrau]

Starting to see an upswing as far as people I personally know either having Covid or someone in their household having it. It's like we're right back to March, April and early May again.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Illinois

12,597 new cases
145 dead
12.4 %

US

139,588 new cases (ABC national news says 152,000)
1,420 dead


South Dakota 54.7%

 

[piglet1979]

Our governor had a press conference last night. He mandated stricter face masks. He has put a task force together that will check stores to make sure they are following the order. A sign must be posted at all entrances and all employees and costumers must be wearing a mask. 1st offence will be a written warning the 2nd will be a closure for 24 hours.

He also said that if things do not improve in a week he will shut down restaurants, bars and gyms. We will see if he follows though with this one.

Ohio was at almost 5900 yesterday. That is down a bit from the previous day at about 6500. Thursday and Friday's seem to be our highest days of the week. I am not optimistic that we will not hit 7000 by the end of next week. I think there is a possibility of it being this week.

 

[texaslover]

Here in TX it is spreading through the schools though luckily I don't know anyone who has been hospitalized. Right now one of my schools has 5 teachers and 2 classes quarantined and the other has 3 teachers and 2 classes. This is up from last month where both usually had 1 teacher and 1 class at any given time. We have also had many individual students quarantined for a positive but not the whole class bc of the 15 minutes/6 feet/mask rule. I will say it seems to be running through the teachers that teach closely together (same team). I go into many different classrooms throughout the day and have been the room for over an hour with several teachers who are positive right now so I'm just knocking on wood every time I say I don't feel bad yet .

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I will say it seems to be running through the teachers that teach closely together (same team)

Sounds like that's a big issue. I know a lot of people early on assumed the kids would bring it to the teachers but community spread could mean the teachers get it from the community (as has been said for at least some of the cases in my county at schools) and spread it amongst each other. Are the teachers allowed unmasked (like break room/teacher's room/classrooms) with each other? Are they trying to use hand sanitizer (assuming they have some) before touching hands with each other (if that's occurring). Could the teachers be spreading it to the kids?