![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
CDC post: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html
My summary:
Q: Can my kids get covid easily?
A: Yes, just as easily as adults. The belief otherwise didn't control for kids having fewer exposures to potential infections.
Q: So is school safe?
A: It can be! If there's universal masking, good ventilation, and cohorting (small groups of kids sticking together, I guess to limit spread if one of them is infectious.) Also weekly testing, especially if you're failing at one of those primary measures. Distancing seems less important except at mealtime -- after all, if you're in a room with someone for an hour without masks or fresh air, distancing really isn't going to help you as you marinate in aerosols.
Q: What does safety actually mean?
A: A good question. As safe as generally being a kid in the community, or even safer (not sure how that works.) Outbreaks still happen, so if you work from home and can have your kid learn at home, that's still safer. But school openings with good measures weren't catastrophic, statistically speaking.
Q: But all those studies are from months ago, before the super infectious Delta; what about now?
A: Who the fuck knows. But I can guarantee that you'll have to be doing *at least* as much as was done in those cases. Universal masking, great ventilation, vaccinate everyone who can get a shot. You don't respond to a more infectious virus by doing less.
Q: But I'm *tired* of masks. I want to go back to *normal*.
A: Are you the parent or the child? Look, imagine that your house had burned down, and you're staying in a motel, and your kid whines about just wanting to go home. Tell yourself what you'd tell them. Assume we're in this long term, indefinitely, then you can be pleasantly surprised if it ever stops for good.
My summary:
Q: Can my kids get covid easily?
A: Yes, just as easily as adults. The belief otherwise didn't control for kids having fewer exposures to potential infections.
Q: So is school safe?
A: It can be! If there's universal masking, good ventilation, and cohorting (small groups of kids sticking together, I guess to limit spread if one of them is infectious.) Also weekly testing, especially if you're failing at one of those primary measures. Distancing seems less important except at mealtime -- after all, if you're in a room with someone for an hour without masks or fresh air, distancing really isn't going to help you as you marinate in aerosols.
Q: What does safety actually mean?
A: A good question. As safe as generally being a kid in the community, or even safer (not sure how that works.) Outbreaks still happen, so if you work from home and can have your kid learn at home, that's still safer. But school openings with good measures weren't catastrophic, statistically speaking.
Q: But all those studies are from months ago, before the super infectious Delta; what about now?
A: Who the fuck knows. But I can guarantee that you'll have to be doing *at least* as much as was done in those cases. Universal masking, great ventilation, vaccinate everyone who can get a shot. You don't respond to a more infectious virus by doing less.
Q: But I'm *tired* of masks. I want to go back to *normal*.
A: Are you the parent or the child? Look, imagine that your house had burned down, and you're staying in a motel, and your kid whines about just wanting to go home. Tell yourself what you'd tell them. Assume we're in this long term, indefinitely, then you can be pleasantly surprised if it ever stops for good.