Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Great Barrington: daycares, public schools, college)

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

So your district has no rules on close contacts? My district has rules on what happens for any close contact and they are very different depending on if the kid is vaccinated or unvaccinated.

My district even has a "test and stay" process for close contacts, they get a daily rapid test and are monitored for symptoms. Vaccines will make things even more flexible.

[msRB311]

I'm sure there are rules on close contacts but at this point there havent been any cases this year that I've been informed of

[brk330]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

Given that my kids have no auto-immune disease, no issue that would put them at risk of suffering from complications from covid, I'm willing to take the (what I consider very minimal) risk and wait for more data in this age group.

Auto-immune conditions run in my family, I've got several myself. Chances are my daughter will, so we are getting her the shot ASAP.
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...ntibodies.html

I have seen a few people in Psoriasis forums saying 'Covid gave them psoriasis' which seems very similar to the Guttate Psoriasis/Strep Throat connection.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by msRB311

How could they have rules for the 5 to 11 group yet ? The vaccine is barely out for them. I don’t know what the rules are for 12 and over.

I mean, they don't have rules specifically for under 12, but rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated. Until recently, under 12 was automatically in the 'unvaccinated' category for those rules. Now they don't have to be.

[msRB311]

Our school hasn't sent out any communication on this yet. It's all still pretty new and as I mentioned it doesn't seem like cases have been an issue at our elementary school so far this year.

I do think parents are going to more cautious about vaccinating a kid as young 5 (my daughter's age) vs a 13 or 14 yr old.

[NewfieMama]

Originally Posted by brk330

Auto-immune conditions run in my family, I've got several myself. Chances are my daughter will, so we are getting her the shot ASAP.
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...ntibodies.html

I have seen a few people in Psoriasis forums saying 'Covid gave them psoriasis' which seems very similar to the Guttate Psoriasis/Strep Throat connection.

I have a close friend whose 10-year-old daughter has an auto-immune disease and she has cried happy tears that her daughter can now get the vaccine. I am thrilled for her. I have other friends whose kids are healthy and they are thrilled their kids can get the vaccine. I also have friends who are holding off. As a mom, I can completely empathize with all of them.

We have the test and stay protocol at our school, too. Close contacts can attend so long as they test negative. We have had very few cases and my kids have had no close contacts. As far as I know, even if my kids have a close contact outside of school, they can still attend so long as they test negative. I'm not 100% sure about that, but I believe that is the case. Our school is also doing pool testing. We had testing a couple of weeks ago and my kids will get tested again today. If there is a positive in the pool, they identify the individual positive.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Kids aren't super spreaders.
https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n628/rr

https://journals.lww.com/pidj/Fullte..._Intra.30.aspx

Those articles are 8 and 15 months old. Both written before Delta. Kids are now 25% of new cases.

I'm not saying they are wrong or even necessarily outdated (I don't know), but I think you should post more recent info.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by redplum33

Those articles are 8 and 15 months old. Both written before Delta. Kids are now 25% of new cases.

I'm not saying they are wrong or even necessarily outdated (I don't know), but I think you should post more recent info.

Is July recent enough for you?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01826-x

“It has been perpetuated in the American media that COVID is dangerous and kids are superspreaders and schools are super-spreader places,” Høeg says. “And none of that has been validated in the scientific literature.”

Do you want peer-reviewed studies on a school year that is two months old? Predictions of an in-person school 'catastrophe' have not materialized (the trends are all still slowly trending down).

Another, more relevant question is: "Why can someone make a completely unfounded claim, i.e. 'kids are super spreaders' and present absolutely no evidence in support of that claim and it's just crickets, but when someone points to peer-reviewed evidence that kids aren't, it's quickly questioned as being 'too old'?"

Old evidence is better than no evidence. Old sources are better than no sources. Do you have any evidence that kids are superspreaders of Delta? Or is it the old playbook of fear, uncertainty, and doubt?

[msRB311]

Seeing how most kids ages 5 to 11 haven’t had the vaccine at this point wouldn’t they be the ones most likely to spread?

Before anyone was vaccinated last year it seemed like most cases were popping up at schools.

[BostonMike7]

In the beginning of the school year we were getting lots of "Covid case" emails within the school. One every week or so.

Now lately they send out a "No cases within the school this week" emails. And i'm getting them with regularity now. Positive news.

I am actually not aware of anyone i know with Covid at the moment. Back in Aug/Sept i knew of a few folks personally.

I do have to admit i've let my guard down a lot when i go out into public.