Thread by @smartrestartaps

#Arlington #COVID19 #Cases

1/ Unlike Omicron wave, the BA.2 & BA.2.12.1 surge has produced a sustained high level of illness impacting @APSVirginia in May, especially as the system reduced isolation and guaranteed that identified contagious people would return to infect others.

#Arlington #COVID19 #Cases

2/ North Arlington schools saw largest % of their student bodies infected w/COVID. (CDC estimates actual cases 2.3x-9x higher than reported in VA, so these are undercounts.)

Largely unmasked #Discovery, #Taylor, and #Jamestown lead % infected.

#Arlington #COVID19 #Cases

3/ By numbers, #Yorktown High School has many more cases than its peer high schools among students.

High schools also have more staff, and had the most staff cases. Shocking numbers of staff at elementary schools have also gotten sick this year.

#Arlington #COVID19 #Cases

4/ APS has had sustained staffingn stress. Plans to reduce COVID in the BA.2 surge weren't adequate. 100+ staff sick every week recently.

How many of 1,652+ sickened staff will get Long COVID? (About 330 will have a new health problem, CDC predicts.)

#Arlington #COVID19 #Cases

5/ The size and scale of outbreaks linked undeniably to spread at school has increased dramatically during this surge, with huge outbreaks in April and May.

VDH data shown below.

#Arlington #COVID19 #Cases

6/ We shouldn't have to consent to have our kids, families, or ourselves, infected with COVID-19 multiple times next year, with new variants — just to access a public education.

No virtual option either in fall, for most medically fragile families.

#Arlington #COVID19 #Cases

7/ We actually never expected to have such a high level of COVID-19 within our schools.

And without grant funding and leadership for many things, we expect to see a much worse 2022-23 year, although it may not be documented as well.

@APSVirginia To clarify, w/Omicron, it was an outrageously high spike — then came down rapidly (we masked at school). With current surges, we've had as much illness, just spread out as wave after wave of students and teachers infects the next. APS did not use effective protocols to stop it.