Thread by @phylogenomics

Watching the @djusd Board Meeting right now wit a #COVID19 update from Laura Juanitas and Dr. Aimee Sisson

95% of staff vaccinated and 80% of secondary students vaccinated

21 students with COVID19 since school started

Laura Juanitas discussing how they are applying the Yolo County modified guidelines for quarantining

Also they are working to try and increase the vaccination numbers through outreach and education

Discussing how students in quarantine will be provided educational materials

On 9/1 CDPH provided guidance for extracurricular activities - emphasizes that face masks are required indoors even w/ heavy exertion and possibly outdoors. DJUSD adopted more strict - masking also outdoors

L. Juanitas says they are planning to go beyond the CDPH guidelines also for testing and plan to require testing for all athletes 1x / week

And additional guidance from Yolo County expected later this week

Dr. Aimee Sisson now up - discussing case rates in Yolo County - and that we are 2x the "high" rate of the CDC.

Sisson: schools would not have been allowed to be open in the past with such high levels but have learned a lot about the need to be in person and how to do it

Sisson emphasizes that this will be hard and there will be growing pains

Sisson emphasizes that the case rate in 0-17 is quite high in Yolo County but emphasizes that adult case rates are lower than in Winter largely due to vaccination

Sisson: still need ti increase vaccination for 12 and over - could have fully vaccinated Jr. highs and high schools and hoping to get there and also looks forward to EUA for < 12

Sisson: discussing Swiss cheese model especially on context of Delta and lack of vaccines for < 12. Her discussion includes emphasis on ventilation and testing and staying home when sick.

Sisson: says some of this "Swiss cheese model" requires commitment from families - e.g., for more testing and staying home when sick

Overall, I really like & respect the work of Asst. Superintendent Juanitas and Dr. Aimee Sisson. I think they are doing a phenomenal job with #COVID19 protections. I (of course) think they could still do some things differently, but want to thank them for their work.

Now a parent is suggesting that the modified quarantine system is not good and that he actually kept his kid at home when exposed even though allowed to use the modified quarantine.

Same parent is asking for better notification and more information. Asking for information on which classes / grades the positive test were in.

Same parent also suggests vaccination be mandatory for staff.

Another parent and also teacher commenting: very concerned with the high levels of transmission and says "what are we doing? This is dangerous." And is concerned about Dr. Sisson's seeming to be cavalier saying "we will have growing pains" and does not instill confidence in him

His voice was breaking during this. I sympathize. I do think we are doing a lot but are still not doing remotely enough in @djusd ...

Sisson in response to a question about case rates - case rates in adults right now are about 1/2 what they were in Winter and case rates in kids are a bit higher than winter surge.

Sisson in response to a question: references new studies suggesting severe disease may be 2x more likely with Delta

Sisson: 10 children so far over course of pandemic hospitalized in Yolo

Sisson: emphasizes that a key metric for the school system is trying to limit transmission in the schools themselves. Many cases in schools are cases from community.

One @djusd Trustee (I can't see names due to the title of the meeting being shown in the video ..) asking about what would lead to changes in practices.

Sisson says the latest data suggests case rate is declining in Yolo county and also in California. But emphasizes that she does not have a crystal ball to know if these decreases will continue.

In response to ?? Sisson discussing what to do when air quality is bad - emphasizes that vaccines help with that issue but that schools this only has limited benefit "there are holes in this layer". And thus masking is critical.

Sisson suggests that it would be better to have a shortened lunch period outdoors even when air quality is relatively poor compared to being indoors without masks

In response to a ?? Sisson also emphasizes that same practices that help in schools help in most other settings so those can reduce spread in the community (vaccination, masks, distancing)

Sisson: suggests that places go beyond the CDPH recommendations for example for large outdoor gatherings suggests masks can be important

Sisson in response to a ?? - no ICU beds are available in the county. That is, there is zero percent ICU availability.

Sisson in response to a ?? - in Davis only about 45% of 10-19 years old have received any dose of vaccine (notes these #s are different than the ones the @djusd has)

Question about whether seating charts would be useful at lunch - and Sisson says yes that could be useful to limit exposure but would not help much with contact tracing

Sisson says another option is to have more distant spacing at lunch ...

Sisson in response to a ?? says Yolo County still doing delivery of vaccines to people where they are

Sisson in response to a ?? says that the same rules for determining if there was an exposure applies indoors and outdoors - 15 minutes within 6 feet

Sisson in response to a question says outbreaks are defined as 3 or more people testing positive that are linked epidemiologically

Sisson in response to a ?? discussing how they are working to communicate clearly the decision tree being used for determining if quarantine is needed

Juanitas in response to a ?? says for elementary schools they consider a whole class a close contact (i.e., not a 6 foot rule) since kids move around

Though then says that they are focusing on times when kids are not in class since that is when they are not masked

Juanitas - three types of communications sent out.
1) Exposed without mask - get call & quarantined
2) In class but with mask - contacted & can do modified quarantine
3) Whole school gets notified

Juanitas - emphasizes that the symptoms seen in positive students are pretty variable and not severe symptoms compared to what they expected (e.g., woke up with a headache) and thus taking seriously ANY symptom a student presents with

Sisson in response to ?? - thought that vaccines for 5-11 would be available now so now hearing more likely in late 2021 that this might happen

Sisson: would like to see #COVID19 vaccine required for school age children once full FDA approval given

Juanitas discussing how testing may move soon from Cannery to a larger facility

Juanitas in response to ?? discussing mental health services - counselors at every school site, and multiple other systems (sorry , can't type fast enough here) - emphasizes multilayer approach

And yes, as a side note, I am running analysis of #DeltaVariant sequences from the area while also trying to live Tweet this meeting

Juanitas in response to a ??: agrees that communications about quarantine system needs to keep being done and welcomes suggestions for ways to make it understandable for people w/ caveat that it is not a one size fits all system

Juanitas: in response to ?? says that questions about letters going to COVID19 response team and that they work together to answer questions as quickly as possible

I note - I wrote a question to the address in the letters and got responses very very very fast and they were very useful ...

Juanitas: email for non quarantine required cases b/c just not enough bandwidth to contact all those by other means but phone call for cases where student needs quarantine

OK that appears to be a wrap for the #COVID19 related discussions at the @djusd meeting so I am going to go back to #SarsCOV2 sequencing analysis ...

@threadreaderapp unroll please