In case no one has told you, the odds your kids will be at school in person in 2-3 wks in the US approach zero in most areas, no matter what your BOE or Governor decide about opening. There won’t be enough people well to run buses, lunches, clean, or teach. Plan now as a family.
I do think we’ll see a rapid peak of #omicron cases by some point in January & then a fall, but enough critical staff will be sick that it will be logistically impossible to keep most schools open during Jan. Our own county @hcpss had a 90 driver shortfall to start the school yr.
And our cases were low then. If it were that easy to just find more bus drivers, their efforts to hire all summer would’ve been successful. It isn’t going to be possible to hire a full cadre of replacement bus drivers in a wk or two. You don’t have enough people trained to do it.
And even if you did, it’s not clear to me that people would be willing to risk their health driving buses full of kids contagious with #omicron to school. And even if they were, every other county is going to be competing for the same subs.
So, in summary, maybe when the dust has settled, we’ll finally pay all essential employees like school bus drivers, who are vital to education, what they are worth, but in the short-term, in Jan 2022, we have no plan so we have planned to fail. #Omicron @hcpss @GovLarryHogan

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More from @tmprowell

2 Jan
This is horrifying. I expected this to happen at some point in Jan or Feb with #Omicron. I didn't expect it happen on January 1. 💔

🙏 to all of of the volunteer #firefighters & #EMS. Friends, please go donate to your local depts to honor their service. #MedTwitter #Maryland
Listen, important. Most adults in #Maryland are #vaccinated. Fewer kids are. MANY haven't yet gotten a #boostershot (only 70M in entire US pop of 331M #boosted). A booster will ⬇️ risk of hospitalization by 88% & starts protecting you in 7d with major protection in 14d. GO DO IT!
If you're #boosted, THANK YOU. Your job is to call 3 people age 16+ NOW who are #vaccinated but not yet #boosted & tell them to #GetBoosted ASAP. This is time-critical, esp w/ #schools to reopen in 36 hrs. #Baltimore #Maryland, appts here as soon as 1/4: umms.org/coronavirus/co…
Read 4 tweets
31 Dec 21
Read this case study @hcpss @GovLarryHogan @mjmsuper @HoCoHealth @MDHealthDept & tell me how we’re going to have students eating unmasked indoors without infecting all staff, students, bus drivers…(& their households…) all at once in <2 wks. Go ahead. I’ll wait. ⏳ #Omicron
The sensible thing to do is:
1. Delay reopening or go virtual now & do a school-based campaign to get as many as possible 12+ (& 5+ who are #immunocompromised) #boosted next wk: google.com/amp/s/www.nyti…. That will decrease breakthrough cases & odds of severe illness in community.
2. Use the time to figure out how we can do lunches safely, something we should’ve figured out a yr ago w/ an airborne virus & that we are now forced to confront w/ #Omicron.

Options:
👉Eat outdoors (I personally volunteer as a parent to do some shifts to monitor outside)…
Read 9 tweets
30 Dec 21
Please don't panic about what this tweet means. I say this as a doctor in a #pandemic, as well as a daughter who lost a parent this year: please make sure your will is current & your loved ones know where it is & that your wishes on end-of-life care are known to your family.
It is an enormous & avoidable source of stress when people become seriously ill or die without them. You can create a simple will online, often for free (consumerreports.org/estate-plannin…).
If you don't have an advanced directive of some kind, you really should. Even if you are young & healthy. Even if there were no #pandemic. It is a great relief to families not to have to guess whether someone wants to be put on life support, etc. aarp.org/caregiving/fin…
Read 5 tweets
30 Dec 21
Life in the US in Jan-Feb 2022 is going to be almost unrecognizable to most Americans. Even the people who have managed to pretend #COVID19 wasn’t happening are about to get a major wakeup call. When we call 911 & no one comes, when we literally cannot enter the ER for crowds…
When we go to grocery stores & find shelves empty, to pharmacies & find them closed because every single employee is out sick themselves or tending to a loved one. Please get what you need to look after your household. Fill prescriptions, get over the counter meds & staples…
As much as I hate it (and I really do, I’m a mom of 3 kids who had virtual school from Mar ‘20 til Sept ‘21), the idea that schools will manage to stay open in any meaningful way in Jan is a joke. Staffing issues alone will close them.
Read 5 tweets
28 Dec 21
Important to return to policy decisions & their #publichealth impact. @mayorbowser lifted the #maskmandate for DC on 11/22/21, despite many incl me (see below) begging her not to. It was restored 4w later on 12/21/21. Too late. Cases of #COVID19 in DC 🚀 3300% since Thanksgiving.
I truly hate being right about this. We are all tired of masks, but aren’t we are all MORE tired of this #pandemic? Whether or not anyone is “willing to let” #COVID19 control their life, if they were ticketed on one of the >3K US flights canceled over Xmas wknd due to #Omicron
If their kid is being taught by different substitute teachers every few wks in mult classes because teachers are out sick or home with their own sick or quarantined kids, if their small business goes under because #Omicron interrupts supply chains & they can’t fulfill orders…
Read 4 tweets
28 Dec 21
🧵Twitter is getting pretty hot tonight. Lots of people stressed about #Omicron, & it's manifesting in fights with one another & a desire to kill the #MedTwitter messengers. So I want to share something I started doing years ago, in traffic. Maybe it'll help you. I don't know.
2/X: One day I was driving to work, & a woman cut me off in her car. Really cut me off. Weaving lane to lane, wildly between cars, causing me to swerve & almost causing a multi-vehicle accident. I'd just had my car totaled by someone who ran a red a few mos before, & I was livid.
3/X: I found myself asking what in the hell could possibly be such an emergency that she needed to drive like that. And then suddenly, I thought: maybe her childcare provider was late & she's at risk of being fired if she's late...or maybe her baby vomited on her as she left...
Read 10 tweets

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