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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
VDH outbreak list now reports 78 linked COVID-19 cases, the result of attending or working at #Taylor elementary school in late April and May. It’s one of the larger documented school outbreaks in Virginia since they began keeping track.
1/ The green trend line is BA.4 zooming upward, while BA.2.12.1 had become dominant. Each new one is more fit to spread, more infectious, or can breakthrough vaccine and previous immunity. Now is not the time to get rid of all precautions, not even do basic outbreak management.
2/ If you have any symptoms STAY HOME. You will be contagious BEFORE you get a positive test. You may not test positive until 5-7 days after your exposure. (PCR test to document your case for insurance, access to treatment, will tell you sooner.)
3/ You can be infectious for 7-10 days AFTER your first positive test. Use rapid antigen tests at home and make sure you are negative before going out and about. You don’t know who around you is immunocompromised, higher risk, or has a very young or very old family member.
😡: Almost no students who are exposed are being told directly of exposures or quarantined.
We encourage parents w/COVID+ kids to DIY your own reporting to parents and families where you can; assume APS isn't going to notify exposed. It's up to you.
CDC is recommending #TestToStay. But focuses only on the unvaccinated. Breakthrough cases of vaccinated people jumped 64% suddenly recently in Northern Virginia. We need to ramp up RAPID testing for ALL kids, vaxed and unvaxed, who are exposed to COVID.
Short additional 🧵: There are important qualities of such a #TestToStay program that APS would need to emulate. Can't pick and choose, get same results.
#1 - The kid who got exposed limited exposure b/c both parties WORE MASKS. Eliminate masks, gotta quarantine 'cuz certain 🤮.
#2 - No symptoms ever developed. Had to agree to either 2 (LA) or 4 (Lake County) tests, or go quarantine at home.
#3 - For "close contact" #TestToStay kids, mask wearing was required everywhere: indoors, outdoors, on bus. They didn't go to extracurriculars or after school care.
1/ It would be easy to call out some of the schools that have done little for #APSOutdoorLunch, because they have a "can't do" attitude. But today, we're going to call out some of the bright points. Hope to see more of the "can do" attitude across APS, like these examples:
2/ Kenmore 2020-21: Cafeteria staff noted that #APSOutdoorLunch has turned out to be more organized, more relaxed, quieter, less stressful, and less restricted for them and for students. Thanks @apskenmore for keeping our kids safe!
3/ Barcroft 2020-21: The community @BarcroftEagles came together to keep students safe: donated yoga mats, sit-upons, and stumps made #APSOutdoorLunch a fun part of the day last spring.
1/ Risk reduction in a room that has at least 5 air changes per hour. @APSVirginia, another study shows how layered mitigations work. We need to add True HEPAS to rooms *now* to #CleanTheAir, and boost filtration, because #DeltaVariant is far more infectious.
2/ The blue line👆 is where most APS rooms are, if not WORSE for about 1/3 of our rooms. APS chose the most minimal goal it could (4 ACH). We haven’t prioritized providing the same BETTER 6ACH ventilation for all kids.
3/ APS’ ionizers produce 20% less extra clean air, so they’ve underestimated ventilation.
They’ve doubled capacity, which means now 1/2 the clean air for each student returning to school in a week, against #DeltaVariant, which is 2x more infectious.