Our 2021-22 academic year just ended yesterday.
We just finished our 3rd year without a single case of COVID-19 in the space. That means not a single person was exposed “at school.” Doubly impressive given the transmissibility of the current variants.
How did we do it?
We just finished our 3rd year without a single case of COVID-19 in the space. That means not a single person was exposed “at school.” Doubly impressive given the transmissibility of the current variants.
How did we do it?
First, we prioritized community care over white, upper middle class, reactionary insecurity. We recognized early on that COVID was falling heaviest on BIPOC communities, the immunocompromised, those without access to quality healthcare, etc. All our decisions centered them.
Second, we acknowledged that nothing we do impacts only those at Abrome. All Facilitators (“teachers”) and young people (“students”) go home to families, friends, and into other communities each day. If we were to spread COVID at Abrome, we’d spread it elsewhere, too.
Third, there is no such thing as a harmless single case of COVID that someone with “a healthy immune system” can overcome. Each case has the potential to seed a superspreader event. Each case has the potential to host a mutation that can become a new variant.
So we focused on two things.
1) not bringing COVID into our education community.
2) not spreading COVID if it did find its way into the community.
1) not bringing COVID into our education community.
2) not spreading COVID if it did find its way into the community.
To not bring it in we started with going remote during periods of very high spread. This was easy in the spring of 2020 when all schools chose to do the same. It got much harder in 2021 & 2022 when society bought into the argument that kids and teachers should accept infection.
We also had each family conduct a daily COVID screening. If someone showed up having not completed it we did it with them in-person before allowing them to enter the space / join the group.
It worked. During every wave we had some students or staff get infected outside of Abrome, but because of our practices none brought it into the community (which would have then spread out beyond the community).
To not spread it if it snuck into the community we acknowledged that #COVIDisAirborne. We mandated masks whenever indoors. KF94, KN95, N95, or better. Zero indoor “mask breaks.” And folks had to go outdoors to eat.
Outdoors they had to wear masks when close to each other.
Outdoors they had to wear masks when close to each other.
And we went outdoors for the entirety of the 2020-2021 academic year! In the Texas heat! This year we had at least one cell of people outdoors pretty much each day except when we went remote during Delta and Omicron. During very high levels of spread, everyone went outdoors.
We also filtered our indoor air. Each room was equipped with HEPA filtration systems or Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, each with a CADR that would deliver at least 6 ACH per room based on room volume, and 8 ACH in bathrooms.
“Sure, but you can only do that because you’re a well-funded private school!!”
Wrong. We are not a rich private school. Our sliding scale tuition give us only 40% of the tuition per student that the local public schools receive. We just prioritize community care!
Wrong. We are not a rich private school. Our sliding scale tuition give us only 40% of the tuition per student that the local public schools receive. We just prioritize community care!
On top of filtering the air we ventilated the indoor space. We opened windows and created lots of cross flow. We used CO2 monitors as a proxy measure for ventilation. When the readings went above 650 we cranked the AC and opened the windows further, if it hit 800 we vacated.
We implemented capacity limits indoors, for each room and for the total number who could be indoors at any given time.
We also broke our community up into smaller and smaller groups/cells as cases rose. And pushed them outdoors. It is safer outdoors.
We also broke our community up into smaller and smaller groups/cells as cases rose. And pushed them outdoors. It is safer outdoors.
If someone would have inadvertently come into the space / group infected, the smaller cells limited the pool of people who could be exposed.
No one came in infected (as much luck as it was preventative policies) but even if they did the number they could infect was capped.
No one came in infected (as much luck as it was preventative policies) but even if they did the number they could infect was capped.
When the CDC catered to politicians and corporations and said that local spread should not be the driver of how we choose to meet, we ignored them. When the CDC said that we could drastically shorten quarantine and isolation periods, or not require testing out, we ignored them.
Next year we will also have a vaccine mandate except in very rare cases of medical necessity (everyone in our community is vaccinated already).
The pandemic has really tested our community. Centering community care has put a big dent in our enrollment. But we understand our obligations toward our families, our community, and our society.
We benefited greatly from the scientists who were not beholden to corporate or politician interests for helping us think about our policies. Shoutout to @PeoplesCDC @kprather88 @JimRosenthal4 @tylerblack32 @linseymarr @HuffmanLabDU @EricTopol and many others!!
In response to the critics who are mad that we are not a large school:
https://twitter.com/AbromeEd/status/1550072616706347011
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