Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[ImperfectPixie]

Are they doing any mitigations at all? Any distance or masking, extra ventilation, air cleaners, anything to make it safer at all? How "just dumped" is it?

For us, they're barely back in school at all. Just 50% and only every other week. That's 25% of kids in school any week. They still close the school on Wednesday to "deep clean", and there is still to much surface worry and not enough ventilation focus. The high school is switching classes, but even so kids may end up in a room without the teacher who's remote. It's a simultaneous model, one teacher for both in the room and remote. In the middle school, its even worse. They mostly don't switch rooms at all. So, across 4 classes in a day, the teacher in the room may be for 1 of them. All the kids aren't even in the same class at the same time. They're all on zoom from the room to wherever. When it is the teacher in the room, they have to mute the zoom to prevent echo and then cannot hear any classmates from zoom. They switch for gym, and then do zoom class with the remote people. They switch for band half the time, but don't really play, for obvious exhalation reasons. Apparently, they cannot move the band outside to create enough distance for "reasons". Yesterday's school board meeting it became obvious that we're lucky for even this horrible disaster. Somehow being almost last to return we cannot learn from anyone else and it's not possible to do any better. That they didn't make any progress for the last 9 months on returning because all the focus was on remote support. One of my kids middle school friends has health instead of gym this quarter and isn't in band, they switched back to full remote because the in building was so much worse with quite literally no extra value for the effort.

There has to be some middle ground. Something in between "just go back and pretend it's all fine" and "returning is so bad, you'll want to stay remote".

Staggered buses and bell schedule, no lunch (they're literally giving kids their lunch in take-out boxes as they walk out the door to come home), masks, sanitation stations and hand washing, and supposedly the kids are still spaced 6' apart (although I have NO IDEA how that's even physically possible at all given class sizes). Keep in mind...this is just one of our 2 high schools...I won't pretend to know what's happening at the other high school, but I would imagine it's very similar.

It's just so frustrating to have come this far (mostly successfully - there have been very few cases of transmission in school from Sept.-March) to now get all impatient and not wait for vaccines to be available to the kids. We had 2 new in-school transmissions the first week alone (the kids are off this week for April vacation), and if anything, people (especially teenagers) will get worse at following procedures over time, not better. Plus there's the fact that teenagers are the primary spreaders in our town right now.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Sadly I think some people just don’t want to get it so they look for any reason to justify that and show they know more than the masses. I have a friend who has switched reasons why they won’t get the vaccine. At first they said they weren’t getting it because there were old and sick people who needed it more, then once vaccines became more available they switched to the narrative that they were not worried about getting sick themselves and they would get the vaccine if it actually prevented you from spreading covid to others. Then studies came out showing that the vaccines are highly effective in preventing spread. Then the story I got is they aren’t getting the vaccine because they have high blood pressure and are worried about a reaction. To that I asked if they talked to their doctor because I hadn’t heard there was any higher risk with vaccines if you have high blood pressure. I‘m sure now they are focused on JnJ and blood clots. The fact of the matter is some people just won’t get vaccinated unless they are somehow forced to.

Those are fools that don’t know their role in the world.

 

[DisneyFan32]

time will tell.

If vaccinations and case numbers look good...they will push to ease some restrictions for the summer beach season (July 1)...if possible

the shore towns drive about $4 billion in annual tax revenue in the state...that’s a very large chunk of municipal budgets and they won’t want to keep things tamped down if they can justify not doing so.

By late summer or fall as indoor masks will be gone for good.

 

[Parker in NYC]

Ooh! Just got the NY Excelsior app and got proof of my vaccination (it adds a little virtual card to your phone with a bar code. For me it was added to the wallet in iOS). Took like 10 seconds. You just put your name, the day of your second shot, the county, and the maker of the vaccine. Easy-peasy!

 

[danlb_2000]

By late summer or fall as indoor masks will be gone for good.

Nobody knows.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Well you totally missed my point. As one who says we are here to listen you did not. Instead you gloriously and sanctimoniously tried to put me in a box and were totally off on what I was saying. Glad your family learned and survived. My whole point was: Your story is not the only story. If you are here to listen know I'm allergic to onion which is all those jokes were about. But feel free to think you're better than me. I really am not pressed to impress people on the internet. Systemic racism and poverty is hard to overcome. Glad you all survived. Not all do. I am here to talk and listen. It goes both ways.

For the record if you listened you would see I never assumed anything about you. I strictly responded to your words. Nothing else. Enjoy your day.

I was just trying to provide information that I thought might be useful.

I do not know your biography. I didn't post any jokes; nor have I read any jokes about you. I've only read a small portion of this thread. I would never condone making fun of anyone.

I gave one recipe, as an example: simple, inexpensive, + healthy recipes exist.

All five of the primary ingredients are optional. It can be made in a microwave using frozen veggies, in under 5 minutes, no prep work, and no clean up. It costs less than $4, and serves 4 people.

It has been handy during the pandemic, when we were trying to stay home as much as possible, because all the ingredients keep for 2+ weeks.

Mark Bittman teaches the minimalist philosophy of cooking, but he is not the only chef that teaches this approach. Mind, this post is not an endorsement of Mark Bittman. Someone gave me cookbook he wrote 20+ years ago, when they were trying to help make my life easier, and I appreciated the gift.

I posted to pay it forward. That's all.

 

[correcaminos]

The kids have been back in hybrid since September. My youngest is in a separate autism program, so he's been back in person the full 5 days a week, but there are only 6 kids in his class...and zero spread there. There HAVE been transmissions occurring during school in the high school grades even in hybrid.

Are they not following protocals then? I haven't heard of spread in class in news or anecdotally unless the masks were not worn and such. Transmissions maskless and close contact have though, but we don't allow things in the school. We have quarantining requirements too but so far outside of track (not in school though) we had no out of school quarantines for in school building only. Our hybrid there would have been no way at all that in classroom transmission could have happened. It only happened in sports - which is why many aren't wanting to do it this year.

I was just trying to provide information that I thought might be useful.

I do not know your biography. I didn't post any jokes; nor have I read any jokes about you. I've only read a small portion of this thread. I would never condone making fun of anyone.

I gave one recipe, as an example: simple, inexpensive, + healthy recipes exist.

All five of the primary ingredients are optional. It can be made in a microwave using frozen veggies, in under 5 minutes, no prep work, and no clean up. It costs less than $4, and serves 4 people.

It has been handy during the pandemic, when we were trying to stay home as much as possible, because all the ingredients keep for 2+ weeks.

Mark Bittman teaches the minimalist philosophy of cooking, but he is not the only chef that teaches this approach. Mind, this post is not an endorsement of Mark Bittman. Someone gave me cookbook he wrote 20+ years ago, when they were trying to help make my life easier, and I appreciated the gift.

I posted to pay it forward. That's all.

The jokes were mine since just before you post I had posted here about being mildly allergic to onions. So not a biography needed, but just reading posts. It was a full discussion.

I feel like you are still not listening... please read my posts as not at attack or the like on you, but that your resources might not work for all. That is all. If you want to pay it forward go for it, but my comments were explaining differences even from your life - or my own. Poverty and systemic racism is not that simple. Now that the dead horse is a bloody pulp I'm out.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

This isn't true at all.
Those people may be keeping covid around longer, due to their actions - but that doesn't connote a want.
"Want" is different.

If you take my post out of context, I would agree with you.

If you take it as it was: a response to a post ascribing “want” to others to whom it does not apply, it made perfect, nearly poetic, sense.

Seems like a metal taste in the mouth is also a common symptom.

Omg I had that and didn’t make the connection!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

And all the “it only affects old people” was BS

and now the “kids aren’t at risk” and “we’ve all probably already had it and are immune” stuff is crap.

The problem is, the counter-narratives to the BS were, themselves, BS.

BS: It only effects old people.
Media/politician counter-narrative: Young people are at just as much risk as old people.
Actual truth: Covid is *thousands of times* more dangerous to old people than to young people. Young people CAN still get it, and even die from it, but their main danger is as transmission vectors to the much-more-vulnerable elderly population.

BS: Masks don't work at all.
Media/politician counter-narrative: Masks are extremely effective and necessary, always.
Actual truth: Masks don't do much good if you're outdoors and keeping your distance from people, or when you're vaccinated. They are effective when you're indoors in cramped quarters with poor ventilation and unvaccinated.

This back-and-forth has had two deadly consequences. First, early in the pandemic when resources were scarce, we deployed them inefficiently. We should have been laser-focused on nursing homes. Instead, politicians downplayed the risks in nursing homes in an effort to counter the "it only effects old people" narrative. This led to deaths. Many deaths, most notably in New York.

Second, it has eroded public trust in institutions and health experts. Fauci lied to us about masks in order to try and prevent a run on N95s, and that lie has had severe downstream consequences. People still circulate that interview as evidence that our public health officials are either incompetent or deliberately deceitful.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Are they not following protocals then? I haven't heard of spread in class in news or anecdotally unless the masks were not worn and such. Transmissions maskless and close contact have though, but we don't allow things in the school. We have quarantining requirements too but so far outside of track (not in school though) we had no out of school quarantines for in school building only. Our hybrid there would have been no way at all that in classroom transmission could have happened. It only happened in sports - which is why many aren't wanting to do it this year.

They don't share those details. Only that there were 2 in school transmissions. We've had a few transmissions occur in schools since September even in hybrid mode...if memory serves, it was a couple of teachers, and almost twice as many students...but those were spread out over six months. Now we send all the kids back to in person, and we've got 2 the first week.

They DO quarantine those who test positive and any close contacts - so far, my family has been lucky and we haven't been a close contact at all.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The problem is, the counter-narratives to the BS were, themselves, BS.

BS: It only effects old people.
Media/politician counter-narrative: Young people are at just as much risk as old people.
Actual truth: Covid is *thousands of times* more dangerous to old people than to young people. Young people CAN still get it, and even die from it, but their main danger is as transmission vectors to the much-more-vulnerable elderly population.

BS: Masks don't work at all.
Media/politician counter-narrative: Masks are extremely effective and necessary, always.
Actual truth: Masks don't do much good if you're outdoors and keeping your distance from people, or when you're vaccinated. They are effective when you're indoors in cramped quarters with poor ventilation and unvaccinated.

This back-and-forth has had two deadly consequences. First, early in the pandemic when resources were scarce, we deployed them inefficiently. We should have been laser-focused on nursing homes. Instead, politicians downplayed the risks in nursing homes in an effort to counter the "it only effects old people" narrative. This led to deaths. Many deaths, most notably in New York.

Second, it has eroded public trust in institutions and health experts. Fauci lied to us about masks in order to try and prevent a run on N95s, and that lie has had severe downstream consequences. People still circulate that interview as evidence that our public health officials are either incompetent or deliberately deceitful.

you can’t let the children play with “knives”...they often can’t understand the pointy end from the handle

the one thing I can give Fauci credit for...is that he sits before gonna congress and says it as plainly as he can get away with short of saying “the public is stupid...we have to steer them like cattle”

I've never seen any indication he’s wrong

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

The jokes were mine since just before you post I had posted here about being mildly allergic to onions. So not a biography needed, but just reading posts. It was a full discussion.

I get you are trying to be helpful and appreciate that. Just letting you know what works for you with even 30 minutes of cooking plus prep is hard. That was all I was saying. I think you took it as an attack on you, which I am sorry for, but beyond that you honestly are not listening to what my response was about. Even now. Just like with vaccines and hesitency there is not a one size fits all approach. I wish you a nice day and glad you had resources to survive hardships.

Huh? You called me sanctimonious.

And there's no 30 minutes of prep. Just no.

 

[correcaminos]

They don't share those details. Only that there were 2 in school transmissions. We've had a few transmissions occur in schools since September even in hybrid mode...if memory serves, it was a couple of teachers, and almost twice as many students...but those were spread out over six months. Now we send all the kids back to in person, and we've got 2 the first week.

They DO quarantine those who test positive and any close contacts - so far, my family has been lucky and we haven't been a close contact at all.

Our notifications only say when we have a positive case, not where it occurred likely to protect people. So maybe 1 every week or so in our school. I get updates weekly to see who is quarantining in and out of school. Total numbers of cases. Outside of that our district has contract traced all cases and since we were hybrid in the fall, zero cases occurred in school. Sports did bring minor spread, but not as much.

Our schools are super strict on masking. I've actually been in school this week doing the Frozen production and watching. They are doing well. One way hallways, distancing, separate eating etc.

We haven't had to quarantine yet either. Now I believe vaccinated teachers don't have to quarantine if exposed as well.

 

[Chi84]

I’m not sure how you want it?

you don’t want the media to sensationalize...which I agree

but you’ve also said for a year that the general public can’t be “expected” to be patient, wait for things and expected to follow mandates.

so does everyone need to act like intelligent adults or not?

edit: I quoted the wrong post...you said something about media sensationalization?

I don't want the media to sensationalize, and I believe people should act like intelligent adults. I don't remember everything I've said over the past year, but I know I never advocated for people to disregard mandates.

It's an understatement to say that people disagree on how much particular mitigation measures have helped and when they should be relaxed or lifted. Some measures, like sanitizing surfaces, have proved relatively ineffective given the nature of transmission and have been largely discontinued. Others, like stay-at-home orders, were by their nature very effective but simply could not be reasonably sustained over time. Masks provided a high degree of protection when there was no other protection available, but that is changing as more and more people are vaccinated. Even Dr. Fauci has said that there is zero risk when vaccinated people are in contact with other vaccinated people.

Most people are reasonable and understand that they need to continue with mitigation until everyone has had a chance to be vaccinated. But people are human - you can't tell millions of vaccinated people they have virtually no chance of getting COVID and expect them to act the same way they did before they were vaccinated. I believe that goes a long way toward explaining the CDC's reticence on the matter. Most will continue to follow mitigation, but in a more relaxed way - I noticed complaints about "old people" not wearing masks correctly at WDW. My bet is they were vaccinated and felt safe.

Most of my observations are not based on what is right or wrong; I'm just reporting what I observe. (Except when it comes to wearing masks to protect people who refuse to get vaccinated - I'm passionately against that scenario.) When cases spiked in Illinois and the governor "re-closed" indoor dining, many restaurants simply did not comply. I thought that was immensely unfair to the ones who did close, but the governor chose not to use criminal and civil penalties to address a public health issue. What I'm seeing is that social distancing and masking are coming to an end - because of differences in risk tolerance, it's too early for some and too late for others.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Our notifications only say when we have a positive case, not where it occurred likely to protect people. So maybe 1 every week or so in our school. I get updates weekly to see who is quarantining in and out of school. Total numbers of cases. Outside of that our district has contract traced all cases and since we were hybrid in the fall, zero cases occurred in school. Sports did bring minor spread, but not as much.

We haven't had to quarantine yet either. Now I believe vaccinated teachers don't have to quarantine if exposed as well.

They give us a nice breakdown...the school provides 2 lists - one of students, one of employees, and it includes whether transmission was at school or out of school, how many are currently quarantined and where their exposure occurred. They update it weekly.

The town gives us a daily breakdown of new cases by age range.

 

[Patcheslee]

They don't share those details. Only that there were 2 in school transmissions. We've had a few transmissions occur in schools since September even in hybrid mode...if memory serves, it was a couple of teachers, and almost twice as many students...but those were spread out over six months. Now we send all the kids back to in person, and we've got 2 the first week.

They DO quarantine those who test positive and any close contacts - so far, my family has been lucky and we haven't been a close contact at all.

Middle school has done fairly well so far with less than 5 student cases, all tied back to contracted outside school but required other kids the quarantine due to proximity even with a mask on. High school though, has had been traced to close contact between teammates, the football team twice, wrestling team once, basketball team once. Alot of middle school sports were canceled this year so it may have contributed to cases. I'm glad to see the uptick in the 16-18 age range. The part time jobs around here are in restaurants, so their exposure is higher than me. Hopefully that pushes them more. Add in colleges requiring the vaccine will also push some of the next group.
Soon as the 12-15 range opens up DD12 will get hers, and she'll be able to volunteer to assist with summer camp activities vs set in a room and chill with the other 7th graders.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

But people are human - you can't tell millions of vaccinated people they have virtually no chance of getting COVID and expect them to act the same way they did before they were vaccinated.

Also, if you want to persuade people to get vaccinated who might not otherwise, "get this shot and you still have to do all the stuff you've been doing for over a year that you hate" is not an effective tactic.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Middle school has done fairly well so far with less than 5 student cases, all tied back to contracted outside school but required other kids the quarantine due to proximity even with a mask on. High school though, has had been traced to close contact between teammates, the football team twice, wrestling team once, basketball team once. Alot of middle school sports were canceled this year so it may have contributed to cases. I'm glad to see the uptick in the 16-18 age range. The part time jobs around here are in restaurants, so their exposure is higher than me. Hopefully that pushes them more. Add in colleges requiring the vaccine will also push some of the next group.
Soon as the 12-15 range opens up DD12 will get hers, and she'll be able to volunteer to assist with summer camp activities vs set in a room and chill with the other 7th graders.

My boys are both eager to get their shots. My youngest (10) I'm not worried about as much...his contacts are limited to around 15 people total outside of home because he's in a separate autism program. My 15-year-old though...there are 1300 students in his school, and I don't know how many employees/teachers.

 

[sullyinMT]

Saw this elsewhere. Thought it appropriate, and I hope I'm not breaking any rules:

 

[correcaminos]

They give us a nice breakdown...the school provides 2 lists - one of students, one of employees, and it includes whether transmission was at school or out of school, how many are currently quarantined and where their exposure occurred. They update it weekly.

The town gives us a daily breakdown of new cases by age range.

I feel weird saying cool, but it is interesting to see what other areas do though. So appreciate you sharing

Ours does kind of similar, but we've had no in-classroom transmissions to share. The only thing I get different is our school sends out notifications of a case in the school. Not sure why... but we don't get that many that often.