Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Heppenheimer]

My German-Canadian wife today saw the latest numbers from Canada today and asked me again "Are you sure we can't convince Vermont to join Canada?"

 

[ImperfectPixie]

It doesn't need to be an "all or nothing". There's no getting around the human requirement to eat.

Our district has 8 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 2 high schools...totaling ~7200 students and ~1400 employees. If memory serves, all of last year, the number of in-school transmissions could be counted on your fingers.

 

[LaughingGravy]

Please explain this to me I’m still lost on this thing.

You take 20 people and put them in a room for 5 hours - all masked.

Halfway thru this time together, they all take of their masks for 30 minutes.

Are they protected from transmission?

If all are vaccinated, that creates the lowest chance of transmission. Anything else, it goes up, and there are variables. Some shed more than others.
If the room has been cleared of covid by way of sterilization, all people have been tested and isolated prior to being in the room and tested again with 14 days in between, showing no positive cases, then I would be pretty confident they are protected from transmission. Beyond that, there are too many variables to know for sure. many want simple answers, but this is not a simple situation.
Some smoke for decades and live to ripe old ages, never dying of anything commonly related to smoking.
People's immune systems are different. People are different. This virus and its variants will have different reactions to different people.
There may be a case of 2 identical twins, both get the same vaccine designed for Covid-19( first generation) by Pfizer. Then they are both exposed to say, Delta of the same volumes. One may get sick, the other might not. There are variables in that as well. Maybe one has a different diet. Their body chemistry is different.

 

[Trauma]

It’s not full protection, no. But 30 mins of being unmasked is better than being all unmasked together in that room for 7 hrs, which is what a vocal minority in my community is fighting for currently.

All I will say is I’ve read reports that you can delta in seconds.

I don’t understand the better than nothing mentality.

Better than nothing is not good enough.

If your child is at lunch with a delta variant classmate the data suggests they will catch it in seconds.

The only thing that matters is what will actually keep your kid safe, not what is your best “Well I tried” attempt at it.

 

[Trauma]

Our district has 8 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 2 high schools...totaling ~7200 students and ~1400 employees. If memory serves, all of last year, the number of in-school transmissions could be counted on your fingers.

I have no idea what happened at your school, but at ours the days where shortened so the kids would not eat lunch at school.

Why?

The school board determined there was NO SAFE WAY to have a lunch period.

 

[Angel Ariel]

All I will say is I’ve read reports that you can delta in seconds.

I don’t understand the better than nothing mentality.

Better than nothing is not good enough.

If your child is at lunch with a delta variant classmate the data suggests they will catch it in seconds.

The only thing that matters is what will actually keep your kid safe, not what is your best “Well I tried” attempt at it.

I didn’t say it was good enough. But realistically I know my district won’t do more. I am actively working with leadership to give feedback on their plans, trying to get the voice of at risk students heard. There’s only so much I can do. (And please don’t say homeschool. It’s not an option for a multitude of reasons I’m not explaining here).

But I can work to try an ensure that the group that just wants to ignore delta and go back to “normal” entirely doesn’t cause the leadership to change their plans.

 

[Trauma]

I didn’t say it was good enough. But realistically I know my district won’t do more. I am actively working with leadership to give feedback on their plans, trying to get the voice of at risk students heard. There’s only so much I can do. (And please don’t say homeschool. It’s not an option for a multitude of reasons I’m not explaining here).

But I can work to try an ensure that the group that just wants to ignore delta and go back to “normal” entirely doesn’t cause the leadership to change their plans.

There is also online schooling available if you can’t homeschool your child personally.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I have no idea what happened at your school, but at ours the days where shortened so the kids would not eat lunch at school.

Why?

The school board determined there was NO SAFE WAY to have a lunch period.

Not possible in our district. 400 sq mile district. The same Buses are used for all levels of school. It’s not physically possible to meet the transportation needs of a day short enough so that no one is eating lunch at school.

and state law requires that all school districts go back 5 days in person.so fully remote is not an option.

 

[Andrew C]

Cool. Less hesitants I see.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I have no idea what happened at your school, but at ours the days where shortened so the kids would not eat lunch at school.

Why?

The school board determined there was NO SAFE WAY to have a lunch period.

The high schools were handed lunch on their way out the door (our district used part of the Federal money to offer free lunches to any student who wanted one)...the days were shortened but only to allow for fewer kids on each bus (there were also more buses) and staggered dismissals. All the other schools, lunches were served in the classrooms and students ate at their desks, which were spaced out for social distancing.

 

[Angel Ariel]

There is also online schooling available if you can’t homeschool your child personally.

Not when you have a child with significant disabilities. Online schools don’t serve those needs well (if at all). Nor do most private schools (for my child’s needs).

We’ve been through all the variables and options in the last year. I really am well aware of what they are and whether they are functional possibilities or not.

 

[Andrew C]

I have no idea what happened at your school, but at ours the days where shortened so the kids would not eat lunch at school.

Why?

The school board determined there was NO SAFE WAY to have a lunch period.

My kid ate lunch at school. It didn’t blow up.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

There is also online schooling available if you can’t homeschool your child personally.

Some children lose ground with remote learning. There are also special needs students who rely on services provided by their schools.

 

[Andrew C]

Some children lose ground with remote learning.

Some? I am pretty sure the evidence points to a crap ton. Especially those that didn’t have the proper support structure at home.

 

[danlb_2000]

Please explain this to me I’m still lost on this thing.

You take 20 people and put them in a room for 5 hours - all masked.

Halfway thru this time together, they all take of their masks for 30 minutes.

Are they protected from transmission?

Masks don't prevent transmission, they reduce it. So the 30 minutes unmasked doesn't undo the 5 hours masked. And if we are only concerned about lunch, other measures can be put in place to keep kids distanced to reduce the spread.

 

[DisneyFan32]

Yeah, my post wasn’t an attempt to say it was negative or positive, just the facts. To take it out of the context of percents, 104M adults in the US are not currently fully vaccinated. Maybe 8-10M have 1 shot and are in the process of completing the series but that’s still quite a few people left without protection. If we assume somewhere close to 20% of the population has had Covid (10% tested positive and 10% more untested) and we also assume that the percent is the same in the vaccinated and unvaccinated population then 10-20% of those unvaccinated adults has natural immunity. That’s still only 10-20M people meaning 80-90M adults right now are not vaccinated or naturally immune

Hopefully by Fall as they are improving better as many people will be vaccinating as possible!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Some? I am pretty sure the evidence points to a crap ton. Especially those that didn’t have the proper support structure at home.

There’s also those who may have done well academically remotely, but whose mental health plummeted. Which is equally important to consider.

It’s all complicated. People want simple black and white answers, but there just aren’t any. At this point in the pandemic at least that should be clear.

 

[Andrew C]

I would prefer no masks at school. But whatever they think they need to do to go in person full time, that’s fine. Get them all in class. Remote should be gone in 99% of cases.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Some? I am pretty sure the evidence points to a crap ton. Especially those that didn’t have the proper support structure at home.

Yeah, I know. I was just trying to avoid coming off as being melodramatic.

 

[danlb_2000]

All I will say is I’ve read reports that you can delta in seconds.

I don’t understand the better than nothing mentality.

Better than nothing is not good enough.

If your child is at lunch with a delta variant classmate the data suggests they will catch it in seconds.

The only thing that matters is what will actually keep your kid safe, not what is your best “Well I tried” attempt at it.

Two reports of "delta transmission in seconds" doesn't make it a fact. If it could regularly be transmitted in seconds I think we would be seeing far more cases.

There is no reasonable method of 100% preventing the risk of infection, so we are left with no choice but to judge if mitigations are good enough or not.