In our schools, mask are required for everyone. On the bus too. Required and use is not the same though. From reports, the kids are good about it at school, not as much on the bus. Lots of noses out on the busses. They say the cafeteria is good, but that's from a kids perspective.
Our county also has a ridiculously high vaccination rate. 84% of total population and 89.5% of age over 5 according to the CDC. We had almost no Delta bump. Last week, county wide, over 5% of students/staff had active positive COVID cases across the entire county school system. Right before they changed the metric to no longer go virtual in a school that's over 5%, which would have been almost all of them.
That's the truth all right.
A little cross county interactions, a little mistake unrealized exposure someplace, and Bob's your uncle you've passed it on. For instance, holiday gatherings with people from beyond the county at a large scale.
Our kids have started wearing masks for indoor soccer practice in mostly empty buildings again. Along with no spectators. A balance of taking extra mitigations instead of cancelling. There's probably a debate on if it's a good idea or not. Big building, few people, but heavy breathing and some up close contact, and that "mostly" part. There's a risk/reward math in there somewhere, and I like to hope we're on the correct side of it.
On that risk/reward math, combined with "Omicron is so infectious everyone will get it eventually", a recommendation from my wife was "If you're going to catch it, better to do it when not everyone else is also catching it". So plan accordingly as the healthcare utilization numbers crest near 100%.
