JoJoGo

You never forget your first time ? It is amazing to see the relief once that initial jolt wears off, isn't it?

Ugh. Last week I had a student who was eligible to return from quarantine on Thursday not return because of persistent "allergies" that couldn't be COVID because, after all, they hadn't been anywhere....but to school....which is why they were in quarantine. Came to school Monday & Tuesday this week because they were feeling better and then, Bam! Had a headache last night and no taste or smell this morning. AND I'm betting dollars to donuts I'm going to get to re-quarantine that entire class. I.Hate.Covid!

Yup. Spring break starts tomorrow. I'm waiting on two pending tests that may quarantine a large handful of students the day before break-can you imagine the ? hitting the fan??

54-The countdown is on! Full year in person minus a couple of quarantines for the entire middle and high school and one week extra over the holidays. I'm tired, but still amazed at how the year flew by!

I hear you there. I'm leaving my current school nursing job because my husband took a job on the other side of the state. I'm tempted to work at Costco for a while. I did apply for an Occupational Health Nurse position, but I also know how good I have it at my current job and I'm not excited to look in a hospital or other setting where nights and weekends (and summers) will be expected.

Dose two complete yesterday. So far, only a sore arm. I'm so thankful!

I'm pretty sure I'll be getting it next week. I'm administering it Monday-Wednesday because staffing issues are real during Christmas week at the Health Department and I worked with them all Summer while we were out of school. So, hopefully, along with administering it I'll be on the receiving end of a dose just in time for Christmas. I can't wait!

You should just copy and paste from your local health department guidelines. Ours has a very clear algorithm to follow. I just refer all my parents back to that algorithm. I copy and paste the link to it and send it to anyone who questions what we're doing. We've handled cases differently, but we've learned as we went. First teacher who tested positive sent the entire middle school home and we q'd them all. Subsequent teachers have been much more careful about where they are teaching from and how many kids they spend time leaning in and "close" teaching with. Students have been harder-every kid sitting at a desk within 6 feet gets q'd. That can be 5+ kids per classroom x6 classes a day. We are also a small school, so some of the quarantines have led to remote learning for all of high school just because 1/2 in quarantine and 1/2 not makes it impossible for teachers to teach. It's rough, but just keep pressing on. Best of luck!

I think it is an interpretation thing. The county I live in "allows" household members to start their 14 day count down if the infected person is isolated to their own bedroom and bathroom, but the county I worked in this Summer said that as long as the infected person remained in the home the countdown didn't start until isolation was over (24 days). These two counties are adjacent and we have students that overlap both all over, so it can definitely be difficult to keep straight. Neither county have been able to keep up with contact tracing since the start of November, so now I am pretty much on my own with all of the students in our building and I use the separate bedroom/bathroom rule when I can, but we have still had students out for 24 days because some are too young to be able to separate from an infected parent.

I wish we could do some surveillance testing. The health department says it may be coming, but it's probably not going to be soon enough to do any good here. We've got our K-8 population in the building, but 9-12 is remote and their mental health is in the toilet. I'm very over Covid right along with all of the rest of the US. Press on, friends!

Does your local health department not have a template for you? This is what I send to our students: You are receiving this email because your 9th grade student has been identified as a close contact to a positive case. Their last exposure was on 11/3/20, so the quarantine will end on 11/17/20 and they will be able to return to school on 11/18/20. You should hear from the #### County Health Department in the next 24-48 hours, but if you do not please continue to keep your child at home in quarantine. Your child should remain at home unless they have to seek medical attention. They do not need to have a Covid test unless they develop any symptoms like a fever, cough, stomach issues, congestion, etc. Please call your child's physician if you have any concerns about their health. If your child develops any symptoms and are going to be tested, any siblings should remain home from school until those test results are back. Please notify me of any positive test results. You do not need to fill out the daily screener while your child is at home. Thank you for your diligence and support as we continue to work to keep our students in school and healthy. Please let me know if you have any questions

I did it all Summer with the health department, and now I'm doing it for our school. Our health department is so overwhelmed that I've started putting our students into quarantine and telling them they can't return since it is taking almost a full week after I send in the spreadsheet for them to be contacted by the HD. Thankfully, administration has completely supported all our efforts. It is exhausting. We have seen zero cases transmitted inside our building that we can document, but we have also not seen any of our quarantined students develop disease, either. Is it overkill? Maybe, but I'm following those recs to the letter because that is what we have to work with right now. We do have a strongly enforced mask policy in our purple-ish area. All my family lives in one of those red states, so I know what you are up against. Virtual air hugs for you. Keep on, keeping on!

Oof, you certainly sound like you have a different set of parents/guardians than I have. My students' parents would be much more likely to thank me for not calling an ambulance so they wouldn't have to pay for it.

That's only a 911 call if they suddenly lose conciouosness. Sounds like you did exactly what I would have done. I would have the child in position of comfort and then decide how to keep the arm in that position for transport. They can still walk to the car and be assisted with seatbelts, so no ambulance needed for any reason that I can find.

None of my teachers would touch one with a ten foot pole, so I have never had this happen. I have taped them on a post it note for a parent, however. I pulled one out of an eyebrow already this year.