salty

amoLucia · Feb 13, 2021

(((laflaca)))

tining, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2021

Does your district offer virtual & in-person? We are both, less than half the students are on campus. After contact tracing since October I have not seen one transfer of Covid related to being at school. All situations are related to a carpool, students gathering on the weekend, or having meals with people outside their household. IMO.

lifelearningrn, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2021

On 2/13/2021 at 1:15 AM, laflaca said:

Rant warning: very, very salty

Our district is reopening soon, in an area that has been a hotspot nightmare. Cases are going down, as they are most places. I'm vaccinated and don't have high-risk folks at home. Reopening is not a dealbreaker for me; I'll be fine.

For some reason, what's getting to me is the gaslighting. The communication from the district says repeatedly that they're reopening as recommended by the update from CDC. But if you read today's new guidance, in NO WAY does it recommend reopening in a place with transmission as high as ours (even after a drastic decrease, still 300-400 new cases/100k, PCR+ rates 20ish%). The CDC also recommends all sorts of other things we're not doing or even discussing - cancelling in-person sports, active surveillance/testing, prioritizing schools over restaurants/bars, etc.

Of course schools can decide to move forward despite the recommendations, if they think their school cases are low and their mitigation is strong. Or they can just reinterpret or ignore the CDC, as many have. It's a decentralized system, for better or worse.

So it's dumb, but I can't get past it. Like, don't expect me to nod and smile while you misrepresent information that's right in front of my face. It's insulting.

I am beginning to imagine how public health and ICU nurses feel right now toward the public they've been desperately trying to save. Like, if you're not going to listen to anything the CDC says - let alone what I say - then why bother? What am I here for? You just want a warm body with a license to pick up the eventual mess, without talking back or asking questions.

Ugh. Thanks for listening. I should be grateful to have a paycheck and be healthy - and I am! - but I've just had it today. Hopefully I will desalinize over the weekend.

Our school outlined a communicable disease plan (CDP) and a "color system" that is supposed to follow the trends in the community disease for guidance on when to shut down schools. The district moved us from Red (shut down- all online) to Orange (significant spread; mitigation necessary) in October and we've had all kids who's parents want them in school since then. Even what the infection rate skyrocketed after Thanksgiving and continued throughout January, we never shut down.

A few campuses have had to close down for high numbers of infections in teachers/staff and or students, but it's pretty rare.

By far teachers and staff members are getting sick and exposed by family and friends, NOT at school.

I've had students test positive. Not once has anyone (unless a sibling) been traced back to a teacher or another student at school. (Elementary)

High schools are the worst, usually because of sports or just high schooler being high schoolers.

But social distancing and following protocols does work.

nursetlm, ADN · Feb 25, 2021

We have been in person learning since September with no shutdowns at all- we are taking all proper precautions. It can be done safely and we have been lucky. However I am at a K-3 school with 500 students - so cannot speak to older grades. No documentation of a child spreading covid to another student or to a teacher. All cases have been due to outside, prolonged situations. (Slumber party, their own home/sibling, long car rides, etc without a mask. When I see/ hear about schools still being shut down long-term it saddens me.

BrisketRN, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2021

6 minutes ago, nursetlm said:

We have been in person learning since September with no shutdowns at all- we are taking all proper precautions. It can be done safely and we have been lucky. However I am at a K-3 school with 500 students - so cannot speak to older grades. No documentation of a child spreading covid to another student or to a teacher. All cases have been due to outside, prolonged situations. (Slumber party, their own home/sibling, long car rides, etc without a mask. When I see/ hear about schools still being shut down long-term it saddens me.

We're K-12, have been open since late August. No known transmission within the school. No outbreaks even when our community transmission rates were BAD. That being said, we are in a very new building that easy switched to HEPA filters and we have the space and funding to put all recommended precautions in place. There have been outbreaks at schools in our area where rooms are poorly ventilated, kids are 3 ft apart, etc.

SchoolNurseK, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2021

On 2/25/2021 at 1:35 PM, nursetlm said:

We have been in person learning since September with no shutdowns at all- we are taking all proper precautions. It can be done safely and we have been lucky. However I am at a K-3 school with 500 students - so cannot speak to older grades. No documentation of a child spreading covid to another student or to a teacher. All cases have been due to outside, prolonged situations. (Slumber party, their own home/sibling, long car rides, etc without a mask. When I see/ hear about schools still being shut down long-term it saddens me.

I am in a high school and we have had a similar experience. No school based transmission, no shut downs. We have a little more than 50% of our students on campus and we've been here since August. Even when our numbers have surged, it haven't seen it within the school. Lots of parents have gotten it, putting their kids into quarantine, but little to no increase in our student cases.

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Mar 3, 2021

In school since Sept full time F2F. Probably 25% of population chose remote learning. Mandated masking, social distancing, increased lunches and expanded areas for eating, one way hallways, staggered releases, lowered bar for open campus privilege and an outstanding facilities staff. We have closed for contact tracing and after Thanksgiving for a week due to local surge. No clusters or outbreaks. Kids are getting it at home or hockey or dance...

amoLucia · Mar 3, 2021

I said it in another SN post that you SNs are the real reason that schools haven't been 'decimated' (my word used then) by Covid. Because of your unrelenting and continuous knowledgeable vigiliance and perseverance, the pandemic seems to be best controlled in school environments. Only because of you.

Leaving P&P or R&R to Secretary Sally or Admin Al or Principal Paul, just leaves those schools wide open to wildfire spread of disease. And I'm sure there have been schools having bad outcomes because the WRONG people have been trying to run the show!

Kudos to all of you for sticking to your professionalism!