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Showing posts with label Corona Virus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corona Virus. Show all posts
Saturday, December 12, 2020
If you see something say something...anonymous COVID reporting for teachers, parents, and students: The Covid Monitor
Infected after 5 minutes, from 20 feet away: South Korea study shows coronavirus’ spread indoors
From the Los Angeles Times, by reporter Victoria Kim. Full story here.
SEOUL —
Dr. Lee Ju-hyung has largely avoided restaurants in recent months, but on the few occasions he’s dined out, he’s developed a strange, if sensible, habit: whipping out a small anemometer to check the airflow.
It’s a precaution he has been taking since a June experiment in which he and colleagues re-created the conditions at a restaurant in Jeonju, a city in southwestern South Korea, where diners contracted the coronavirus from an out-of-town visitor. Among them was a high school student who became infected after five minutes of exposure from more than 20 feet away.
The results of the study, for which Lee and other epidemiologists enlisted the help of an engineer who specializes in aerodynamics, were published last week in the Journal of Korean Medical Science. The conclusions raised concerns that the widely accepted standard of six feet of social distance may not be far enough to keep people safe.
The study — adding to a growing body of evidence on airborne transmission of the virus — highlighted how South Korea’s meticulous and often invasive contact tracing regime has enabled researchers to closely track how the virus moves through populations.
“In this outbreak, the distances between infector and infected persons were ... farther than the generally accepted 2 meter [6.6-foot] droplet transmission range,” the study’s authors wrote. “The guidelines on quarantine and epidemiological investigation must be updated to reflect these factors for control and prevention of COVID-19.”
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Senegal's quiet COVID success: Test results in 24 hours, temperature checks at every store, no fights over masks
COVID-19 test results come back within 24 hours – or even faster. Hotels have been transformed into quarantine units. Scientists are racing to develop a cutting-edge, low-cost ventilator.
This isn't the pandemic response in South Korea, New Zealand or another country held up as a model of coronavirus containment success.
It's Senegal, a west African country with a fragile health care system, a scarcity of hospital beds and about seven doctors for every 100,000 people. And yet Senegal, with a population of 16 million, has tackled COVID-19 aggressively and, so far, effectively. More than six months into the pandemic, the country has about 14,000 cases and 284 deaths.
"You see Senegal moving out on all fronts: following science, acting quickly, working the communication side of the equation, and then thinking about innovation," said Judd Devermont, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank...
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Florida confirmed 9K new COVID-19 cases among children within 15 days as schools reopen
Florida confirmed almost 9,000 new COVID-19 cases among children within 15 days in August as schools reopen, according to state data released Tuesday.
The Florida Department of Health recorded a total of 48,730 confirmed coronavirus cases among children, according to a report with data through Monday. The data shows an increase of 8,995 confirmed cases since the previous report, which included data from 15 days earlier, on Aug. 9.
For the 15 days before Aug. 9, the state confirmed 8,585 new COVID-19 cases among children...
Parents wait hours to pick up laptops for virtual learning
CLARKSBURG, Md. — Traffic was at a standstill most of the day near Rocky Hill Middle School in Clarksburg while parents waited hours to pick up equipment to participate in virtual learning when the school year starts next week.
Montgomery County Public Schools starts all-virtual learning on August 31, and notified parents several weeks ago that they could pick up a laptop or learning materials over two weeks from Aug. 17 to Aug. 28. The laptop distribution was only available for students who do not have access to a computer or laptop at home...
MCPS OKs reopening plan for Monday’s start of classes
This story is part of “Parenting in a Pandemic,” WTOP’s continuing coverage of how parents are dealing with child care, schooling and more through the coronavirus pandemic.
The Montgomery County Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve a reopening plan for Maryland’s largest public schools system, with classes starting Monday, Aug. 31.
The approval, which had been expected, came during a meeting that lasted more than eight hours Tuesday...
Montgomery County Health officer says his authority to enforce safety is unclear
...“When the governor asked us to rescind our order … the state promised they would be providing guidelines for local jurisdictions in terms of what schools needed to do,” Gayles said during a meeting with the Montgomery County Council on Monday. “It was framed that, as long as schools are consistent with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and state guidelines, they’d be able to reopen. But we don’t have any state guidelines.”
Spokespeople for Hogan and the Maryland Department of Health could not be reached for comment on Monday. Previously, a spokeswoman for Hogan told Bethesda Beat that Gayles still has the authority to close a nonpublic school found to not be complying with social distancing requirements...
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Montgomery County Claims They Post When a School is Closed Due to COVID-19.
The county continues to say that it is still not safe for non-public schools to open... pic.twitter.com/uenuUBSUfe— MyMCMedia (@mymcmedia) August 26, 2020
Zoom-based opera for preschoolers might sound like your worst nightmare. But it’s actually the best Zoom there is.
...Kids today are a bit more hands-on, as I discovered during a recent session of “Opera Starts With Oh!,” an opera education program for ages 3 to 7, run by the D.C. and NYC-based company Opera Lafayette.
Admittedly, preschoolers, Zoom and opera don’t immediately sound like the makings of a successful project, but each installment I watched of “Opera Starts With Oh!” — helmed by director, choreographer and teaching artist Emma Jaster and Opera Lafayette community engagement manager Ersian François — kept its grid of budding opera buffs rapt with an action-packed half-hour of activities, performances and assorted operatic antics...
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Special Education students are being left behind | READER COMMENTARY
I’m the mother of a 14 year old son with non-verbal, regressive autism. He has epilepsy, PANDAS and other co-existing conditions. Nothing about this life is easy. Every day is an uphill battle. I’ve spent the last 14 years of my life advocating for the best, supportive services to help my son learn, develop and empower him with tools to function in this chaotic, overstimulating world. 1 in 34 boys in MD have an autism diagnosis. This is NOT going away. Stats go up consistently every year. Guess who is failing our kids during COVID? The state if MD. FAPE isn’t being delivered. IEP’s are out of compliance. They have zero contingency plans. Families have been patient, cooperative and compliant for seven months stepping up into a special educator/therapist role. Virtual is not a long-term solution and not sustainable. I’ve been advocating for six weeks for an in-home therapist.
Upon contacting CCPS Special Ed administration the response I received was: There is no procedure for requesting therapy in homes...
Maryland board could require schools to provide at least 3½ hours of live instruction
The state school board Tuesday is expected to vote on whether to require school districts to offer students a minimum of 3½ hours of live online instruction each day while classes remain remote because of coronavirus.
“I want to make sure that all students across the state have the same opportunity for learning,” said state school superintendent Karen Salmon. “I think this is crucial.”..
COVID-19 Is Transmitted Through Aerosols. We Have Enough Evidence, Now It Is Time to Act
Many months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the coronavirus is still spreading uncontrolled through the U.S. Public health authorities including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) tell us to remain six feet apart, wash our hands, disinfect frequently touched surfaces, and wear masks. But compliance with these measures—especially masks—is mixed, and daily we hear of cases where people do not know how they were infected. We hear about superspreading events, where one person infects many, happening in crowded bars and family gatherings, but not at outdoor demonstrations. Beaches in cities like Chicago are closed, but gyms and indoor dining at restaurants have reopened. It is no wonder the public is confused.
It is critical to have a clear physical description of the ways in which COVID-19 is transmitted, so that individuals and institutions are able to visualize it and will understand how to protect themselves. Contrary to public health messaging, I, together with many other scientists, believe that a substantial share of COVID-19 cases are the result of transmission through aerosols. The evidence in favor of aerosols is stronger than that for any other pathway, and officials need to be more aggressive in expressing this reality if we want to get the pandemic under control...
Monday, August 24, 2020
Why Parents, With ‘No Good Choice’ This School Year, Are Blaming One Another
It’s the newest front in America’s parenting wars.
Parents, forced to figure out how to care for and educate their children in a pandemic, are being judged and criticized on message boards and in backyard meet-ups and virtual P.T.A. meetings. If parents send their children to schools that reopen, are they endangering them and their teachers? If they keep them home, are they pulling support from schools and depriving their children? If they keep working while schools are closed, are they neglecting their children in a time of need? If they hire someone to help with remote school, are they widening achievement gaps and contributing to inequality?
“This is what you selfish parents are so gung-ho for,” someone wrote under a photo of a crowded school hallway on a Washington, D.C., parents’ forum...
Pandemic parents: Why can child care open in schools that won’t allow classes?
Schools in Montgomery County won’t open for traditional classes in the fall, but hundreds of elementary schoolchildren may be taking part in “distance learning hubs” in the same buildings that were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In programs run by child-care providers long based in county schools, students would take their Chromebooks to school daily and join small cohorts of their peers — akin to parent-organized “pandemic pods” that are popular across the country. Children ages 5 to 12 would follow online learning schedules and participate in activities during free time...
Contact Tracing: Maine CDC now links 53 COVID-19 cases to Millinocket wedding reception
- The news follows the announcement of 32 new coronavirus cases and one additional death Saturday.
- A woman who did not attend the reception died on Friday after contracting COVID-19 from a person who did attend the event, health authorities said...
...The number of COVID-19 cases connected to a wedding reception in Millinocket continues to climb, with state health officials saying on Saturday that they could trace 53 confirmed cases of coronavirus to the reception. That’s up from 32 confirmed cases on Friday.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday that investigators identified secondary and tertiary transmission of the virus, which means that it has spread to people who did not attend the Aug. 7 wedding reception but had close contact with individuals who were present at the event (secondary cases) and close contacts of the secondary cases...
Covid in the Classroom? Some Schools Are Keeping It Quiet
Some states and school districts provide detailed data on school outbreaks. Others choose to keep such information under wraps.
On the first day of school in Camden County, Ga., local Facebook groups were already buzzing with rumors that a teacher had tested positive for the coronavirus. The next day, a warning went out to school administrators: Keep teachers quiet.
“Staff who test positive are not to notify any other staff members, parents of their students or any other person/entity that they may have exposed them,” Jon Miller, the district’s deputy superintendent, wrote in a confidential email on Aug. 5...
Sunday, August 23, 2020
The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Forming a Pod During a Pandemic
The 2020–2021 school year promises to be unlike any other. COVID-19 is forcing families across the nation to make decisions about how they will take care of their children during the pandemic. In response, some families are choosing to join pods. However, these families need guidance on how to join a pod in a way that will reduce the risk of COVID-19 for their children and families.
We are a group of three infectious disease epidemiologists, a pediatric epidemiologist, and a medical anthropologist who are also working parents. We have developed a framework to help your family make decisions about forming a pod, as well as an in-depth discussion guide to help you and your pod-mates develop your own pod agreement...
Saturday, August 22, 2020
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