47 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – January 11 2022”

  2. Good morning

    I’m carrying my question over from late last night but adding a second part

    Does it do any good to stop after school activities when kids spend the day in school

    Also, did most European schools remain full in person last year? Were there numbers low? If so, what safety measures did they use to accomplish that?

    1. It does NOT make any sense to have school open, but close down after-school sessions. Either you shut it down entirely, or open it all up. It’s sort of like half measures of closing the bars at 11pm instead of 1am.

      On European schools, it varies from country to country. As I’ve mentioned, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands have remained open the most throughout the pandemic, though, they have closed their schools entirely a few times, including during the Omicron wave: 1 week before their scheduled Christmas break and 2 weeks after the break was due to be over. So, for instance, the schools in the Netherlands are still closed.

      When open, most European school systems have mask mandates in place, as well as spacing/distancing between adults (but not children).

      European schools have had many outbreaks, so they don’t have foolproof systems. Yet, it’s noticeable the degree to which they’ve been more successful at containing transmission. I think that some of this has to do with infrastructure.

      European school buildings, believe it or not, are almost always more modern than ours (at least, in the Northeast U.S.). I don’t even know of a primary or secondary school in the Netherlands that isn’t currently a modern building. In the 1970s and 1980s, the last of the old school buildings were converted into other uses – apartments, for example – and schools moved (or were gutted and completely renovated). This includes my old high school. Governments did this to save money: 1. Sell properties to investors and others who would convert the spaces into condominium complexes; 2. Reduce maintenance and other bills with much more efficient ventilation, heating, and cooling systems. The return on investment is large.

      1. First paragraph above, I meant to say:

        It does NOT make any sense to have school open, but close down after-school sessions. It’s sort of like half measures, such as closing the bars at 11pm instead of 1am. Either you shut it down entirely, or open it up entirely (with other measures in place, such as masking, distancing, indoor capacity limits – in schools this is obviously more difficult).

      2. Awesome answers, Joshua. I agree on sports. I think I understand the reason in that it is the only place admins have control. But it only understandably angers people.

        I wondered if the success…not perfect but better than ours….in Europe was due to mitigation practices. We do not have ANYTHING in place. Masks are worn but we still have the 80% vaccination rule in place which is ludicrous. I think most schools are smart enough to not choose that option.

        All MTA and Tracy and admins are asking for is to shut schools for a short period and get some best practices in place.

  3. Hello All,

    I did download my electronic Covid Vax Record to my iPhone. It’s a new program here in MA and being used in other states. Found the information was not entirely correct. Ugh! fixing it now.

    You can get started now at MyVaxRecords.Mass.Gov. It’s quick.

  4. I see that Biden has put in place insurance reimbursement for eight home tests per month to be covered by insurance.

    Unless I’m reading incorrectly, the only insurance that will not cover tests is Medicare. Huh?

      1. Where did you order and did you pay out of pocket? I have about eight but there are six of us in this house alone

  6. Daughter had a better day at school yesterday.

    I can’t believe the virus has run its course there yet.
    We shall see.

    1. Good news. I sure pray it is getting better in school. With 10,000/day being positive in Ma, I would guess they have exposed so many already that numbers might come down. I do know one HS in this area had its number in one day.

    1. Are people absolutely crazy??? That LONG Covid, if nothing else.

      Chicken pox parties??? That’s a new one on me. I consider myself “back in the day” and I never heard of them.

      It would seem that people were absolutely crazy back in the day as well. Oh brother.

      1. As hard as it is to believe…..People really believe that it’s time to just get covid and then go about your business.

  9. Ok so where does the smart card download to on your phone. I have an iPhone. And I’m disappointed in the lack of a two step process

    1. It should be in your downloads.
      I am looking at my work Iphone and it has a folder called
      Files. Look in there for downloads and it should be there.

        1. Found it. And look. There are all of the downloads from DESE. I didn’t intend to keep them but hey why not.

  10. Philip makes a good point, the Biden Administration’s reimbursement plan is better than nothing but does NOT include the uninsured. Only includes Medicare under fairly narrow set of circumstances (essentially makes an OTC product Rx-only, as a physician/HCP must be involved). And is rather unwieldy as far as paperwork, receipts, etc … for those with insurance. Also, good luck finding available tests!

    Biden announced the plan to get tests to Americans more than 6 weeks ago, as I recall. There was plenty of time to order tests from companies at cheap prices, by the way, and have a stockpile on hand. The government as monopsonist (single purchaser) could really strike a bargain. And then have the government mail these tests to all residents, the way it’s done in other countries. Alas, the federal government in America likes to do things in cumbersome, inefficient ways. I’ll never understand this.

    Vicki, mitigation efforts in Europe have not always been successful. There’s a lot of criticism over there of government policies. Yet, they have done a better job of having consistent policies on non-pharmaceutical interventions.

      1. A tweet in comments

        (If you’re not from around here: Brooklyn Tech is one of the city’s prestigious specialized high schools, and it’s also the largest high school in the entire country)

        Heck, if the adults can’t adult, good for the kids to step up.

    1. And continuing in-person learning I bet. I suppose though that suspending sports does prevent additional gatherings.

      Something’s gotta give sooner or later with these schools.

  18. My youngest grandson (8) is waiting for covid test results. He is the only grand in school. They thought he had the stomach bug going around but had him tested anyway because it seemed to be dragging on

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