Every day we see more Universities announcing that vaccinations will be required for the fall semester. At some point -- when vaccinations are widely available for children -- I expect this policy will be adopted for K-12 education as well. Coronavirus Vaccine Updates: Cornell University requires students to be vaccinated for fall classes https://abc7ny.com/health/covid-upd...quires-vaccinated-students-for-fall/10478840/ Cornell University is joining the growing list of schools that are requiring students to be vaccinated. The Ivy League school made the announcement as it plans for in-person classes this fall. (More at above url)
Expert says children are now spreading COVID-19 variant The B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom is more contagious than previous coronavirus strains. https://thehill.com/changing-americ...s-children-are-now-spreading-covid-19-variant Michael Osterholm said in Minnesota nearly 750 schools reported cases of the more contagious variant over the last two weeks. “In fact, right here in Minnesota, we’re now seeing the other aspect of this B.1.1.7 variant that hasn’t been talked much about, and that is the fact that it infects kids very readily,” he said. He said the variant is driving the recent spike in cases in the Upper Midwest and Northeast, and the U.S. is just beginning to see the start of a fourth wave. A top epidemiologist is warning the B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom may infect children more easily than previous strains. “This B.1.1.7 variant is a brand new ballgame,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said during an interview Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “In fact, right here in Minnesota, we’re now seeing the other aspect of this B.1.1.7 variant that hasn’t been talked much about, and that is the fact that it infects kids very readily,” he said. Osterholm said in Minnesota nearly 750 schools reported cases of the more contagious variant over the last two weeks. The warning comes as kids all across the country have gone back into the classroom after months of learning from home. “Unlike the previous strains of the virus, we didn’t see children under eighth grade get infected often, or they were not frequently very ill. They didn’t transmit to the rest of the community. That’s why I was one of those people very strongly supporting reopening in-class learning. B.1.1.7 turns that on its head.” Osterholm said the U.K. variant is between 50 to 100 percent more infectious than previous strains and can cause more severe illness about 55 percent of the time. He said the variant is driving the recent spike in cases in the Upper Midwest and Northeast and the U.S. is just beginning to see the start of a fourth wave. While he applauded the Biden administration’s efforts to get vaccines to millions of people, he said immunizations weren’t rolling out fast enough to avoid an imminent surge. Other experts, however, say a resurgence of COVID-19 in the U.S. could be avoided. Former Food and Drug Administration head Scott Gottlieb said Sunday he doesn’t believe there will be a “true fourth wave” due to the vaccine rollout. “I think that there’s enough immunity in the population that you’re not going to see a true fourth wave of infection,” Gottlieb told CBS’s Face the Nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 19 percent of the total U.S. population has been vaccinated and 32 percent have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Let's see how trying to keep schools open is working out in Canada... More than 20 Toronto schools being closed Tuesday due to COVID-19 https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/more-tha...eing-closed-tuesday-due-to-covid-19-1.5375485 The reality worldwide is that when the local community prevalence of COVID is high (above 5% positive test rate) then it is not safe to open schools. In the same way it is not safe to open indoor dining, bars, large indoor groups, theaters and other crowded indoor venues. Schools are no different -- when the local prevalence of COVID is high, schools merely become a vector for distributing COVID into homes.
Of course we are back to your usual "it only matters if the kids are dead" claptrap. Let's ignore the long COVID issue, the hospitalizations, the medical costs and everything else involved in kids catching COVID. According to Tsing Tao - unless the kids are dead then it doesn't matter. SAD! Of course, this is coupled with your usual "Prove they got it in school nonsense" which will certainly show up again shortly. Well the study from India (posted in this thread) with the large sample with full contact tracing and testing of school children in two regions show both that kids spread COVID at school and then kids spread COVID back into their households.
Show me the long covid data that is being transmitted from schools? Show me the hospitalizations from students or teachers catching the virus from school? Kids are essentially unaffected. Teachers rarely get sick from schools. Teach kids in person. Pay no attention to the fear mongers who want you to keep them isolated.
The good news is that the current vaccines, pfizer and moderna anyway, are reasonably effective against the B117 also. And it is expected that the vaccines will soon be approved for grade school aged kids. Also, monoclonal antibodies and new drugs offer effective treatments and are now widely available. Nevertheless, we shouldn't be careless or think it is no big deal, because it can make you very ill indeed, and in some substantial number of cases there are lasting complications. The concern now I think is in regard to the South African strain for which the present vaccines seem less effective.
so if all adults get vaccinated, and kids are essentially immune to the virus (no lasting effects), why would we require them to get vaccinated?