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The first Monday back after winter break I expected to come back to classrooms full of exhausted students who all messed up their sleep schedules the past week. Instead, I came back to nearly a quarter of the students in my classes out of school due to being in quarantine – while the ones that were there were still tired of course. With Omicron making its way into the states just before break, I did expect there to be more cases in our community after break, just due to the fact that most people traveled to see their families over the holidays. But it was a lot worse than I expected.
Nearly 50 students had been on the COVID list on Monday, and the number had fluctuated throughout the week. I even had a few teachers who had to quarantine. I can’t help but think back to March 2020, where we all believed that we would have to quarantine for two weeks until the virus passed over, and were all excited to have an ‘extended spring break’. These two situations are eerily similar to one another, and as sports games begin to get canceled, I can’t help but be anxious for the weeks to come. The girls basketball game was canceled this Thursday night, and other sports administrators are even talking about other potential closings within the next few weeks. I even had seen a few schools on the local news channels considering a two week closure until numbers were lower.
I, personally, do not believe that our school is going to close down if the numbers stay the way that they are now. However, being that some kids may be asymptomatic attending school within the past week, there is always a chance that the numbers go up, but hopefully not. It is hard to say if I believe that we should keep everyone in person or not. I do believe that there would be benefits if we closed for two weeks ONLY then went back to all in person. It would most likely lower the number of asymptomatic transmission, and hopefully make it more safe than it is now. Yet, there would still most likely be more cases in the future due to how much more contagious the Omicron Variant is. If there is to be a two week closure, in my opinion it would be most beneficial to do it within the next week instead of waiting until there are more cases. All things considered though, I have hope that we won’t have a repeat of March 2020. Our administration and board has learned a lot about what works for our district over the past two years, and the CDC has more information on the virus to prepare us for any changes in the near future.
I see where you are coming from. Personally, I believe a break or closing is needed. Whether that be changing back to virtual or a modified schedule, cases will only rise if we continue to do a usual schedule with all students returning.
I think the article is very well written and I do agree with most of the points you made. I was anxious about the school shutting down after winter break. I thought that we were going to go virtual soon after the break. Of course, I didn’t want us to shut down but I thought that maybe we should.
I completely agree with this article and I was blown away by the number of people that were out of school. Personally, I really thought that our school was going to get shut down considering all of the close contacts and also all the sports getting closed down with short notice.
I agree with most of your points other than the two-week break. Students being off of school could make the students go to even more crowded places because they are not at school.
I agree! It would be a tricky situation, some people may still go out with groups of people and potentially come into contact with the virus that way.
I agree with you, and I am very surprised that we didn’t go virtual for at least a week after winter break. but I think now numbers are down so we’re good.
Personally, I wouldn’t like to be virtual at all. When I am virtual I am unable to focus and get behind on work so personally, I wouldn’t benefit from going virtual at all.
Yeah I agree, being virtual can definitely be difficult sometimes! That is always why I believe the short closure or hybrid would be beneficial so it wouldn’t turn out to be a longer term thing!
I would agree with what you have to say. I would definitely say a week of closure would be good but also it could go longer than a week like two years ago which means that the pandemic isn’t getting any better. I feel like people could also do more than just go virtual. I get that they’re trying to get rid of the mask mandate but wearing masks properly when instructed would be helpful too.
I agree with this because I don’t think that closing the school for 2 weeks is necessary. I don’t think it would help cases long term. I think we should keep the school open, keep wearing masks and doing what we’ve been doing. Let’s see what happens because so far the school has done well.
I agree with your opinion because so many people have been out because they are either sick or are quarantined. If we just shut down for a maximum of two weeks then the numbers will most likely go down and there may be fewer people testing positive because they won’t be getting exposed to it (at least at school).