We had a positive case at DC's private school and they were trying to balance privacy vs sharing info. Although the name of the positive case was never disclosed, all the students were able to figure it out quickly. Then there was speculation and gossip. It would have been better if the schools were just open about it because at least everyone would get facts rather than hearsay. It would have been helpful for the parent body to know if the positive student got it from outside sports, or from a sibling at another school, or from a sleepover, or a party, or from traveling to a hotspot state etc.. I would like to learn from experience, but the background situation was not shared at all.
What has your experience been like with how your school handled the positive case notification.
I do have to say that our school did the best job they could under the circumstances to communicate with us.
I think it would be so weird if they were like 'hi parents. Lindsay in 1st grade and her mom both have covid. so you all have to stay home and also get tested.' school cannot control speculation and gossip - i mean, who cares who it was? anyone of us could easily get it.
I completely disagree with "anyone of us could easily get it." Putting aside cases early on when the guidance was unclear (ie February/March), the people getting it now are just not taking precautions. The fact that people are not getting it in schools shows that masks work. The people getting it now are because they have gatherings with people who they think are "safe" and fail to take precautions like wearing a mask. I too wish that schools would share information on what the cause is for cases; I don't think they should share names obviously.
lots of kids at our school have caught it and our school has 100% masks and class sizes no bigger than six. a coworker caught it who only saw other humans when she went to the grocery store masked. No one totally knows most of the time where they got it. naming and shaming people is a weird desire for you to have.
@Anonymous Yes, lots of kids at your school got it, but they didn't get it at the school because precautions work. They got it because they did not take precautions in their personal lives. This is like the line out of the White House -- anyone can get it even if you take precautions! Well, no the reason there are massive outbreaks in the White House is because this White House does NOT take precautions.
If it was easy to get Covid by walking by people, going to the grocery store, running in a park outside, etc. then ALL of NYC would have Covid by now. The fact that schools are operating without spread --and in fact that there are studies showing that spread is LESS when schools are in person--tells you everything you need to know. Maybe there are a few random cases where people are getting it from a grocery store or a taxi or from not wiping down their groceries, but in general, that is not a thing.
We are in a pandemic where the actions we take affect others. I think people who don't take precautions and do things like attend Halloween parties (there is another thread about this) SHOULD feel ashamed. Because of their actions, other kids cannot attend school.
I wish schools would share at least whether it is teachers or students and which cohort if a split-day program. I don't really need anything beyond that.
This isn't up to schools. It's private medical information and cannot be publicly disclosed. Full stop. They don't disclose who has strep, lice, the flu, etc.
Yes, I agree. But if they don't share the names, they absolutely have the ability to say "a family contracted Covid by attending an indoor Halloween party." The problem is that these things happen, the party contracting Covid lies about their behavior, and the school generally is not in a position to know the source.
@anonymous yes the school just knows there was a positive test, unless a family tells them more. it's not the school's job to infer or investigate how it was contracted. It is the schools right to enforce their safety guidelines
Our school has just mentioned the grade and whether it was caught by the weekly testing the school does, or from an outside test.
Most people don't know how they got it. The virus is literally everywhere and it's not visible. I don't think that type of information is a realistic expectation, especially since our country doesn't have robust tracking resources. All they can tell you is that someone in X grade got it. Beyond that, there isn't much more to tell.