31/ Here's one last final in-depth look at how outbreaks unfolded at 3 North Arlington schools with such a high % of their students getting COVID-19. This shows by grade, plus staff & sports cases. #Discovery #Cardinal #Yorktown

Picked #Cardinal (📈) since it shows APS is NOT designing new schools w/enough clean air. Far from it. (ASHRAE is drafting higher code standards.) APS shouldn't waste >$200-million on an ACC campus that contributes to sickness. Double the ventilation plan; use MERV13.

30/ Also…
✔️vaccine clinics at school (flu, too!)
✔️"play healthy" culture in sports
✔️requiring open bus windows
✔️improving outdoor spaces
✔️outdoor lunch (plan to install gUV in cafeterias)
✔️sending sick kids home, giving 2 tests to use 48 hours apart
✔️test to return after breaks
✔️budget major $ to double ventilation

With thousands of lost work days, lost school learning days, and staff quitting, the costs of NOT doing anything are big.

Most important, we CAN reduce deaths from airborne disease.

28/ The graphs show COVID spread in APS with the new variant waves, which arrived as:
- all returned from summer
- during teacher in-service week if not handled thoughtfully
- after Thanksgiving
- after winter break
- after spring break

- also, event superspreaders (#Wakefield)

25/ A comparison of what % of a school got sick, per confirmed/reported cases in Arlington Public Schools.

#Discovery elementary had the most kids infected in a school program last year. Then #Taylor.

26/ This shows the % of a school's student body getting sick in the same week of a school year, from COVID-19, in
@APSVirginia.

Can you spot the outbreaks? #ArlingtonCareerCenter shows up with a very high % of students infected already this year. Followed by #Tuckahoe, #Cardinal

24/ Can you spot the schools having outbreaks of COVID-19?

This is a data table snapshot by week for last school year, and this year, set up by program — not building.

#COVIDIsntOver #COVIDIsAirborne #COVID19 #Schools

23/ On the bird site, we added another aside, and asked:

@BethanyZSutton
@cdiaztorres240
@PriddyAPS
@MaryKaderaAPS
@ReidForSchools

to get serious about cleaning up the air in our schools; disrupting COVID, flu, RSV, etc.

Hot take: 1,000+ sick staff & 3,000+ sick kids annually will burden this system!

22/ APS collected data about prevalence of infectious kids/staff at school:

In 2022:

3,203 students, 717 employees were on campus (& bus, sports) in 48 hours before testing + for COVID.

So a significant number of these folks were possibly infectious at school; after May 2022, many were walking around during outbreaks w/o masks (especially in North Arlington.)

At least 529 kids, 152 staff members were highly likely contagious: on campus AFTER taking the test that would come back +.

20/ About those APS buses: There is often COVID-19 riding them. Feel really bad for our bus drivers and attendants who are exposed continuously to germs in their air; but not provided with GOOD masks in a variety of styles.

Rolling down those bus windows seems pretty smart.

21/ Took a look at how often a COVID+ kid was on a morning bus route during the first two months of this school year. The answer was about 27% of the time, based on reported cases. Roll down the windows. Mask up on the bus.