Biden Says He’s Pro-Science. Why Is His Schools Plan Based on Fear?

Timothy Carney:

Will Mr. Biden listen to the science when it says, “Reopen schools”?

Last spring it was reasonable and responsible to close schools, because of what we knew and what we didn’t know. We knew that other viruses, such as the norovirus and influenza, thrived in schools. We didn’t know how similar the coronavirus would be — it was called the “novel coronavirus” for a reason.

Since then, thanks to science and data, we’ve come to know the virus much better.

Even at summer’s end, teachers’ and parents’ apprehension about school reopening was understandable, although we had learned two very relieving facts by then: Children are extremely unlikely to get the virus, extremely unlikely to spread it and extremely unlikely to get seriously ill if they do get it.

Now, as the second semester starts for most K-12 kids, and millions of school-age children are in classrooms and have been for months, the science shows that schools can be made safe with basic common-sense precautions. “In-person learning in schools has not been associated with substantial community transmission,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported, citing multiple studies.

The journal Pediatrics published a Duke University-led study this month that examined what happened when students or staff showed up at school with Covid-19. It found “within-school infections were extremely rare.” Other detailed contact-tracing efforts found the same thing: Kids and staff really don’t spread the virus at school.

Related: Catholic schools will sue Dane County Madison Public Health to open as scheduled

Notes and links on Dane County Madison Public Health. (> 140 employees).

Molly Beck and Madeline Heim:

which pushed Dane County this week not to calculate its percentage of positive tests — a data point the public uses to determine how intense infection is in an area.   

While positive test results are being processed and their number reported quickly, negative test results are taking days in some cases to be analyzed before they are reported to the state. 

Channel3000:

The department said it was between eight and 10 days behind in updating that metric on the dashboard, and as a result it appeared to show a higher positive percentage of tests and a lower number of total tests per day.

The department said this delay is due to the fact data analysts must input each of the hundreds of tests per day manually, and in order to continue accurate and timely contact tracing efforts, they prioritized inputting positive tests.

“Positive tests are always immediately verified and processed, and delays in processing negative tests in our data system does not affect notification of test results,” the department said in a news release. “The only effect this backlog has had is on our percent positivity rate and daily test counts.”

Staff have not verified the approximately 17,000 tests, which includes steps such as matching test results to patients to avoid duplicating numbers and verifying the person who was tested resides in Dane County.

All 77 false-positive COVID-19 tests come back negative upon reruns.

Madison private school raises $70,000 for lawsuit against public health order. – WKOW-TV. Commentary.

WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators

Assembly against private school forced closure.

Wisconsin Catholic schools will challenge local COVID-19 closing order. More.

2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results

Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.

My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results

“An emphasis on adult employment”

Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]

Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.