I wrote the other day that I am in quarantine. This was because my grandson was in a class where another student tested positive.
The students in the class were masked and socially distant.
My grandson tested negative. He will test again but it’s thus far looking good.
All this is a reminder to wear a mask, practice social distancing, and be vigilant.
Stay safe.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
YAY! 👍🏽
Relieved.
That is good news. And good advice.
I hope these tests will relieve some anxiety for you and your family.
In my orbit, two people, early twenties, tested positive. Both were asymptomatic.
We do not have enough public information from experts about which tests from which suppliers are the most reliable. We do not have enough public information on whether reliability differs according to age, body mass index, and the like.
I am thankful that you are well. My son-in-law took a trip to Mexico to celebrate his father’s 80th birthday. He sent pictures of himself on the plane wearing a mask and face shield. He also sent pictures of the small party with his dad and sister’s family. His sister has a husband and two children. Nobody was wearing a mask! Upon his return my daughter made her husband take two Covid tests and stay at a hotel for four days. Luckily, he also dodged a bullet. Relaxing at family events is often how Covid spreads.
Hallelujah! The “What ifs?” are always scary.
I am so glad to read your note. You are so right, wear a mask, socially distance and be ever aware of your surroundings when going out.
Good to hear!
Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!
Best news of the day!
Good news is always welcome. :o)
But, with the holidays starting with Thanksgiving and running almost nonstop through New Year’s Day, it isn’t going to be that easy to keep a safe distance from other shoppers at any hour especially with all the looney, insane Trumpsters running around maskless.
What a relief! I am thanks giving.
Great to hear. Hope all is well with you and yours!
Don’t wish to sound negative , but be wary.
A negative test does not necessarily mean someone is not infected.
Some tests (eg, antigen tests) can have a very high (up to 50%) false negative rate and the result can also depend on factors like how a test swab was taken.
Elon Musk was just tested 4 times on a single day with rapid antigen tests and 2 came back positive and 2 negative.
Because the false positive rates of tests is generally much lower than the false negative rates, it is most likely that the two negative results in Musk’s case were actually false.
Even the most accurate test (PCR) can yield false negatives . The estimate of the false negative rate for PCR is between 2% and somewhere around 30%. It depends upon at what point during an infection someone is tested. Early on, the false negative rate is generally high and it tends to decrease (test becomes more accurate) as the infection progresses (eg, after a person starts showing symptoms)
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/which-test-is-best-for-covid-19-2020081020734#:~:text=The%20reported%20rate%20of%20false,more%20accurate%20antigen%20test.
Hurrah, Hurrah!!! Great news along with the triumph of Biden/Harris. I feel like I’m playing Russian roulette every time I go shopping or go out into the public for whatever reason.
Good news! Take care.
Pat
Glad to hear!
Good news for you is good news for all.
Phew! Great news. Thanks for the update, Diane.
GREAT news for ALL of us.
So VERY many pulling for you.
We NEED youl
Vitamin D3, Vitamin D3, Vitamin D3 with MK7 I keep my blood level Vitamin D at 70-90;. N-Acetyl Cysteine to boost body’s Glutathione.
I’m pleased you are OK.
I promised yesterday on the post that was deleted to translate three German public service announcements. Here they are, I hope all you of enjoy them and take them in the spirit they were intended. They were produced by the German federal government:
I think it was the winter of 2020, as the whole country looked to us. I just turned 22, was studying mechanical engineering in Chemnitz, as the second wave came.
Twenty-two. At that age you want to party, study, get to know someone else, something like that. Or go out with friends and do some drinking. But fate had other plans in mind for us.
An invisible danger threatened everything we believed in. And suddenly the fate of this nation was surprisingly in our hands. So we all gathered our courage and did what was expected of us. The one and only right thing.
We did…nothing! Absolutely nothing! We were as lazy as raccoons. Day and night we laid on our asses at home and fought against the spread of the Coronavirus.
Our couch was the front. And our patience was our weapon. You know, sometimes I have to chuckle when I think back to those times. That was our fortune! That’s how we became heroes! Back then. In that Corona Winter of 2020.
(Tag line: Become a hero yourself and stay at home. Together against Corona.)
That was a long time ago.
We had just gotten to know each other and we were curious about life, of our shared future. But then, all of a sudden, everything changed. And the entire nation look with great hope on us young people.
We took hold of our hearts. And did…nothing.
We laid around the house, rarely met other people and, by doing so, prevented the spread of COVID-19, this invisible danger, that wasn’t just threatening our nation, but the whole world.
I am asked today, how we young people endured and could be so courageous by lounging around the house? Perhaps it was right when the people back then said: Exceptional times need exceptional heroes.
And, lord knows, that’s what we were. We were exceptional heroes.
This piece of tin was put around my neck back then. In the winter of 2020, just before my 21st birthday.
I was recognized for my exceptional service in the fight against Corona. And, all of a sudden, I was a hero, an idol, a model citizen. No one would have expected that of me!
Before Corona broke out, I was, without question, the laziest sock in the drawer that ever slithered through this country. I hardly ever left my apartment. Gambled without any ambition and ate ravioli right of the can because I was too lazy to heat it up. My friends called me lazy Toby. But I was too lazy to get upset about it.
And then, when Corona did break out, I remained the lazy bum that I always was. But unlike me, the world changed.
To reign in the virus, people were challenged to remain at home. Doing nothing was all of a sudden a service to society.
Laziness could save lives and, by doing that, I was a champion. Those were special times back then, in the winter of 2020. Really hard times. But it was easy to be a hero.
Good news, Diane. I have faith in your grandson and the school he attends that keeps students masked and socially distant. Let’s hope these vaccines can be distributed soon. Teachers should be the first in line with docs and nurses!!
And all of our essential workers…ALL of them. Grocery clerks, postal workers, bank tellers, clerks & pharmacists at Walgreens, CVS, etc., Walmart workers, people who work in meatpacking plants (esp. discriminated against, working in untenable conditions). & anybody else I might have inadvertently left out.
There is no way we could have gotten through this without these tireless workers.
Thank you!
Be well, Ravitch Family.
Very glad to see this, Diane! Health and safety and much love to you and yours.
Very good news. 😷
Don’t know about you, but my stomach dropped, back in mid March, when the doctor who had examined my broken finger and made the splint called and informed me that he’d been in the hospital,very sick with the virus.
The quarantine is effective. As are masks, distancing, outdoors etc. As you know. Stay safe.
Good news. Good news too to read you wear a mask. The mask is a sign you care for others. (We, your readers knew that). Now anyone approaching you will see you care for them. With a modicum of luck that person with show the same sign of affection. They will wear one too.