Back to School 2020: Testing and Tracing

This week is “back to school” for many families here in Los Angeles. It’s definitely been one for the books - as most classrooms will stay vacant and “back to school supplies” include laptops and blue light filtering glasses instead of pencils and papers.

But some hopeful news amid the chaos - over the weekend, the Los Angeles Unified School District sent out information about a new program - a plan to test all faculty, students, and families to identify and trace COVID cases to hopefully get everyone back into the classrooms sooner.

FINALLY!

Despite all the distractions and pressures from politicians, it has never been about whether school is important (of COURSE it is!), but making sure the students, teachers, and families are SAFE!!! 🙏🏼

In the letter to the parents, they called this testing and tracing program “unprecedented.” That may be the case here in the US, but this is how much of the rest of the world has controlled this pandemic - with widespread testing, identifying cases, and tracing/quarantining the sick.

In contrast, our politicians have been encouraging American citizens not to get tested and some LAUSD parents are already up in arms. Scientifically, how can you fix something if you don’t know the scope and scale? How can you effectively treat and quarantine if you don’t know who is actually sick?! Why is America as a whole so backwards on this...???

Is this plan without difficulties? Of course not. But this mama for one is thankful to LA Unified, Stanford, UCLA, Hopkins, Microsoft, Anthem, and HealthNet for stepping up and protecting our children where our administration has failed.

#liveVICTORIOUS✌🏼 #backtoschool2020