The BAD DATA COVID Scale

Sometimes you feel like a spreadsheet, and sometimes you feel like an emoji. While it’s true that the CDC, the state of Kansas, the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, and the Blue Valley School District have all published their own criteria for when COVID is, in fact, a problem, none of those four rubrics are in perfect alignment. (Not that it matters, of course, since all actions taken to increase building safety or expand student quarantine are immediately hit with a parent protest or a lawsuit.)

And so: screw all that. I’m just going to give you my hot take each week for where we rate on a scale of Happy Hour to Dumpster Fire:

	Enjoy those happy hour margaritas!
	Grocery shopping is fine, but maybe think twice about that Garth Brooks concert
	Wear that mask everywhere
	You don’t need the mask because you’re not going outside

Week 1 is off to a start, unfortunately, with nearly 50 new COVID cases reported within the district. Rumors are circulating from parents of a large (34-person) COVID outbreak at Cedar Hills Elementary, but this has yet to be confirmed by the district. (UPDATE: the district responded that they only report what the county health department has provided them to report, so they can neither confirm nor deny this incident.)

All the same, the last time we saw so many new infections in a single week would be in the January/February timeframe, at the previous peak infection wave. I’ve asked the KC Star to see if they might be able to help reconcile the discrepancies, as these differences between official numbers and parent experience are occurring throughout the metro.