Let's get as many signatures as we can! I'd like for this to get done ASAP.

Email I sent to my daughter's principal which was forwarded to the BOE Superintendent:

Good morning,

This is going to be a bit of a strange email. So I want to make it very clear where I am coming from and what I am advocating for. I am writing this email as a concerned parent and community member who has put a lot of time and thought into this. I would never pretend to know the best way to run a school or to know the implications for certain decisions. I also don’t pretend to know what you all have already been discussing or planning. However, what I can speak to is having put in the hours of research and thought for several months (I began following the outbreak in early January) I feel absolutely obligated to send this email. 

I am advocating that you, "principal" who is in charge of our children's well-being, to speak out on behalf of concerned parents and caregivers to the Lodi School District and Bergen County Health Dept. We all know that classrooms are the perfect breeding grounds for an illness, but even more for one that is as severe as this new virus that is currently circulating globally. With more and more community spread and with infected people being asymptomatic. It's very plausible if not realistic that we will have our share of cases being reported in the coming weeks if not days. You speaking out on our children's behalf would be an even stronger stance. Why wait until there is more community spread when staying home would be the best preventative measure in regards to the (New) CoronaVirus (COVID-19). 

I know that there is a lot of speculation and unknowns about the CoronaVirus but in this email I am going to avoid the more speculative points and stick to only what we know to hopefully make a compelling argument for justifying such a decision. 

Plus, whatever the cost associated with students doing online studies at home while the teachers tele-teach is far less than if one child or teacher contract the CoronaVirus and die, when it could have been prevented. By the time the CoronaVirus was confirmed in our county it had already been circulating for weeks prior. This information puts every person at risk. 

My argument is as follows: 

(I will have sources for my arguments but everything can also be looked up via Google)

1: The virus is past containment and we will have more confirmed cases here in Bergen County once HUMC begins running their tests and the CDC along with the Whitehouse, allow Bergen County Health Dept to report the findings. Along with the CDC's statement and in my own honest opinion it's not a "matter of when but if." 

2: People can have the virus and be spreading it weeks before they show any symptoms.

3: The virus is extremely contagious so the day one staff member or student catches it, it will spread to others.

4: The virus is at least 20x more deadly than the flu with a conservative mortality rate of 2% but in my humble opinion that rate is higher. 

5: Lastly, schools are breeding grounds for illnesses. Where one infected person takes the illness home to other children, parents and grandparents. 

1.a) The virus is spreading exponentially in other countries and it is likely already too late for full containment in the US given the recent community spread in California, Washington, Oregon and New York. All cities have cases where the person has not had any travel or known connections with anyone who has the virus. There is an extremely high likelihood we will have community spread here in Lodi.

2.a) The virus has a median incubation time of 5 days but there are cases that have taken as long as 25 days to show symptoms. This means somebody could have the virus and be spreading it for several weeks before they have any symptoms or get tested. 

Study: Https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-75000(20)3000-1/fulltext

3.a) The virus is extremely contagious. Virus contagiousness is measured by R0 factor. An R0 of 1 would mean each person is likely to spread it to 1 other person. Where as an R0 of 2 would mean each person is likely to spread it to 2 other people. The normal flu has an R0 value of 1.3. Early reports had the virus at an R0 of 2.5, making it twice as contagious as the flu. However more recent reports have placed the virus at an R0 as high as 6.6. That is as contagious as Smallpox from that point of view. 

Study: Https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.07.20021154v1

4.a) The virus is at least 20x more deadlier than the flu. The flu typically has a mortality rate of 0.1%. In comparison the lowest estimates for the CoronaVirus mortality rates are about 2% but that number will go up.

Flu Rates: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

Study Reports: http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9a9b-fea8db1a8f51

5.a) If 20% of either students or staff get the CoronaVirus (which I believe is possible in the coming weeks, if not days), the mortality rate is optimistically 1% given the size of the student body and staff. That would be 1 death for every 20. You can easily see how playing with these numbers could lead to more. Even though the childrens chances of developing severe disease is low they will be carriers and will spread this to their parents and elders. 20% of people who get this virus/disease will have to be hospitalized. This will overwhelm our hospitals as well. Something else that also needs special attention is children being raised by grandparents and single parents. Is there a plan in place with CPS to expand care for kids when those caregivers get sick?? 

Anyway I truly think the time to act is now. I am certainly considering pulling my daughter out of traditional public school and doing home schooling until, we as a nation, have a better handle on the CoronaVirus. This would decrease the odds of my daughter catching it or her family and any one of us spread it at work or school. 
I strongly believe all staff should be placed on high alert. Like making sure to spend the extra time washing hands after recess and before meals.

Please understand how important this email was for me to send. I hope that you consider, if you haven't already, the safety and well-being of all the students and faculty. I just hope that I don't jeopardize your opinion of me, my daughter or my family. 

Thank you!