On Friday, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has urged that K-12 schools be reopened and has also provided a comprehensive plan to reopen quickly. The new recommendations have come out amid a national debate on when and how to reopen schools as the virus continues to grow and a push to prioritize teachers for vaccinations has grown. The plan has shown evidence that schools are able to reopen safely if mitigation measures are in place. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC has stated that the "C.D.Cs operational strategy is grounded in science and the best available evidence".
The five key strategies included in the new guidelines are: physical distancing, the universal and correct usage of masks, washing hands, cleaning facilities and improving ventilation, and doing contact tracing, isolation, and quarantining. Dr. Walensky also wants to emphasize that "with this operational strategy, CDC is not mandating that schools reopen. These recommendations simply provide schools a long-needed roadmap for how to do so safely under different levels of disease in the community". She has also assured that the strategy is guided by science and is free of political meddling.
Included in the new guidelines, the CDC chose to not list vaccinations as one of the key strategies for reopening schools and chose to focus more on measures such as masks and physical distancing. Walensky has stated that while the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended essential workers that includes educators, their strategy includes the component of vaccinations as an additional layer of protection.
Overally, there is still more research that is needed on the impacts of in-person learning. But as research suggests that schools are overall safe and young children are not super spreaders of the virus. As research continues to come out and more consistency is shown, the confidence in families will also grow. What do you think of the new guidelines? Is is safe to reopen school even if it is just partially?
3 comments:
Throughout this pandemic, the reopening of schools has definitely been an extremely divisive topic. I see hope in the scientific basis with which the CDC has developed these broad guidelines, and I believe their “K-12 School Operational Strategy” webpage made important notes in considering that individual communities are consistently impacted differently by various intensities of Covid-19 outbreaks. Though the process of reopening schools is inevitable, it will continue to occur at varying paces. We’ve seen that this virus has disproportionately affected communities of color, and studies cited in the NYT’s “Missing in School Reopening Plans: Black Families’ Trust” article emphasized that parents’ indecision on sending children back to school also “reflects… the profound lack of trust that Black families have in school districts” (Shapiro et al.).
Additionally, it might be important to consider that with older children contracting the virus more frequently than younger children, it makes sense that elementary schoolers’ predicted in-school transmission rates are lower than high schoolers, a factor deeming it safer for younger students to return to in-person learning first. However, with many families managing the schedules of children in both the lower and upper grade levels, the stress of taking on the challenges of possibly both in-person learning and hybrid learning could be extremely difficult. Perhaps providing families the choice to either opt-in or out of hybrid/in-person learning might help in alleviating some of these stresses, though complications regarding students’ mental health and the quality of distance learning continually arises.
I am also particularly concerned about the “priority, though not the prerequisite” (Mandavilli et al.) the CDC places on the vaccination of educators, and worry that school faculty members who may suffer from underlying health conditions/compromised immune systems could be threatening their own health and safety by returning to in-person learning. Overall, as we’ve seen time and time again, there are quite a few distinct factors and difficulties to consider in this unique process of reopening safely. I look forward to these updates provided by health and infectious disease experts who work to remain transparent about the reality of the nationwide status of this pandemic and its relationship to schools reopening.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/us/politics/school-reopening-black-families.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/operation-strategy.html (cited in Amy’s blog post!)
The reopening of schools has been a polarizing issue with valid arguments on both sides, so the CDC needed to release a clear position. However, I can't help but question their integrity when it comes to steering public health. Masks weren't effective until they were. Double masking worked until it didn't. Given their past missteps, I don't interpret this recommendation as a fact. Granted these missteps arose due to the unprecedented nature of the virus, but that applies in the case of reopening schools as well. School-mandated guidelines can't always be enforced, leaving room for the spread of infection. Many in the SMUHSD are advocating to open in the red tier, but what happens when reopening raises cases back into purple? Do we risk a higher rate of infection or throw away months of planning? The question comes down to whether we prioritize mental or physical health.
Education is integral to the continuity and well-being of society, and protecting our teachers is protecting that continuity—they should be prioritized for vaccinations. While it seems unrealistic that a full reopening will happen in our district any time soon (at least for high schools), I think there are merits to a sort of “need-based” system for a partial reopening; there are a lot of concerns about whether or not students are receiving enough support (especially those from families with lack of access to technology or issues with parents needing to work and needing supervision for younger kids) so we should open up more space at schools for students like these to ensure that they will get equitable access to education and bring more stability for their families. Engagement during online learning has clearly been a challenge, but those who have a safe and steady home environment that can support them through these times can wait a little longer if it means not only limiting potential spread of the virus, but also making sure that everyone gets a chance to receive education.
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