(CNN) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will release a much-anticipated new guide this week for getting kids back to school during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Joe Biden administration is pushing for the reopening of schools, an issue some say is related to the reopening of the economy and a return to normal life in the United States.
A government official told CNN that the CDC’s five main strategies for reopening schools are: hand washing, use of masks, physical distance, cleaning and ventilation, as well as contact tracing, isolation and quarantine.
The guide will not suggest that staff should be vaccinated, but rather describe vaccination as another “staged” strategy, as many schools were able to reopen safely before vaccines were available, the official said.
The guidelines also state that screening – testing people for asymptomatic cases or people who are infected but not yet sick – can improve the detection of cases.
But some teachers and unions are rejecting the reopening plans. Many are asking for vaccines and more supplies.
The National Education Association (NEA) polled 3,305 of its members and said on Tuesday that 82% have yet to receive the covid-19 vaccine. As of Monday, at least 26 states and Washington said they would allow some or all teachers and school personnel to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Some have also raised concerns about equality, noting that current access to funds and supplies needed to meet safe reopening standards tends to tend towards wealthier jurisdictions.
“Most schools, especially those where poor black, brown, Indian and white students live, have very outdated ventilation systems and there are no significant testing or tracking programs,” said NEA Chairman Becky Pringle.
Pringle noted that the messages from the CDC and other leaders carry weight, and she hopes the new guidelines will be supported by funding from federal and local entities.
“We need to make sure we have the extra funding to help our most disadvantaged students and schools, because we’re digging a hole here,” said Pringle. “Here we are with outdated ventilation systems, damaged buildings, where we want to send the children with the corona virus still in full swing.”
President Joe Biden’s pandemic crisis proposal would include $ 170 billion for schools, kindergartens through 12th grade, and universities that could be set aside for mitigation action.
What does science say about going back to face-to-face classes?
Experts say that with the right precautions, a return to personal learning can be safe even before all teachers and staff have been vaccinated.
“Schools should be the last places to be closed and the first places,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky at a briefing at the White House last week. “Our goal is to get children back to school and to do so safely for children and teachers.”
Walensky said earlier that vaccinating teachers “is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools.”
Some schools have managed to introduce full or part-time personal learning, without the kind of covid-19 spread seen in overcrowded offices or long-term care facilities. Transmission has occurred, but CDC researchers say there is little evidence that it contributed significantly to further spread in the community.
In a CDC study, mitigation measures, including physical distance, contact tracking, and wearing of masks, which were provided to students through a private foundation grant, helped 17 rural schools in Wisconsin achieve transmission speeds 37% lower than those of the general community. Of the 191 covid-19 cases, only 3.7% were contracted in school.
Those mitigating measures can make a big difference. Another CDC study explained how two Florida high school wrestling matches, a high-contact sport that doesn’t allow wearing a mask or physical distance, became super-spreading events leading to the loss of about 1,700 days. -Students in person.
Previous CDC Tips for Schools
After COVID-19 began to grow in the United States, the CDC offered some considerations for closing schools in March last year, noting that suspending personal learning for eight weeks or more was more likely to affect disability the spread of the community. than shorter closures in response to positive cases. Some schools switched to virtual learning for the rest of the academic year.
Before the start of the new school year in August, the CDC advised communities to weigh the benefits of personal learning against the risks of reopening schools during a pandemic. The agency advised jurisdictions to make personal learning decisions based on the level of community outreach.
For schools that enable face-to-face learning, the CDC stressed the importance of maintaining a clean environment, wearing masks, and physical distance. Schools were told to try to keep students and teachers in separate groups during the day and to have lunch outside if possible.
Experts have warned that learning during a pandemic can be difficult for students. The agency advised schools to maintain mental health services and offer remote counseling.
In the months since, schools have adopted a variety of approaches including face-to-face learning, online learning, and a hybrid of the two.
Keeping up to date with transmission rates and perhaps the presence of variants of the virus can help people cope with anxiety and make informed plans to reopen schools, said Dr. Stuart Ray, professor of disease medicine. Dashboards and other tools to aid in data collection can help jurisdictions stay informed.
Testing will also be a valuable tool, Ray noted. “It makes a big difference to do some tests and not just symptom-based screening, especially when kids are less likely to have symptoms than adults,” he said.
As for teachers and school staff, Ray said there is no doubt that there is some risk involved in re-learning in person before everyone is vaccinated, but aids like personal protective equipment can help make everyone safer.
“We need some guidance on how to use personal protective equipment (PPE) effectively so that people who are not vaccinated can still be safe, as we have shown health professionals can be in 2020, before a vaccine is available,” he said.
One of the most effective ways people can help make teachers, staff and students safer within schools is by helping to control the spread of the virus outside of schools, Ray said.
“If people are very careful and wear masks and take physical distance outside of schools, schools become safer,” he said.
– CNN’s Ben Tinker, Jen Christensen, Jacqueline Howard and Meridith Edwards contributed to this report.