The Biden administration is pushing for schools to be reopened, an issue some say is related to the reopening of the economy and a return to normal life in America.
A government official told CNN that the CDC’s five main strategies for reopening schools: hand washing, masking, social distancing, cleaning and ventilation, as well as contact tracing, isolation and quarantine.
The guideline will not suggest that staff should be vaccinated, but instead describe vaccination as another strategy to “low,” as many schools were able to reopen safely before vaccines were available, the official noted.
The guidelines also note that screening – testing people for asymptomatic cases or people who are infected but not yet sick – can improve case detection.
But some teachers and unions are resisting plans to reopen, many with demands for vaccination and more supplies.
The National Education Association (NEA) polled 3,305 of its members and said on Tuesday that 82% have not yet received a Covid-19 vaccine. As of Monday, at least 26 states and Washington DC said they would allow some or all teachers and school staff to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.
Some have also raised concerns about equity, noting that current access to the funding and supplies needed to meet safe reopening standards is often skewed to wealthier jurisdictions.
“Most schools, especially those of black, brown, indigenous and poor white students, have seriously outdated ventilation systems and no significant testing or tracking programs,” said NEA Chairman Becky Pringle.
Pringle noted that messages from the CDC and other leaders weigh heavily and hopes the new guidelines will be supported by funding from federal and local entities
“We need to make sure we have the extra resources to help our more marginalized students and schools because we’re digging a hole here,” Pringle said. “Here we are with outdated ventilation systems – sick buildings – that we want to send children back to while the coronavirus is still raging.”
President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 relief proposal would include $ 170 billion for elementary schools, colleges and universities that could be spent on mitigation measures.
What does science say?
Experts say that with the right precautions, a return to personal learning can be safe – even before all teachers and staff have been vaccinated.
“School should be the last places to be closed and the first places to open,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky at a White House briefing last week. “Our goal is to get children back to school, both with the safety of the children and the safety of the teachers.”
Walensky said earlier that vaccinating teachers “is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools.”
In one CDC study, mitigating measures including social distancing, contact tracking, and wearing masks – provided to students through a private foundation grant – helped 17 rural schools in Wisconsin achieve transmission rates that were 37% lower than those of the community in general. 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 allows for no masking or social distance – became superspreader events leading to the loss of an estimated 1,700 in-person school days.
Previously CDC advice to schools
After Covid-19 began to penetrate the US, the CDC offered some considerations for closing schools in March last year, noting that suspending personal learning for eight weeks or more was likely to have more impact on reducing dissemination in the community than shorts in response to positive cases. Some schools switched to virtual learning for the rest of the academic year.
Ahead 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 their level of dissemination in the community.
For schools that allow face-to-face learning, the CDC stressed the importance of maintaining a clean environment, wearing masks, and social distancing. Schools were told to try to keep students and teachers in different groups throughout the day and, if possible, keep them out of lunchtime.
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 taken 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 virus variants – can help people manage anxiety and make informed plans to reopen schools, said Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor of infectious disease medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Dashboards and other tools that 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 testing and not just symptom-based screening, especially when kids are less likely to be symptomatic than adults,” he said.
As for teachers and school staff, Ray said there is no doubt that there is some risk associated with a return to personal learning before everyone is vaccinated, but aids such as personal protective equipment can make everyone safer.
“We need some guidance on how to use effective personal protective equipment so that people who haven’t been vaccinated can still be safe – as we’ve shown health professionals can be in 2020, before a vaccine was 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 really careful about masking and distancing themselves outside of schools, the schools will be safer,” he said.
CNN’s Ben Tinker, Jen Christensen, Jacqueline Howard and Meridith Edwards contributed to this report.