The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday issued guidelines aimed at reopening the country’s public schools, indicating that it is possible for students to return to classrooms as long as a series of precautions are taken. recorded in a roadmap developed by them.
The agency recommended combining face-to-face learning with distance learning in areas with a high infection rate, to minimize the number of people in school buildings at the same time, and also indicated that teachers should be a priority to get the coronavirus vaccine. across the country, although he noted that this should not be a requirement for a school to reopen.
“To support the safe reopening of schools, state and local officials should consider prioritizing teachers in the early stages of vaccine distribution. However, access to vaccination should not be seen as a precondition for the reopening itself.” after teachers and staff have been vaccinated, schools must continue to implement mitigating measures for the foreseeable future, including making masks compulsory in schools and physical distance
“There is some evidence that many preschools through the 12th grade that have strictly implemented mitigation strategies are safely open for in-person instruction. These schools should be the last to close after all other mitigation actions in the community have been taken, and the first to reopen when they can safely do so, ”the CDC said.
The CDC said full distance learning is recommended only in cases where the infection rate is extremely high.
CDC does not require schools to reopenCDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Friday, noting that the guidelines are merely recommendations that can help prevent contamination once state governments order reopening.
The agency noted that even when schools take proper precautions, infections will continue to occur, so schools will need to be prepared to deal with them.
The CDC has indicated that schools opened so far have not seen significant transmission of the coronavirus through the application of precautions.
Strategies according to the most affected areas of the country
The agency highlighted five risk mitigation strategies and said they all help prevent the transmission of the virus. The guide emphasizes that there is more protection when multiple strategies are used, and reiterates the importance of mandatory use of face masks for students, teachers and staff, and maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet between people, for the most part possible.
The CDC also recommends evaluating Covid-19 transmission in each community based on the total number of cases per 100,000 people in the past week and the percentage of tests that are positive. On the basis of these figures, the communities are divided into four colored zones.
The communities in the blue and yellow zones have the lowest rates of infection and can therefore operate with full personal learningThe agency explained, stating that schools in the orange zone have significant transmission and must operate with reduced attendance or with a hybrid system where students spend part of the time at school and the rest at home.
And for the schools in the red zones, with the highest contamination rate, it is suggested that hybrid programs will be run for primary schools and that the middle and secondary schools remain virtual.
President Biden has indicated on several occasions that in order to reopen the schools, he was waiting for guidance from the CDC and financial funds from Congress to implement the agency’s recommendations, so he has asked for $ 130 billion for schools ranging from kindergarten. up to class 12.
Several CDC scientists co-authored late last month an article in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, in which they mentioned it there is little evidence that the reopening of schools contributed significantly to the spread of the pandemic.
The CDC Guide on Friday cites much of this research, including studies from schools in North Carolina and Wisconsin that reopened in the fall.
In the new guideline, the CDC warns that in communities with substantial transfer, sports and extracurricular activities should only take place if they can be done outdoors, with a physical distance of six feet or more. In high transmission communities, they say, these activities should only be virtual.
Amid the controversy between teachers and public schools, Chicago face-to-face classes are returning