The two largest U.S. unions representing educators on Friday approved the new federal guidelines calling for schools to be fully reopened, while allowing children under 12 who are not eligible for vaccination to go ahead face further challenges.
The new recommendations, issued on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come after students, teachers and parents experienced a disruptive school year marked by changing guides, school closings and hastily implemented distance learning plans to contain the coronavirus .
Education has been a focus since the pandemic broke out when many teachers and families feared in-person tuition. But distance learning has proven to be an inadequate substitute for many parents and students, and virtually all major counties are planning to reopen full-time schools this fall – though they have yet to convince some reluctant parents to return their children.
Education Minister Miguel Cardona said in a statement Friday that “our top priority is to ensure that our nation’s students can safely study in person in their schools and classrooms.”
The new CDC guidelines will help educators achieve this goal, union leaders said.
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Alliance, the country’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement the guidelines are an “important roadmap to reducing the risk of Covid-19 in schools.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who has already pushed for schools to fully reopen this fall, said in her own statement that “The guidelines affirm two truths: that students learn better in the classroom and that vaccines are ours the best bet is to stop the spread of this virus. “
The new recommendations call for vaccinating as many people as possible, wearing masks for the unvaccinated in schools, a meter spacing between students and the superposition of various preventive tactics.
“For educators across the country, this guide sets a lower limit, not an upper limit; it builds on the evidence we have about the transmission of Covid and reminds us that we need to remain committed to other containment strategies, “said Ms. Weingarten, adding that” we address the growing concern about the Delta variant as well The evolving science around Covid share transmission among young people making it mandatory for school districts to be committed to both vaccinations and these safety protocols. “
Studies suggest that vaccines against the Delta variant remain effective.
The new guidelines also suggest that districts base their approaches on local conditions rather than general regulations, an approach that Ms. Pringle welcomed.
“It is important that we listen to the special needs of all of our schools and the communities they serve,” said Ms. Pringle. “We as a country have a responsibility to cope with the disproportionate burden that colored communities suffered during this pandemic, which has contributed to families reluctance or reluctance to allow their children to return to face-to-face education.”
Schools proved far safer than many had thought during the pandemic, and in general, serious illness and child deaths were rare. Young children are also less likely to transmit the virus to others than teenagers and adults.
Meisha Porter, the chancellor of New York Schools, the largest school system in the country, reiterated the plan to bring students back to full-time face-to-face classes in September.
“Science shows that our rigorous, multi-faceted approach has made our schools the safest places to be, and we are reviewing CDC guidelines with our health professionals,” Porter said in a statement.
However, no vaccines have been federally approved for children under the age of 12, and children have made up a larger proportion of cases over the course of the pandemic, although there are far fewer cases overall than during the winter peak.
Scientists are concerned about an inflammatory syndrome that can appear in children weeks after contracting the virus, even those who were asymptomatic with the infection, and some children experience persistent symptoms often known as long covid.
The highly communicable delta variant is spreading rapidly in areas with low vaccination rates – the CDC estimates that it is now the predominant variant in the United States.
Expert opinion on the new guidelines was mixed.
Dr. Benjamin Linas, an infectious disease specialist at Boston University, called the proposals “scientifically sound and just right”.
“For the first time, I really think they hit it in the nose,” he said.
Emily Oster, Brown University economist and parenting book author who entered the controversial school reopening debate last year and used data to argue that children should return to school in person, said they were generally comfortable with the framework of the Agency was satisfied, which it said gave the districts a roadmap for reopening without being overly prescriptive.
Despite pushing for even more relaxed leadership – for example, the complete abolition of the three-foot rule – she said the new recommendations give districts important flexibility.
“This is in some ways the most positive I have about your advice,” said Dr. Easter.
But Jennifer B. Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, feared the debate among local officials about the best security protocols could prove “crippling”.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the decision on what action to take has “always been the responsibility of the local school district.”
The coverage is from Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Emily Anthes and Sarah Mervosh.
