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HEALTH-VIRUS-US-SCHOOLS
Top US health authority backs schools reopening
WASHINGTON, Feb 13, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – The US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention on Friday issued new guidelines urging schools to reopen safely
and as soon as possible, while offering a detailed plan for limiting the
spread of Covid-19.
The strategy emphasizes universal masking, handwashing, and disinfection,
as well as contact tracing, but spent relatively little time on the subject
of ventilation, despite this being the virus’ main transmission route.
While it recommends vaccination for teachers and staff as soon as supply
is available, it stops short of saying it is necessary — a divisive issue
among teachers’ unions.
“CDC is releasing an operational strategy for K – 12 schools, through
phased mitigation that provides a pathway to support schools in opening for
in person instruction and remaining open,” the agency’s director Rochelle
Walensky told reporters.
The document recommends different approaches depending on the level of
community transmission in a given area, defined by the number of new cases
per hundred thousand in the past seven days.
Because younger children are at lower risk than older children, it
recommends that in areas of substantial transmission (50 to 99 new cases per
100k), middle and high schools should switch to hybrid learning.
Where transmission is defined as high (more than 100 new cases per 100k),
middle and high schools should move to virtual instruction only unless the
schools are already open, have few cases and are implementing mitigation
strategies.
In-person learning is emphasized over sports and school events, and
schools are strongly encouraged to use cohorting or podding to facilitate
contact tracing.
In developing the plan, the CDC said equity considerations were a key
driver.
“The absence of in-person educational options may disadvantage children
from low-resourced communities, which may include large representation of
racial and ethnic minority groups, English learners, and students with
disabilities,” the plan said.
During a briefing call, Walensky said that while children can become
infected with the coronavirus and contract Covid-19, “less than 10 percent of
Covid-19 cases in the US have been among children and adolescents between the
ages of five and 17.”
What’s more, children and adolescents are thought to be less commonly
infected with the virus than adults, and in-person learning in schools has
not been associated with substantial community transmission.
“Students are not the primary sources of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among
adults in school settings,” she said.
“Evidence suggests that staff to staff transmission is more common than
transmissions from students to staff, staff to students, or students to
students.”
It remains to be seen how powerful teachers unions in major cities respond
to the guidelines.
Schools in politically liberal parts of the country have been more
reluctant to open than in areas that are politically conservative.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0923 hrs