Opinion: A pediatrician on the truth about reopening schools during Covid
Our collective goal should be to reopen schools in a safe manner this fall. But the reopening of schools is exactly that — a goal — and one that is going to require work, preparation, flexibility, and collective action to be executed safely.
The preparations for a safe reopening must start with a comprehensive strategy to contain the virus in communities where it is currently surging, and — as health experts have said from the beginning of the pandemic–containment strategies must be widely and consistently adopted around the country if the virus is to stop spreading from one community to the next.
Teachers, students, and parents (and parents’ employers) will also need to remain as flexible as possible. Some schools may be able to reopen and then need to close if there is a resurgence of the virus, and some schools may choose to adopt hybrid models where students engage in in-person learning for part of the school week, and virtual learning for the rest.
As communities we must also ensure that all schools — not only those in wealthier districts — have the resources to safely reopen this fall. A failure to do so would further exacerbate disparities in education and would leave children in already vulnerable communities further behind their peers.
And there is no question that school is good for children, not only for their education, but also for their development and their mental and physical health. It is also a place where many children receive health care provided by school nurses and physicians, receive nutritious meals and where abuse and neglect are often first detected.
It is unfair to ask parents to send their kids to school, and to ask teachers, many of whom have their own families, to show up to teach them, while the virus continues to surge in communities around the country. If we are serious about reopening schools everywhere, we must be serious about containing this virus first.
Now is the time for consistent and responsible messaging around face coverings. Now too is the time to improve testing availability and turnaround time and — most importantly– if we are to safely put children back to school, now is the time to invest in said schools, not to threaten their funding.
