“It gave us some peace of mind in recognizing that we are making decisions that are going in the right direction,” said Herring.
“Perhaps there is still a little more that could be beneficial to us as district leaders,” in terms of resources and recommendations, she said.
The guidance comes at a time when the Biden administration wants more schools to reopen safely.
President Joe Biden said in a CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night that he wants from kindergarten to eighth grade schools open five days a week, and he thinks the country will be close to that goal by the end of his first 100 days in office.
“The loss of being able to go back to school is having a significant impact on children and parents as well,” said Biden at Milwaukee City Hall, his first trip outside Washington since taking office.
But not all cities in the United States are ready to open yet.
And in many communities across the country, the CDC guidelines are just the latest data in discussions between adults who want children back in class now and those who hesitate to reopen due to the risks of Covid-19.
A debate about race and class
“Particularly for families of color, this problem around Covid’s cases in children is one that needs to be solved,” said Anderson. “Therefore, the more consistent guidance the CDC can provide in conjunction with other federal agencies over time, it will begin to regain the trust of these families.”
CDC guidance recommends that schools limit the spread of Covid-19 by following certain key strategies: wearing a mask, walking away, hand washing, maintaining clean, well-ventilated classrooms and tracking contact when someone at school tests positive for the virus. Vaccines and tests are not among the “main” strategies that the agency presents. They are listed as “additional layers” of Covid-19 prevention.
All of these measures cost money.
So for now, some school districts see guidance as a reason to remain open, but other schools – especially if they lack the means to implement security strategies – may see guidance as a reason to remain closed.
Meanwhile, testing coordinator for the White House Covid-19 response team, Carole Johnson, outlined on Wednesday a $ 1.6 billion federal investment focused on testing, of which $ 650 million in funding will go to tests in schools and underprivileged populations.
“We need to test broadly and quickly to turn the tide in this pandemic,” said Johnson during a briefing. “But we still don’t have enough tests and we don’t have enough tests everywhere that they need to be.”
High-risk areas face difficult choices
Another point of uncertainty: in most of the country, the spread of Covid-19 is high.
The CDC further claims that its new guidelines provide strategies for schools to continue face-to-face learning, even in Covid-19 “red” transmission zones.
“There may be some confusion there. What the guidelines say is that there are a number of things you can mitigate to make it safer, regardless of the level you are at,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Biden said CNN’s Jim Sciutto early Tuesday morning.
“If you look at the country, a considerable proportion is in that area where you really have to be careful because it is a bigger risk,” added Fauci.
The CDC told CNN on Monday that about 75% of counties in the United States are experiencing high levels of transmission, considered “red” zones, while another 14% are experiencing “substantial” levels of the spread of Covid-19.
A separate CNN analysis found that a higher percentage – up to 89% – of US children live in a county considered a red zone with high levels of transmission.
“At all levels of transmission in the community, the strategy offers classroom teaching options. It is not the case that we are saying that schools that are open should close because they are in ‘red’ counties, ”said CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes told CNN in an email on Monday.
“Our recommendation is that schools in the red areas can, in fact, provide face-to-face education, as long as they are strictly implementing cases of mitigation and monitoring in the school community.”
The CDC guidelines refer to studies that suggest that there is a link between the transmission levels of Covid-19 in the community and the risk of the disease spreading to and within schools.
“School administrators, working with local public health officials, should assess the level of risk in the community and the likelihood of a case in a school facility, the likelihood of a case leading to an outbreak and the consequences of transmission within the school, “Haynes’ email said.
The National Education Association told CNN on Monday that it agrees with the agency’s argument that preventing Covid-19 in schools is related to preventing its spread to neighboring communities.
“Schools should be prioritized and non-essential businesses should be restricted, if necessary, to reduce community fees to a more secure level,” an NEA spokesman told CNN. “In the end, it will take the necessary resources, political will from leaders and a sense of shared responsibility from everyone in our communities to ensure that we can do this safely for students.”
Herring, of the Atlanta Public Schools, told CNN that the community plays an important role in keeping Covid’s classrooms free. “This responsibility is not just within the school, but in the community,” she said.
Now, the question of what the new CDC orientation means for schools – and communities – remains.
“This is an evolving conversation,” said Anderson, of Johns Hopkins University.
“It will be a mistake if we, as a country, do not form this different perspective in the fall of 2021,” said Anderson. “It should be at this point, we have to have a ‘all hands on deck’ approach to be able to successfully fall, and we need to establish some parameters of what success will be like.”
Teacher vaccination not required
But there are already disagreements, too, about the priorities in the guidelines.
Some educators and officials emphasize that vaccination should be among the main tools needed for reopening, although the offer is limited across the country. The CDC’s guidance says that vaccination for teachers is not a prerequisite for reopening schools, but rather an “additional” layer of prevention against Covid-19.
Biden received applause during CNN’s city hall on Tuesday night, when he said, “I think we should vaccinate teachers. We should move them up the hierarchy too.”
But the president noted that states decide who is eligible for the vaccine, and that varies.
“States decide who is in what order,” he said. “I can make recommendations and, for federal programs, I can do that as President of the United States, but I cannot tell the state that you should move this and that group of people.”
Across the country, 28 states and Washington, DC, have started allowing all or some teachers and school staff to receive the Covid-19 vaccine so far. But in other states – like Georgia, where Herring oversees Atlanta’s public schools – teachers are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.
“I am a superintendent in Georgia and interact with colleagues across the country and many of them have had the chance to have their educators vaccinated,” said Herring, adding that she is concerned about educators in her district.
“But as a superintendent who has to defend the voices of our teachers and staff, I will continue to see this as an opportunity for consideration,” she said. “I know we were told that vaccination is not necessary. But, like surveillance tests, it is yet another layer to add to mitigation, but it also does something for our mental and psychological well-being.”
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Kevin Liptak, Meredith Edwards, DJ Judd and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.