Vaccination of teachers can also serve as an “additional layer of protection” over masking, detachment, hand washing, cleaning facilities and quick contact tracking, as well as quarantine for those infected, said Walensky. She asked states to prioritize educators for vaccination. But the CDC’s guidance reiterates that access to vaccines “should not be considered a condition for the reopening of schools for face-to-face education”.
The Department of Education released what it described as the first volume of a manual designed to guide educators on masking and physical distance, which officials said was intended to complement the CDC’s operational strategy.
The guidelines raise questions about how Washington’s influence will shape decisions to teach face-to-face classes over the coming weeks. Federal officials emphasized that government guidelines were not orders. State and local governments still have the final say on how and when face-to-face learning takes place. But teachers, Democrats and Republicans unions began to demarcate opposite positions in the hours immediately after the announcement of the CDC and the Department of Education.
Mayor of Education and Labor, Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Said in a statement that the guidance “makes a clear case” for Congress to approve the next Covid-19 stimulus bill. The committee approved on Wednesday its part of the bill that includes $ 130 billion to help reopen schools.
“School reopening decisions should not be based on policy – they should be based on whether schools can meet the CDC’s science-based guidelines,” said Scott.
Some House Republicans, including leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) And Virginia Foxx (RN.C.), said the guidance reinforces their calls to bring students back into the classroom. Foxx, the highest-ranking Republican on the Education committee, also criticized the Biden government for serving “political allies”.
“The White House claims to address this issue ambitiously, but the lights are still off in schools across America and students are still at home,” Foxx said in a statement.
The CDC suggested that primary schools should stick to hybrid learning or reduced face-to-face instruction when cases in the surrounding community are higher, and recognized that face-to-face instruction should take priority over sports, other extracurricular activities and indoor meals.
In light of what is now believed to be unequal safety risks among younger and older children, the CDC also suggests that elementary and secondary schools remain on virtual learning only when a community registers 100 or more new cases per 100,000 people during the previous week, and when the Covid-19 positive test rate reaches or exceeds 10 percent during the same period. Unless schools can “strictly implement all mitigation strategies” and register few infections, or implement expanded virus testing, according to the guidelines.
The guidance also places less emphasis on virus testing, vaccination and ventilation – although authorities emphasize that these tools are still valuable ways to help keep schools safe, and the guidance contains extensive suggestions on how schools can run testing programs. Even after teachers and staff are vaccinated, said the CDC, schools need to maintain masking, social detachment and other safety practices “in the foreseeable future”.
“I want to emphasize that the safest way to open schools is to ensure that there is as little disease as possible in the community,” said Walensky on Friday. “We know that the introduction of subsequent Covid-19 transmission in schools is directly connected and facilitated by Covid-19 transmission outside schools and in the community.”
Walensky also described important parts of his agency’s perspective earlier this month. She said that opening schools for face-to-face classes requires keeping the virus under control, and teachers needs to be vaccinated for face-to-face classes to resume safely. She also emphasized that campuses can reopen with the right combination of precautions.
“School data suggests that there is very little transmission going on within schools, especially when there is masking and detachment taking place,” Walensky told reporters earlier this week.
“When there are broadcasts in schools, it is because they were brought in from the community and because there are loopholes in masking and distance,” she said on Monday. “So if we want our schools to be open – and our schools open safely and well – the best way to do that is to slow the spread of the community.”
Still, the White House offered new explanations of what “open” means and how Biden will achieve his goal of resuming face-to-face classes at most K-8 schools at the end of his first 100 days in office.
“Open,” as White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters, means that educators are personally teaching students at least one day a week. Then, on Wednesday, Psaki said that the goal “is not the ceiling”, but “the bar we are trying to jump and overtake”.
“The president will not rest until all schools are open five days a week,” said Psaki on Thursday. “This is our goal.”
The country’s two largest teacher unions endorsed the new orientation, which they praised as a much-needed “redefinition” and partnership because it included contributions from education groups.
“This set of safeguards should have been done 10 months ago,” said the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, in a statement. “Instead, the previous administration has meddled with the facts and fueled mass chaos and confusion. We now have a chance for a quick restart. “
The National Education Association warned that the standards described were not met in some schools that were reopened and urged Congress to take swift legislative action to obtain more resources for schools.
“We must also recognize that CDC standards are still not being met in many schools, especially those attended by poor black, brown, indigenous and white students, who have extremely outdated ventilation systems and no testing or screening programs,” said the NEA president Becky Pringle in a statement.