Teachers are no more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than the police or firefighters or grocery clerks or any of the other “essential workers” who will be able to queue for vaccines once South Carolina has finished vaccinating workers doctors, nursing home residents and people 70 and older.
In fact, they are probably less likely, given the growing medical research – including in Charleston County schools – that suggests it is safer to spend time in a public school than in the community.
This suggests that teachers are also no more susceptible to infection than the general public.
And if they contract COVID-19, they are statistically less vulnerable than those 65 and older to develop a serious case or die – unless they have an underlying medical condition, in which case an infection would not be more dangerous for them. them than for non-teachers with similar conditions.
Therefore, from a medical perspective, it is difficult to argue that teachers should be a higher priority for still limited doses of the vaccine than they already are just because they are essential workers.
But many people are arguing that Governor Henry McMaster should move them to the next row, after our medical staff and people aged 70 and over – and maybe even start vaccinating them before all these people get their vaccines.
We agree.
South Carolina has no more important obligation than educating the next generation. And when children are watching classes online all the time or even much of the time, they don’t learn as well as when they are in the classroom. They are not developing and maintaining the social skills that are crucial to life-long success. They are suffering emotionally, sometimes with dire consequences.
Furthermore, cases of child abuse and neglect are not detected, which should concern us all. In addition, children are left alone at home all day, or their parents are unable to work – which puts financial pressure on their families and damages our economy as companies struggle to stay open.
In other words, many bad things are happening as a result of schools not allowing students to attend face-to-face classes five days a week.
And the main reason that schools in most of our state have only virtual or hybrid schedules is not to protect students from infections. It is because of the teachers’ objections.
Many teachers, probably the majority, understand how important it is for students to be in the classroom and how unlikely they are to be infected in the classroom and are more than willing to teach in person. Half of the Charleston teachers who participated in a Charleston Teachers Alliance survey in December said that it is essential that students are in the classroom – not only that they are willing to teach, but that it is essential – a finding that is consistent with the research even when the prevalence of infection was much lower.
But, as in any profession and on any topic, the people who are not happy are the ones who speak the loudest, and many school districts, already facing an increasing teacher shortage before the pandemic, are keeping children out of the classroom. all or part of the teachers’ objections.
So the faster we can vaccinate teachers, the faster we can reopen schools.
As Kathy Maness of the Palmetto State Teachers Association and Sherry East of the SC Education Association explained in a joint letter to Mr. McMaster last week, with many teachers taking sick leave because they are in high-risk categories and schools are struggling to find replacements when teachers need to be quarantined due to exposure to COVID-19, “access to vaccine for educators would play a significant role in making something as close to normal school functioning as possible”.
In his State of the State address, Mr. McMaster asked the legislature to compel school districts to offer face-to-face classes to all students whose parents desired. The day before, SC Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman asked the governor and DHEC to “prioritize the vaccination of educators and support staff” and coordinate with the school districts the rapid vaccination of teachers and staff.
This simple change may increase the Legislature’s willingness to order the reopening of schools. Better yet, it can eliminate the need.