More than nine out of 10 elementary and high school students in the U.S. are living in the “red zones” of COVID-19 or areas that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined to be “high transmission”.
This is according to data from the event information website Burbio, which tracks the reopening of K-12 schools in the U.S., provided to Fox News.
The CDC reports that schools in the red zone meet the stricter reopening standards, including a hybrid model of face-to-face and virtual learning, or reduced attendance for elementary school students.
The CDC’s mitigation strategy as part of its new school reopening guidance released last week includes color-coded community zones; the blue zone represents zero to nine new cases per 100,000 people, the yellow zone represents 10-49 new cases per 100,000, the orange zone represents 50-99 cases per 100,000 and the red zone represents more than 100 new cases per 100,000 – or at least 0.1%.
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Schools at all levels must implement the mandatory use of masks, 1.8m social spacing measures, regular cleaning of facilities and contact tracking and diagnostic tests.
Red zone schools should go further, offering hybrid learning for elementary school students, require online learning for elementary and high school students, unless schools are already open – in which case, they would have to implement all mitigation strategies – and offer only virtual sports and extracurricular activities.
CDC schools reopening zones. (Fox News screenshot)
“We estimate that 93% of students currently attending ‘traditional’ schools live in the red layer,” a Burbio spokesman told Fox News.
The spokesman noted that the CDC guidelines “do not require the closure of schools that currently educate students personally, but following the CDC guidelines, districts in ‘Always Virtual’ areas will need to meet higher standards to introduce face-to-face learning. than districts that opened earlier this academic year. “
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The CDC does not require teachers to be vaccinated before schools reopen as part of their new orientation, despite appeals from teacher unions, but teachers are next in line to receive the vaccine, along with other essential workers in the education line. ahead and people over 65, in line with the CDC recommendations.
Tutor Doug Blackmer clears a table in a classroom at the Jesse Franklin Taylor Education Center in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo / Charlie Neibergall, Archives)
Biden and the national teachers’ unions applauded the CDC’s reopening orientation as a productive next step towards the reopening of schools, which the president said he plans to achieve by his 100th day in office.
“These scientific guidelines tell us that our schools are safer when we have adequate spacing in classrooms and school buses, when masks are used consistently and properly, when hand washing occurs regularly and when we are able to respond effectively to cases through testing and contact tracking, and when we follow other recommended steps, “said Biden in a Feb. 12 statement in response to the news.
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He continued: “In order to meet these guidelines, some schools will need more teachers and support staff to ensure smaller classes, more buses and drivers to transport our children safely, more spaces to teach face-to-face classes and more protective equipment, school services cleaning and physical changes to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. “