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“Cleaning high-contact areas is very important in schools,” Cogan said. But wearing masks, keeping body distance, vaccinations and other measures are “higher protective factors.”
8. Entrust parents and teachers to protect children.
Last school year, many school districts used temperature checks and symptom screening to try to detect infected students before they can spread the coronavirus to others.but Located in Austin, Indiana, Facts have proved that this formal screening is not as useful as the intuition of teachers and parents. Teachers can determine when a student feels unwell and ask them to see a nurse, even if the student passes the temperature check.
Jetlina said that both teachers and parents can play a protective role to prevent sick children from entering the classroom. “Parents are very good at understanding their children’s symptoms and their children’s health,” she said.
Andrews in Texas, The school district administrator provided parents with information about COVID symptoms and commissioned these parents to determine when their children might need to stay at home after school. However, Cogan said that the Texas school district may have “done too much in granting parental authority” to allow students to opt out of quarantine and wear masks-this reflects the concerns of the Andrews County Public Health Department.
9. We need more granular data to promote school policies.
Throughout the pandemic, I have been calling for Lack of detailed public data exist COVID-19 cases in schoolsThe federal government still does not provide such data, and the data provided by most states is scattered, unable to provide the key background of the case (such as personal registration or test data). Without these numbers, it is difficult to compare school districts and determine successful cases.
My research on the reopening of schools Clarified another data issue: most states did not provide any Covid-19 indicators have fallen to individual areas, making it difficult for school leaders to know when they must tighten or relax safety agreements. For example, in the Port Orford-Langlois district of Oregon, managers had to rely on covid-19 numbers to determine the entire county. Although the school district had zero cases in the fall of 2020, it was not until the spring that it was able to bring the senior students back in person because of the increase in the number of cases in other parts of the county. Cogan observed similar problems in New Jersey.
Jetelina said that at the local level, school districts may work with local public health authorities to obtain the data they need to make more informed decisions. But at a larger system level, it is more difficult to obtain granular covid-19 data-this is the job of the federal government.
10. Invest in school staff and invite them to contribute to the safety strategy.
The school staff described working long hours, familiar with the science of covid-19, and using great determination and creativity to provide students with a decent school experience. Jetelina says that teaching is usually a challenging job, but in the past 18 months it has become extremely heroic—although many people outside of school take this job for granted.
Cogan suggested that school districts can thank their staff by giving them a say in school safety decisions. “Educators – they had a terrible time, and there is still a lot to do,” she said. But “everyone who works in the school also has it.” This includes guardians, cafeteria staff, and crucial school nurses, whom Kogan calls the school’s “chief health officer”.
11. Provide space for students, faculty and staff to deal with epidemics.
During the pandemic, approximately 117,000 children in the United States lost one or two parents. According to research by Imperial College LondonThousands more have lost other relatives, mentors and friends-while millions of children face family unemployment, food and housing insecurity, and other difficulties.Even if the school district has all the correct security logistical guarantees, school staff cannot really support students unless they allow time and space Dealing with trauma What they face.
Brooklyn’s PS 705 can serve as a model for this approach. When a student is absent from school, school staff will preemptively contact the family to provide support: “705 is the kind of school that’embrace the whole family’,” one parent said.
On the first day of school in September 2021—many students return to school in person for the first time since the spring of 2020—the school mourns a moment of silence for the loved ones lost in the school community.
new challenge
These lessons were learned from successful school communities in the 2020-2021 school year, before the delta variant hit the United States. This highly transmitted virus strain brings new challenges to the fall semester of 2021. The basic data analysis of this project led me to analyze mainly rural communities, which may have been lucky because of the low number of covid-19 cases in the first few stages of the pandemic, but cannot escape the delta now. For example, Oregon County, which includes Port Orford-Langlois, had its highest case rate to date in August 2021.
As the polarization of masks, vaccines and other safety measures has intensified, the Delta challenge has multiplied. Nonetheless, Jetlina pointed out that there are “a large number of advocates,” referring to parents, teachers, public health experts, and others who continue to learn from past school reopening experiences — and advocate their communities to do Better.
this Solutions News Network Support the project through report grants and training and other guidance. learn more About the five school communities I described for COVID-19 data scheduling in this project.
This story is Pandemic Technology Project, Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.
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