The Director of the CDC says schools can safely reopen even if teachers are not vaccinated for Covid

[still_one]

It should not be required

"WASHINGTON — The Director of the CDC says schools can safely reopen even if teachers are not vaccinated for the coronavirus.

As some teachers’ unions balk at resuming in-person instruction before teachers are inoculated, Dr. Rochelle Walensky says, “Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.” Walensky cited CDC data showing that social distancing and wearing a mask significantly reduce the spread of the virus in school settings.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients called on Congress to pass additional funding to ensure schools have the resources necessary to support reopening."

https://www.kron4.com/news/national/cdc-schools-can-reopen-without-teacher-shots/

I believe the CD is wrong on this, and am very disappointed to her Dr. Walensky advocating this

This will come back and bite the CDC. It is not unlike there initial recommendation that "masks" were not necessary when the pandemic first appeared.

There will be push back on this by teachers, and I support the teachers

[bluestarone]

1. Totally AGAINST this

[Irish_Dem]

2. Will kids wear masks, social distance, wash hands most of the time?

Somehow I doubt it.

Teachers are right, no vaccine, no return to work.

[uponit7771]

12. Hell no, they like adults get complacent. Where I live the kids are don't want to kill their parents

... and I think they're pretty hip on the idea of masks and the kids say by the end of the day everyone is close and not wearing masks.

I could not imagine being a principle in a school and one of my teachers died from CV19 ... I wouldn't ... no, I couldn't imagine it.

[jcgoldie]

22. Yes they do

I do sympathize with teachers who feel safer teaching remotely, but I teach in a large diverse high school in Illinois and we have been open since October under a "hybrid" plan. Students who want to attend remotely can do so and that's about 1/3... of the other 2/3 half attend MW and the other half TuTh... thus on any given day your class that would have had 30 kids sitting next to each other has at most 10 spread out. They wear masks without exception and maintain social distancing. There is hand sanitizer in every doorway and they use it when they enter and wipe their desks with disposable wipes. There is no lunch in the cafeteria where it would be difficult to police, so the classes start earlier and are done by 12:30 so they can take sack lunches home with them. If school officials are doing their jobs it is possible to get kids to follow the rules. There have been a few teachers who have tested positive over the months and stayed home in quarantine, but I do not think the percentage is higher than the spread of the disease in the community as a whole.

I'm not trying to minimize the seriousness of anything here or to undercut the position of some teachers' unions, but it is important to realize that school opening can be done relatively safely as much as going to the super market or other essential activities. It has been much safer than I would have imagined it could be 6 months ago.

[Irish_Dem]

25. Good for them! I would not have expected this.

[jcgoldie]

29. I hear you

I watch these damn fool republicans in Congress who can't seem to figure out how to keep a mask over their nose because they don't want to and I think holy shit how is it that I see hundreds of teenagers on a daily basis who can pull this off seamlessly and its just too hard for these assholes?

[Irish_Dem]

31. Come to think of it, when I am out, the younger generation wears masks and wears them correctly.

It is the old farts who don't wear them, or wear them below their nose, or on their chin.

[uponit7771]

28. " so the classes start earlier and are done by 12:30 " This is why. My daughter asked her friends if

... they wore masks and all of them until the end of the day where they all get complacent.

Hmmmmm, this makes sense.

I've seen this among adults, the longer time they spend together the more they get relaxed with distances and masks

[Crunchy Frog]

35. That's what they're doing with my sons' school.

It seems to be working out pretty well

My sons are in the fully remote group. We live with their 81 year old grandma, and I'm not too young myself either. I'm not prepared to send them back until all of us are fully vaccinated.

I think it's a workable system as long as the resources and commitment are really there. Not if they're just going to open up willy nilly though.

[phylny]

43. As a retired speech-language pathologist who worked in schools

at the beginning of my career, I recall many of my students who could not maintain distance, refrain from touching others, or keep their fingers out of their mouths - fingers that would touch surfaces and others. I just cannot see school opening under these conditions. I imagine keeping a mask on some of them would be difficult.

Before anyone says that these students can just stay home, it doesn’t work like that. Special education students are entitled to be in school when the general population is in school.

[seaglass]

44. My daughter has been teaching hybrid since September and the school is pushing for ft in person.

Her district does not have half days, students have masks breaks and eat lunch in the classroom - not much different from indoor dining.

There is no guarantee whatsoever with the push for in person school that districts would be going hybrid.

My daughter's union agreed when going back to school in the fall that the social distance space would be 6ft, DESE is now saying 3ft is acceptable.

The asshole superintendent of schools recently sent out a survey to parents asking if they prefer ft in person or ft remote and asked the teachers the same thing. NO option for hybrid. Most teachers and parents do not want full remote - the superintendent is manipulating them into the choice for ft in person.

[OnDoutside]

3. Especially with the variant strains coming. I don't expect my child

to go back to physical school, here in Ireland, until September. We had 300 cases on Dec 1 and by the start of January it ballooned to 8,600 a day because of the UK variant, which spreads quicker amongst kids. If they want schools back, vaccinate the teachers

[uponit7771]

11. Oh wow !! I don't think the CDC in the US knows this, I seriously have been lurking CV data ...

... since the start and have not heard that the variants spread among kids more.

Please send email to our CDC, a little voice can help

[OnDoutside]

13. I'll dig out where I read that and post it

I thought that cases might have increased to maybe 1000 after Christmas, but it exploded. Our Covid taskforce said that over 60% of the cases were due to the UK variant. The good news is that we are now down to about 1000 cases a day but I fear it will explode again if they relax the restrictions m

[uponit7771]

19. WOW !!! That UK and S Africa is a mutha ... I don't know if you get US telivision but we're not bein

... being told about the lethality of those variants or no one is taking precautions for them IE this stupidity about opening the schools without vaccinating all the teachers.

Putin's Whore left the US in a bad way when it comes to the administration of the vaccines, this should be its own OP... we didn't know how bad CV19 was in the US last year until we saw people in Italy running to "zones".

It'd be good to gear from someone outside the US on the variants

[OnDoutside]

30. Here

I was looking for something more updated than what I had originally seen and found this from the Times of Israel about variants causing increased infection amongst kids.


https://www.timesofisrael.com/mutated-covid-19-strains-are-stymieing-efforts-to-curb-spread-virus-czar-says/

Additionally, the strain was causing concerning levels of infection in children and young people, as well as serious illness in a number of pregnant women.

She said that “40% of illness is in children, a higher percentage than their part in the population… We see a rise in infections in ages 6-9, which is exactly the age group that is supposed to go back to school” when the tightened lockdown ends at the end of the month. “We’re monitoring it.”

She added that “the vaccine works against the British mutation but the virus infection rate is much faster than the vaccine rate.

Yes I have MSNBC on during the day, so am well aware. I think the variants have changed the game, and we will all be unable to relax most restrictions until they have 60 or 70% of the populations vaccinated... it's too much of a gamble.

[uponit7771]

32. 👍

[OnDoutside]

40. For an update

Walensky's interview with Rachel covers this topic from the 35 min mark

https://topnewsshow.com/the-rachel-maddow-show-2-3-21-msnbc/

She heavily emphasised Mitigation Factors reduced risk, and that is heavily dependent on the Covid Relief Bill passing. However that Bill isn't due to be signed into law for probably another 6 weeks. That says to me that by getting the funding out, I don't see how teachers could be back in classrooms before Easter ?

[Celerity]

4. She's a new Biden appointment. He can relieve her of duty if she keeps pushing this shite. nt

[still_one]

15. She isn't the only one, there are other respectable physicians who agree with that. Even with

their disclaimer that teachers should be put at a higher priority of getting the vaccine, adding that it would be ok for them to go back to in person teaching as long as mitigation measures were in place, isn't good enough, puts teachers at unecessary risk

Aren't teachers identified as front line workers?

[uponit7771]

27. +1, looked it up ... there are only 4 million k-12 teachers in the US and it should take 1 week to

... get 90% of the vaccinated.

I don't understand why this hasn't been done already, this makes me think Putin's Whore left the US in a worse way when it comes to the administration of the vaccine than we're being told.

[still_one]

34. I am going to email the WH why this is bad policy. I am sure teachers have let them know

[ananda]

5. No. Why?

What is wrong with Walensky?

[Freethinker65]

6. Honestly, they can IF, and there are tons of IFs

IF there is adequate testing of students, staff, families prior to admittance.

IF a mechanism to deny admittance is enforced.

IF there is proper sanitizing, PPE use and availability, and social distancing.

IF...

Many school districts are open with little to no COVID spreading. Getting everyone involved to follow the policies needed is what is so difficult.

One local public school district near me has saliva pre-test, staggered class schedules, strict rules and procedures, and they are doing well. I think the surrounding community is also seeing the benefits with those suspected from pre screen getting notified so entire household can get tested and quarantine if warranted.

[MissB]

7. my small school district's facebook page is blowing up in arguments

over this, essentially.

Some parents want schools to reopen, now, even before the teachers get their jabs.

Some want the schools to open fully once the teachers get their jabs.

Some want to phase it in slowly, as the teachers get their jabs (which is the district's current tactic).

It really reminds me of when my kids were in upper elementary and the grade school principal had a heart attack. He was young; healthy, runner type of a guy so it was unexpected to say the least. He was out for months recuperating. Within a month of the heart attack, some parents started wondering where he was and why he wasn't back at work yet, damn it. I was volunteering with some parents at that point and several of the parents were just impatient. I'm like.. guys, he just had a heart attack? Cut some slack?

There is a strain of entitlement for sure.

Anyway, I'm not seeing how they social distance with a bunch of kids in a classroom and poor air circulation systems.

[uponit7771]

8. I don't agree because the data does ... NOT ... include exposure rate for children. If 100 ...

... kids and 100 adults got all exposed at the same time and there was lower rate for children getting CV19 I can dig this logic but they don't have that data.

[dawg day]

9. For goodness sake, why not just vaccinate them?

And all essential workers? Why are we letting them be guinea pigs to find out how many people can get the disease?

If it's just holding off another month or so, why not hold off until they can be vaccinated? It's just sensible.

Social distancing in classrooms with 30 kids? I don't think that's possible. Social distancing in high school hallways between classes? Ha.

[uponit7771]

14. THIS !!! there are 4 million k-12 teachers in the US that should take a week with todays tech to

... get them all vaccinated with at least the first dose.

Somethings wrong with the process of vaccination, Putin's Whore DEFINANTLY left the US in bad way with the CV19 vaccination process.

[still_one]

16. exactly. They should be treated as front line workers

[questionseverything]

38. Exactly

We are so close.....why risk lives now?

I am so disappointed that in Illinois the ihsa has decided to play all sports.....even basketball

While the players “might “ be ok.....there parents and grandparents,any extended family will be in extreme danger

[VarryOn]

10. My wife has been back in the classroom since August...

She's had to quarantine twice and been tested three times. So far, so good. She says the handful of kids opting to do home school require considerable more work than the in-person ones. But, her school makes it work. Flexibility is the key.

[uponit7771]

17. where I'm at its like the teachers could give a shit, I'm pissed to learn my kids have gotten half

... the time with the teachers than the in school kids have had.

Pissed, learned this last week that the power point we got for at home kids at the beginning of the year was NOTHING like what was being implemented.

[VarryOn]

36. I'm sorry to hear that....

So many kids are getting short-changed during the pandemic. The lack of instruction will affect many kids for years to come. And unfortunately, many are kids who already are behind the eight-ball. Hopefully, you're not in Chicago. It seems to be the worst situation.

[WA-03 Democrat]

18. Sure if everything is perfect, she is right

We don’t live in perfect land. She is dead wrong to advise this and it shows the cdc still has somethings not right. We don’t have the PPE or ventilation systems. Yes, schools in Korea, Taiwan, China etc. we’re redesigned to block aerosol transmission. Plexiglass around the desks. Bigger classrooms. None of that has been address. How about a federal policy of how to open a school? Fuck nothing done by Trump.

Vaccinations before disease multiplication. As others have pointed out the new variants are hitting young folks.

[uponit7771]

24. "it shows the cdc still has somethings not right" 👈🏾👈🏾👈🏾

[demtenjeep]

20. I start medical leave tomorrow until I am vaccinated. I am not willing to risk my life

CDC is wrong on this

[roamer65]

33. +100000

[JI7]

21. But that's based on many safety standards being put in place ?

[uponit7771]

26. Yes, and the kids don't follow those standards to the nth degree

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

23. This is like the Twilight Zone

I'm in the Ruby Red part of Georgia, and schools here have been open since August. There are no teacher unions here (Right to Work laws. Smh), and the faculty and staff are sworn to secrecy in order to keep the positive cases out of the media. I shake my head when there is a national argument about opening schools going on when I see tons of school busses pass by my house in the mornings.

Because the teachers are afraid for their jobs here and don't want to risk seeming anti-republican/anti-Trump by going against the status quo, they simply step over the bodies of their dead colleagues and report to work. Students come to school and wonder why their teachers are missing for weeks and weeks, and they are never told the truth as to why their teachers are absent. Just yesterday, Georgia ran out of vaccines for the Phase I population, which does not include teachers. The teachers have no idea when they are supposed to be vaccinated, and nobody has answers.

It's creepy here.

[frazzled]

37. I'm very torn on this

Of course I want teachers to feel safe and secure. But I have watched over the year all the many people who have had to go to work in more dangerous conditions ... the grocery clerks and stockers who work inside all day to make it possible for us to get our food, the factory workers who are making the toilet paper and other goods we need, the warehouse packers who ship out the packages we order day in and out, the government workers in offices, the sanitation people.

I have also watched as people in their 70s and 80s still waiting for their vaccines so that they can emerge from their homes or see their families.

The recent report indicated that something like 73% of the cases are spread by the age group 19-49. That is not the el-hi school-age population. It is nearly a year since children have not been in school, and the burden is largest on younger children in Black and Brown communities (many of whose parents have to go out to those risky jobs).

Teachers are essential workers too, and they deserve safe work environments. But so does everyone. We can’t put one group above any other. And that is why I am torn.

[Fiendish Thingy]

39. The teachers I know will strike before working in unsafe conditions

Biden may have a major labor situation on his hands if he doesn’t listen to the unions.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

41. This is stupid. Schools are public petri dishes even without a pandemic raging out of control.

[cwydro]

42. I agree. nt