California schools should remain closed until science says it’s safe to reopen
We need a science-based approach to reopening schools.
Not an economic argument, not a treatise on the whole-child benefits of in-person schooling, not even a call to action about the COVID-19 slump. It seems like everyone in America is in agreement that in-person education is what is best for students, and most epidemiologists are even in agreement about how schools should reopen (masks, cohorts, teaching in shifts, etc), but what no one is providing clear direction on is when schools should reopen.
If you are an avid watcher of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus briefings, then you are familiar with one of his favorite lines, “too many people were focused on the when of reopening, but the how is more important.” I agree with this sentiment, to an extent, but when we talk about sending millions of children and teachers back into the classroom, the “when” is vital, specifically the relative risk of the moment.
Right now, America is experiencing new testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages, rapidly increasing cases and hospitalizations and unchecked community spread. If you combine the delays in testing and results with the fact that the sheer number of new cases makes effective contact tracing impossible, then we have failed at the very measures we all agreed were necessary to suppress and contain the virus.
People love to talk about countries that have reopened schools (often ignoring the fact that many have had to close them again, at least temporarily), but they rarely mention what the country was able to achieve prior to making the decision to send teachers and children back. We’ve all seen the curves comparing America to Europe when it comes to flattening the curve.
Per the data released from Johns Hopkins, at the absolute lowest point in our plateau, we were still registering over 18,000 new cases per day. Germany averages under 500 new cases per day, Denmark under 50, Norway under 20, and even Sweden, which is famously less stringent than it’s neighboring countries, under 1,000 cases per day. We have eight states in our nation that average more daily cases than all of those countries combined.
If we want to open schools without sacrificing teachers, school staff, vulnerable family members, children and the greater community, we need to wait until it is safe and we need objective, clear metrics to help us determine that. Much like some states did with reopening, we need to establish county or regional criteria and not allow school boards to force people back until those measures have been met.
The metrics used should be the key indicators established by public health professionals including positive test-rate, hospitalizations, deaths, health-care system readiness, testing capacity and contact tracing abilities. We should set hard goals and not move to reopen until we’ve met those goals for at least 14 days.
Public schools are meant to serve the community, but the community needs to work together to make it possible for them to safely provide services. Kids can return to in-person schooling when we determine with our actions that it is a priority.
We have a shortage of tests and PPE. Do you really think we are ready to open schools?
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "California schools should remain closed until science says it’s safe to reopen."