America’s K-12 public schools are loosening COVID-19 restrictions in a piecemeal fashion to keep their doors open as students return despite lingering concerns about the stubbornly persistent original virus and its variants.
With more than 70% of America’s K-12 students expected back in class by the end of the week, school tracking website Burbio reports that some districts will let infected people return to school in masks after five days of quarantine. That includes Indiana’s Goshen Community Schools and New Hampshire’s School Administrative Unit 48 in Plymouth.
In Florida, the Hendry County School District is asking infected students and employees to return to school 24 hours after being fever-free. The new policy also requires employees to work without interruption if they have no symptoms.
“Please treat this as you would any illness,” the policy tells teachers and staff.
The more relaxed policies come as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that unvaccinated Americans no longer have to quarantine after exposure to the virus.
According to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker, the U.S. reported 19,249 new cases on Sunday, up from 15,091 the day before — and experts say many cases are going uncounted as weakening symptoms lead fewer people to get tested.
Infectious disease specialist Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, says amended school guidelines need to reflect the reality that vaccinations and monoclonal antibodies have reduced the risk of hospitalization.
“COVID will never be gone and schools will always have cases,” Dr. Adalja said. “What is needed is an approach that recognizes both the progress science and medicine have made in taming this virus and the biological impossibility of a ’COVID zero’ approach.”
Even as districts reduce their quarantine guidelines, the emerging policies vary widely about when to shut down schools or mask up again in response to infection spikes.
The Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools is telling affected campuses to “return to mask requirements” if COVID-19-related absences “exceed the 10% threshold in any location.”
But in New Mexico, Albuquerque’s Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School, Albuquerque went remote this week after 3% of students and staff tested positive for the virus, citing a policy approved last year.
Last week, Oklahoma’s tiny Mannsville Public Schools closed due to an unspecified rise in COVID-19 infections among students and staff.
And the Newark Board of Education, New Jersey’s largest public school district, still has a mask mandate heading into the start of classes on Sept. 6.
Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, says it’s ok for some districts to have tighter restrictions than others.
“If the community together with parents and school officials are prioritizing not catching and spreading the virus with such efforts while attempting to balance social connection and education, that is reasonable,” Dr. Galiatsatos said.
However, some educators hope districts will do more to relax restrictions.
Victoria Basset, a 12-year veteran kindergarten teacher at the Goddard School in Maryland, says it’s important for her 30 students’ mental health and self-esteem to be in the classroom after two years of social isolation.
Her Gaithersburg private school required students and faculty to wear masks until the start of summer. Now, masks are optional as they return to class next week.
“I want them to learn how to feel confident and independent again, learn to share and communicate with each other,” said Ms. Bassett, 36. “We give lots of support like hugs, words of encouragement and ’cozy corners’ that they can only get at school.”
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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