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Schools must reopen with precautions but it’s impossible to eliminate Covid-19 risk, says US science body

The risks of not having face-to-face learning are especially high for young children, who may suffer long-term consequences academically
UPDATED JUL 16, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Weighing in on the national debate about if and how US schools should reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has said that districts should prioritize reopening with an emphasis on providing full-time, in-person instruction for young students in grades K-5 and for those with special needs “who would be best served by in-person instruction.”

The experts say that keeping schools closed to in-person learning during fall poses potential educational risks. According to them, distance learning, while an essential tool for ensuring continuity of instruction when school buildings are closed, cannot fully take the place of in-person interaction. Moreover, disparities in access to reliable internet and appropriate electronic devices could compound already existing educational inequities, they explain. The report, for example, noted that in urban areas, just 2% of people lack adequate broadband coverage, compared with 26% of those in rural areas and 32% of those living on tribal lands.

The risks of not having face-to-face learning are especially high for young children, who may suffer long-term consequences academically if they fall behind in the early grades, say researchers. “Students of all ages benefit from in-person learning experiences in ways that cannot be fully replicated through distance learning. The educational risks of extended distance learning may be higher for young children and children with disabilities. Besides, without careful implementation, virtual learning alone runs the risk of exacerbating disparities in access to high-quality education across different demographic groups and communities,” says the report by the “committee on guidance for K-12 education on responding to Covid-19.”

In developing plans for reopening schools and implementing mitigation strategies, the report emphasizes that school districts should take into account existing disparities within and across schools. According to the advisory, plans need to address disparities in school facilities, staffing shortages, overcrowding, and remote learning infrastructures. Within schools, plans should address disparities in resources for students and families. These issues might include access to technology, healthcare services, the ability to provide masks for students, and other considerations, they explain. “The committee was particularly concerned about how the persistent inequities of the education system might interact with similar disparities in health outcomes and access in ways that could devastate some communities more than others. Every choice facing states, districts, and schools is being made against the backdrop of entrenched economic and social inequities made more visible by the disparate impacts of the pandemic on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. Without careful attention, plans to reopen schools could exacerbate these inequities,” says the committee.

The research team also stresses that the “collective trauma” of the pandemic should not be underestimated, and if and when schools physically reopen, the socio-emotional and mental health needs of students and families must be a high priority. “Particularly in the communities hardest hit by Covid-19, children may have experienced the extreme illness or death of multiple close family members even as their families and communities are facing the stress of serious economic setbacks. While it was beyond the scope of the committee’s charge to specify how schools should help students and families cope with this trauma, we stress the importance of making this kind of supportive response a priority. These efforts will need to include school counselors and other specialized staff as well as teachers,” recommend experts.

Recommendations

The scientists suggest that to reopen during the pandemic, schools and districts should provide surgical masks for all teachers and staff, as well as hand washing stations or hand sanitizer for all people who enter school buildings “All students and staff should wear face masks. Younger children may have difficulty using face masks, but schools should encourage compliance,” says the report. 

The scientists suggest that to reopen during the pandemic, schools and districts should provide surgical masks for all teachers and staff, as well as supplies for effective hand hygiene for all people who enter school buildings (Getty Images)

Based on what is currently known about the spread of Covid-19, the report asks districts to minimize contact with shared surfaces, increase regular surface cleaning, prioritize ventilation and air filtration, emphasize coughing and sneezing etiquette, ensure physical distancing, and limit large gatherings. “Another important aspect of physical distancing is limiting large gatherings of students, such as in the cafeteria, in assemblies, or for indoor sports events. This also means avoiding overcrowding at school entrances and exits at the beginning and end of the school day, potentially by staggering arrival and departure times,” the report recommends. The report says, a group of 10 students or less should stay with the same staff as much as possible, and this is a promising strategy for physical distancing. “Create a culture of health and safety in every school, and enforce virus mitigation guidelines using positive approaches rather than by disciplining students,” it adds.

While discussing strategies for safe reopening, the report acknowledges that even if all of the mitigation strategies are in place and well implemented, it is “impossible to completely eliminate the risk” of Covid-19 in schools. “Therefore, it is incumbent on school officials, in association with local public health authorities, to plan for the possibility that one or more students, teachers or staff will contract Covid-19,” write authors.

Reopening school buildings will be contingent on implementing a set of mitigation strategies that limits transmission of the virus and they require substantial reconfiguring of space, purchase of additional equipment, adjustments to staffing patterns, and upgrades to school buildings. Poor-quality school buildings that have bad indoor air quality, are not clean, or have inadequate bathroom facilities complicate reopening while the pandemic continues and make it difficult for school districts to implement the recommended health and safety measures, say experts.

According to a recently-released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on school facilities, for example, an estimated 54% of public school districts need to update or replace multiple building systems or features in their schools. Another estimated 41% of districts need to update or replace heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in at least half of their schools, representing about 36,000 schools nationwide. Ventilation and air filtration are among the mitigation measures schools are asked to consider.

The report asks schools to minimize contact with shared surfaces, increase regular surface cleaning, emphasize coughing and sneezing etiquette, and limit large gatherings (Getty Images)

Cost of implementing Covid-19 precautions very high

According to the authors, the financial costs of consistently implementing several potential mitigation strategies are considerable. They emphasize that schools will not be able to take on the entire financial burden of implementing the mitigation strategies. The report says the cost of implementing these Covid-19 precautions will be very high, totaling approximately $1.8 million for a school district with eight school buildings and around 3,200 students. These costs are coming at a financially uncertain moment for many school districts, and could lead to funding shortfalls, say researchers.

The report asks federal and state governments to provide significant resources to districts and schools to enable them to implement the measures required to maintain individual and community health and allow schools to remain open. “Underresourced districts with aging facilities in poor condition will need additional financial support to bring facilities to basic health and safety standards. In addition, state departments of education should not penalize schools by withholding state-wide school funding formula monies for student absences during the Covid-19 pandemic,” says the team.

The committee says that local public health officials should partner with districts to assess the readiness of school facilities to ensure that they meet the minimum health and safety standards necessary to support Covid-19 mitigation strategies, consult on proposed mitigation plans, and develop a protocol for monitoring data on the virus to track community spread and make decisions about changes to the mitigation strategies in place. “States should ensure that in portions of the state where public health offices are short-staffed or lack personnel with expertise in infectious disease, districts have access to the ongoing support from public health officials that is needed to monitor and maintain the health of students and staff,” experts recommend.

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