The information on how safe it is to reopen schools has been confusing and in some cases reported as being politically motivated.
Just last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly deleted guidance it published this summer that pushed for school reopenings.
Meanwhile, CDC Director Robert Redfield advised against school closures in the spring, citing homes, not schools, as the places where students come in contact with the virus.
Redfield’s comments about schools being the ‘safest places‘ for students have stuck with parents like Gale.
At a coronavirus briefing last week, Arkoosh said there are only five instances of spread within schools, with an additional two instances under investigation.
The upcoming closures are about reducing the overall community spread.
Though the virus is not originating in schools, it has affected staffing in one school district to the point where it had to close.
During her briefing, Arkoosh said 29% of the county’s coronavirus cases among school-age children reported this fall were from the past week alone, and 28% of the 138 total cases among staff also took place within the last week.
In weighing the concern about bringing the virus to teachers, parents like Gale argue social distancing and masks can keep staff safe, and those who are vulnerable to coronavirus complications can be accommodated.
“At the end of the day, we all have a job to do,” said Gale. “I don’t know any other profession where we can just say, ‘I’m just not going to show up because I don’t feel like it, I don’t feel safe.’ Everybody has to go perform their jobs and we want them to be safe, we want them to have personal protective equipment.”
This Wednesday, Arkoosh said the goal for the next several months is to “keep our positivity rate and incidence rate of new cases as low as possible to minimize risk for students, teachers, support staff and our bus drivers in our schools.”
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