Reopening schools is more than just vaccinations; what schools need to consider ahead of in-person learning
There's a lot more to the complexity of schools reopening than just vaccinations. News Channel 3's caitlin Thropay explains what schools need to consider ahead of in-person learning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky explained data is showing that most of the coronavirus infections in schools are coming from the community.
"The data from schools suggests that there's very little transmission that is happening within the schools, especially when there's masking and distancing occurring, and that when there is transmission in the schools it is because it had been brought in from the community and because there is breaches in masking and distancing," Walensky said.
She also mentioned the need to get community spread under control, in order to get schools reopened.
"So I would say we need to keep up our social distancing and our masking and all of our mitigation measures. Our CDC guidance on school reopening will be coming in the days ahead and I look forward to taking you through those when they're ready," she said.
According to the CDC the core indicators for a school to reopen are found here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/indicators.html
The state of California has said they want to spend $2 billion for schools to reopen safely beginning in February. The priority for returning would be K through 2nd grade and those who are most disproportionately impacted followed by other grade levels to in-person instruction through the spring.
California has also established their "Safe Schools for All" plan which is designed to provide a clear path to minimizing in-school transmissions of the virus and enable a phased return to in-person learning.
Learn more here: https://schools.covid19.ca.gov/
Next district board meetings:
- Palm Springs Unified School District - February 9 at 6 p.m. Watch the meeting live at either: https://bit.ly/psusdlive or https://bit.ly/psusdenvivo (Spanish)
- Beaumont Unified School District - February 9 at 6:30 p.m. Watch the meeting live at https://zoom.us/j/96339083754pwd=MUpybTNTTXF2RVZ1UVZ5MGtSN0xNdz09
- Coachella Valley Unified School District - February 11 https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/coach/Board.nsf/Public
- Desert Sands Unified School District - February 16 https://dsusd.us/about_dsusd/board_of_education
Tune in tonight at 5 p.m. for our full report.
