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All right, education fam. My @kcur story about @ChildrensMercy doctors saying it& #39;s safe to reopen schools is blowing up over on Facebook. So let& #39;s talk through some of their recommendations.
Story here: https://www.kcur.org/education/2020-06-29/childrens-mercy-doctors-say-its-safe-for-kansas-city-schools-to-open-this-fall-with-these-precautions-in-place">https://www.kcur.org/education... 1/
Story here: https://www.kcur.org/education/2020-06-29/childrens-mercy-doctors-say-its-safe-for-kansas-city-schools-to-open-this-fall-with-these-precautions-in-place">https://www.kcur.org/education... 1/
Most of the comments are asking if it& #39;s right to ask teachers to sacrifice their safety (and their family& #39;s safety) to reopen schools. And I get this, I really do. As you all know, I& #39;m immunocompromised because of the medication that controls my Crohn& #39;s disease. 2/
Even when there isn& #39;t a pandemic, I get everything! Most notably, hand, foot and mouth disease when I was reporting on the pre-K sales tax last spring. Feels like a lifetime ago, doesn& #39;t it?
So until very recently, I thought schools would be an absolute no go this fall. 3/
So until very recently, I thought schools would be an absolute no go this fall. 3/
That said, I& #39;m HUGELY concerned about kids being out of school right now. There are all kinds of reasons ... like that 40% of eligible Missouri kids are MISSING OUT on pandemic food aid, reports my pal @rpatrickdelaney: #stream/0">https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/40-eligible-missouri-kids-missing-out-added-food-assistance #stream/0">https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/40-e... 4/
Calls to the child abuse hotlines in MO and KS are down ... because teachers and other mandated reporters haven& #39;t been in regular contact with families for months now. I assure you, there are families where abuse didn& #39;t feel possible in March that are in crisis now. 5/
And even if your family isn& #39;t low-income or otherwise struggling, I think being out of school for this long is really disruptive for kids, and not just educationally. Isolation is emotionally draining. We& #39;ve all experienced that these past few months, right? 6/
So now let& #39;s get into the Australian study on reopening schools that says child-to-adult transmission is rare.
*I* found these numbers encouraging ... as an immunocompromised person. 7/
*I* found these numbers encouraging ... as an immunocompromised person. 7/
There are 128 teachers at this school, and 735 children.
Nine adults come back to school infected, and nine children.
But NO teachers catch #COVID19, and only two students do. That& #39;s a "secondary attack rate" of 0.3% for 863 people. 8/
Nine adults come back to school infected, and nine children.
But NO teachers catch #COVID19, and only two students do. That& #39;s a "secondary attack rate" of 0.3% for 863 people. 8/
So when doctors at Children& #39;s Mercy say that the risk of not going back to school this fall outweighs the risk of the coronavirus, that& #39;s what they mean. The transmission rate for schools is not zero, but there are all these other factors at play, too. 9/
Factors I& #39;ve been extremely worried about since schools closed. So I took a look at the study, and it was honestly the most reassuring thing I read last week.
That said, I& #39;m sure a lot of teachers read it with dread. 10/
That said, I& #39;m sure a lot of teachers read it with dread. 10/
And I get that. I really, really do. We& #39;re actually dealing with it in our house right now. My partner has to go back into the office a week from tomorrow, even though her job actually can be done 100% remotely. It seems unfair and unsafe. 11/
In fact, I& #39;d feel about 100 times better if she was going back to work with a bunch of kindergartners than her adult colleagues. Because I think that will be the real risk to teachers ... interacting with their colleagues, less so their kids. 12/
Do some of the social distancing protocols seem crazy if you spend all your time with small humans? Like keeping them six feet apart?
Yeah, I& #39;m not sure how well that& #39;s gonna work, either. But I doubt kids maintained six feet of distance in that Australian school, either. 13/
Yeah, I& #39;m not sure how well that& #39;s gonna work, either. But I doubt kids maintained six feet of distance in that Australian school, either. 13/
I& #39;m also heartened that summer programs like Operation Breakthrough and the Boys and Girls Clubs have been operating without outbreaks. 14/
And there are also teachers who WANT to go back. I& #39;m not gonna call them heroes because I think that feeds into the expectation that teachers be selfless, and we shouldn& #39;t expecting that. But they really, really don& #39;t want to (try to) teach kids to read on Zoom next year. 15/
Should schools reopen next year? Should you send your kids back to school next year? I don& #39;t have those answers. NO ONE has those answers right now. That& #39;s what makes this pandemic so scary.
But other questions I CAN find the answers to for you. 16/
But other questions I CAN find the answers to for you. 16/
Like, has school transmission at the middle and high school level been studied? Is there an age where kids/teens become less immune to the coronavirus? That& #39;s one of the questions I& #39;m planning to follow up with @ChildrensMercy on. 17/
