Debate over reopening schools rages as CDC sees low spread of COVID-19 if precautions are taken

After almost a year of virtual learning Due to Corona virus pandemic, Philadelphia’s youngest students will see the interior of a classroom in February. “We have relied on science and data to help inform every step we take to develop and implement a plan,” said Superintendent William Hite.

The reopening comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that there was little evidence of coronavirus transmission in schools if precautions were taken. In addition to face masks, physical remoteness and increased room ventilation, schools must limit risky activities like indoor sports and restrict indoor meals.

Dr Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard School of Public Health, called the school closures a “national emergency.”

“We see the devastating costs piling up on top of each other,” he said. “The reports that we see on suicides and declining literacy, less access to food, food insecurity problems.”

The new data “argues that schools are not the source or significantly contribute to the spread of the community,” Allen said.

But across the country, the division debate rages between districts and teachers’ unions refusing to return. Chicago, the nation’s third largest school district, is on the brink of a teachers’ strike.

“My message to the teachers’ unions is that we need you guys,” said Tameika Hinton, single mother of Destin, 10.

Hinton had to move in with his grandfather after cutting back on his work hours so he could stay home and supervise his child’s learning.

One of the reasons unions are delaying return is that there are only 23 states that prioritize teachers Covid-19 vaccine.

The Biden administration seeks to get younger students back to class as early as possible. The White House confirmed to CBS News that President Biden’s goal of reopening a majority of schools in his first 100 days does not apply to high schools and there is no word of a timetable for the reopening of secondary schools.