CDC says reopening schools 'critically important,' but experts say risks remain

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlights the costs of keeping children out of classrooms this fall, but educators say they still lack the resources to open schools safely with coronavirus infections on the rise in much of the country and time running out until the school year begins.

CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a statement accompanying the new recommendations Thursday that it is “critically important for our public health” for schools to reopen.

"School closures have disrupted normal ways of life for children and parents, and they have had negative health consequences on our youth. CDC is prepared to work with K-12 schools to safely reopen while protecting the most vulnerable," Redfield said.

However, the guidance also acknowledged school closures may still be necessary for communities facing “substantial, uncontrolled” transmission of the virus. Dozens of states and many of the nation’s largest school districts could fall into that category based on recent test positivity rates.

The CDC documents focused on the positive impact of in-person education, the dangers of keeping children home, and the relatively low risk of children suffering severe symptoms or dying from the coronavirus. One paper downplayed health concerns about reopening and warned of disproportionate harm to low-income and minority students if schools stay closed.

“Scientific studies suggest that COVID-19 transmission among children in schools may be low. International studies that have assessed how readily COVID-19 spreads in schools also reveal low rates of transmission when community transmission is low,” the document stated, though it added scientific evidence is currently inconclusive.

Another document advised school administrators on how to prepare for reopening while protecting students, teachers, and staff, including planning for COVID-19 cases in the school. Recommended measures include social distancing, use of face-coverings, cohorting students and staff into small groups, and ensuring proper ventilation and sanitation.

In a call with reporters Friday, Redfield insisted the new guidance was not meant to replace or reverse previous CDC recommendations but to provide “more granular detail” for parents and administrators to put guidelines into practice. The new statements, which were prepared by a Department of Health and Human Services working group, were intended to underscore the negative consequences of keeping schools closed.

There were no immediate indications any major school districts were reconsidering their plans in light of the latest CDC guidance. Public schools in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and other major cities have already announced intentions to begin the year either fully remote or with a hybrid system where children are in school part of the week.

“It’s hard to predict what the pandemic will look like with schools being reopened. Right now, we only know what the pandemic looks like with schools being closed,” said Richard Watkins, a virologist and CEO of the Science Policy Action Network.

According to Watkins, the new CDC guidance represents “a collective drive to reopen schools” because they are so important to the economy and the workforce, but any public interaction during a pandemic poses a threat to public health. Good hygiene, social distancing, and masks can mitigate the danger, but much is unknown about how the novel coronavirus spreads.

“One of the things that should be recognized is we don’t necessarily know who’s infected,” he said, noting many patients are asymptomatic and some with mild symptoms might never get tested but they could still transmit the virus to others.

Jennifer Horney, founding director of the epidemiology program at the University of Delaware, observed several other countries reopened schools early in the process of lifting lockdowns without facing an uptick in cases as a result. Young children, in particular, appear to be a “one-way street” for infection.

“It really looks like the evidence is pointing to the fact that COVID transmission from children under 12 is very, very limited,” she said.

However, children are not the only concern. Sending them back to school also means interacting with many adults, some of whom may be at higher risk for serious symptoms.

“It becomes complex because people live in networks of communities, and it’s not just the students we’re talking about. It’s also the teachers and staff and families,” Horney said.

Former CDC Director Thomas Frieden told “Fox News Sunday” evidence regarding transmission of the coronavirus by children is still unsettled, and communities where the virus is spreading should expect it to spread in the schools, as well. He stressed the importance of containing the outbreak if officials want to safely open schools, even if it means shutting down businesses like restaurants and bars where the virus is known to spread.

“The bottom line is, any community can open schools,” Frieden said. “The hard part is opening them and keeping them open, and only a community that both controls COVID and opens schools carefully is going to be able to do that.”

Public health experts and educators who are more trepidatious than the Trump administration about resuming in-person classes this fall do not dispute the benefits for children of being in school or the potential dangers of continued distance learning. Given the uncertainty about how the coronavirus spreads among children and the high levels of transmission in many states, though, they say this remains a difficult decision for teachers and parents.

“The Administration and federal agencies do not need to spend time continuing to emphasize how valuable school is,” tweeted Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “What schools and families need is all the available info on kids' transmission risk to each other, teachers, families, and how to most lower those risks.”

A study published in Pediatrics last week revealed considerable strain on families due to the pandemic, with 27% of parents reporting their mental health has suffered and 14% reporting worsening behavioral health in their children. Researchers also found an increase in food insecurity and a drop in employer-sponsored health care coverage for children since March.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called for officials to make a return to full-time in-person education the goal of all policy decisions, emphasizing the educational, mental, emotional, and physical advantages of being in school. Again, though, there is a recognition that public health must also be a priority and reopening schools might not be possible in some circumstances.

“A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate under the current environment. Many parts of the country are currently experiencing uncontrolled spread of COVID-19. While the AAP urges those areas to maintain in-person learning as the goal, our guidance recommends that jurisdictions utilize distance learning strategies until cases decline,” Sean O’Leary, an infectious disease pediatrician and co-author of the AAP guidance on reopening schools, testified at a House subcommittee hearing last week.

In a recent joint statement with groups representing teachers and superintendents, the AAP stressed the significance of getting children back to school. However, the group also pressed for Congress to provide the federal resources necessary to do that safely and called President Trump’s threats to withhold money from schools that do not open “misguided.”

“The pandemic has reminded so many what we have long understood: that educators are invaluable in children’s lives and that attending school in person offers children a wide array of health and educational benefits,” the statement said. “For our country to truly value children, elected leaders must come together to appropriately support schools in safely returning students to the classroom and reopening schools.”

Whether Congress will appropriate that funding is still unclear. Senate Republicans are reportedly proposing $70 billion for K-12 education in the next stimulus package, with half of that money going to schools that reopen for in-person learning. Senate Democrats have already rejected that plan, accusing the GOP of trying to use children as bargaining chips, and House Democrats want to offer more money with fewer strings attached.

“To the policymakers who support this proposal, our message is simple: You should be ashamed of yourselves. We are angry and we are frustrated with your failure to take the current crisis seriously as time runs short before a new school year,” JoAnn Bartoletti, CEO of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said of the GOP plan, calling the effort to tie funding to reopening “nothing less than extortion.”

Surveys of administrators and teachers have found persistent fears about resuming classes full-time without substantially more resources. A poll conducted by the National Association of Elementary School Principals found about half of principals favor a hybrid model and nearly a quarter want to reopen fully, but only 38% believe their districts have enough funds to pay for cleaning and protective equipment and less than 10% have the money for additional staff necessary to implement safety measures.

A national poll of educators released by the American Federation of Teachers found 76% of teachers would be comfortable returning to schools if safety precautions are taken like distancing, proper ventilation and cleaning, and face-coverings. More than 80% agreed distance learning has not been as effective as in-person classes.

President Trump renewed his demand for schools to reopen and his threats to withhold funding if they do not last week. The president’s public pressure on government officials over recommendations for schools has raised some concerns among critics that the new push to get schools open is driven by political considerations.

“The @CDCgov has fallen so so far. The document is sad,” former Obama administration health care official Andy Slavitt tweeted in response to the new guidance Thursday.

Teachers' unions pointed to a contrast between President Trump’s decision to cancel in-person events for the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville and his full-throated calls for children to return to schools.

“He told us it’s too dangerous to hold a political convention but it’s not too dangerous to reopen school buildings,” said National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, accused the CDC of changing its tone to pacify President Trump. However, she added the fundamental guidance does not appear to have changed and called for the agency to issue a clearer set of protocols for schools to follow.

“Schools cannot reopen safely and equitably until we have effectively contained the virus spread and have a robust testing system, a plan for a future surge, and appropriate safety protocols in place, including physical distancing, proper ventilation, deep cleaning procedures and adequate personal protective equipment,” Weingarten said in a statement.

Polls indicate many parents still have doubts about whether it is safe to send their children back to school, even if they would prefer to do so. An Associated Press survey released last week showed 46% of Americans believe “major adjustments” are needed to resume in-person instruction, and 31% would prefer remote education this fall, but Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say a hybrid model is necessary.

According to an ABC News/Ipsos survey released Friday, 55% of Americans oppose reopening schools in their communities, and only 44% of parents are willing to send their children to school if they do open. That poll revealed partisan differences, as well, with 80% of Republicans supporting in-person classes but only 20% of Democrats and 40% of independents agreeing.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll of nearly 400 parents found 63% support keeping schools closed to minimize the risk of infection, while 32% say it is better to open them so parents can go to work and children can get services. Parents of color were more reluctant to reopen schools than white parents, but they were also more worried about the negative repercussions of closures.

Public health experts say the best thing communities can do right now if they want to reopen schools safely when the fall semester begins is take aggressive steps to slow the spread of the virus. Although the risks cannot be completely eliminated, there is still time to reduce them.

“We’re making plans for a lot of different contingencies and we just don’t know what things are going to look like in six weeks in most places,” Horney said.