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A few problems with schools and school leaders in urban or suburban areas using this information to make decisions about return-to-school. THIS STUDY ISN’T LIKE YOUR SCHOOL!! A thread. 1/25 https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/cdc-school-virus-spread/2021/01/26/bf949222-5fe6-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html?fbclid=IwAR1kp4yX3B9MYupOSHdkJsl93b8TdgNUoKSgNB82_He1HaRFY6HkV5E1gqY
First, no one reads the studies themselves. Like most in our social media era the headline is enough to base decisions and talk to the staff.
Second, the conditions of the study are no where near the conditions of most schools using this data to make decisions. 2/25
Second, the conditions of the study are no where near the conditions of most schools using this data to make decisions. 2/25
Is your school in rural Wisconsin? The study was done on 17 schools in rural Wisconsin. The secondary schools have an average of less than 400 students in person. 3/25
Is your school in a state with a statewide mask mandate? No? Wisconsin was under a statewide mandate the entire study. This is important for a several reasons. 4/25
1. It shows commitment from state authorities to reduce the spread of the virus.
2. It means you can’t go one county over and mingle with people not wearing a mask (Cass County??). 5/25
2. It means you can’t go one county over and mingle with people not wearing a mask (Cass County??). 5/25
Did your school provide everyone attending with 3-5 multi-layer masks? No? The schools studied did. Like it or not, having access to quality masks is a privilege not all can afford or have access to. 6/25
Is your school using cohorts of 11-20 students that don’t mix? The study did. Try figuring that out at a high school with a population of 1200. They won’t. 7/25
Was the percent positive rate in your county ever as low as 7%? It was in Wood County when the study began. It’s been double that or more all school year in my county. 8/25
Has your county only had 67 deaths attributed to COVID? Wood County has. Mine county has had 303 deaths. That almost 5 times more. Population density matters! 9/25
The county studied is not like mine, and probably not like yours. Studies like this are important, but when we extrapolate data we need to compare similar instances.
10/25
10/25
Next, let’s talk about the CDC recommendations referenced in the article: 11/25
The CDC says preventing transmission in schools requires addressing community policies like restrictions on indoor dining. When you can go to the next county and dine with no restrictions, it doesn’t help. 12/25
The CDC says you have to dedensify classrooms and common areas. Where are 400 students going to eat lunch? In a classroom with no masks? Yea, that makes sense. 13/25
The CDC recommends hybrid attendance models. Tell that to teachers in large districts that have succumb to pressure to bring everyone back 4 days a week. 14/25
The CDC recommends increasing air ventilation in schools. I don’t know about your school, but for mine to do that would require a massive infrastructure upgrade. 15/25
The CDC recommends online options for students AND staff at risk. Tell that to the at-risk staff forced to work in buildings since August. 16/25
The CDC also notes the risk in holding athletic events like wrestling tournaments. But most states are carrying on in a business-as-usual fashion because of the pressures from the public. See the picture for evidence. 17/25
Finally, I want to address the phrase I often hear from leaders: “There is little to no evidence of spread in schools.” 18/25
This is easy to say as it is nearly impossible to track down where you contracted the virus. This is compounded by the fact that we don’t recommend tests for asymptomatic youth. 19/25
The CDC and numerous other studies acknowledge and prove that children are more likely to be asymptomatic carriers and are more likely to spread the virus asymptomatically. 20/25
This coupled with lower numbers of testing on children make it impossible to prove spread in schools. So of course, there is little evidence. IT DOESN”T MEAN IT DOESN’T HAPPEN! 21/25
Does this mean opening schools shouldn't happen? No. Schools are important for a lot of reasons. But don't tell me it's safe. Take a very measured approach and differentiate based on data specific to your school/community. 22/25
The virus is disproportionately affecting black and brown populations, but white school, community, state and federal leaders are pushing to get everyone back to school. 23/25
Someone needs to advocate for minority populations. Just because a neighboring district that services mostly white middle class families is back safely doesn't mean that the high minority, high poverty district next to it is ready to come back safely. 24/25
I am a teacher and a coach and I am not cut out for distance learning. I crave the personal interactions with my students. I miss that. The kids miss it. But if we want to come out of this we need to be smart and dial back the effort until it's safe...and it isn't right now.
