What We Need to do to Re-open Schools

What’s not happening in most schools now could be happening in the not-too-distant future, at least sooner than many might have thought.

With the new guidelines from Centers for Disease Control saying that schools can open safely if they follow the rules, there now is a growing push by local, state and federal government leaders to get most kids back into the classroom.

The CDC says most of the evidence has been reassuring because the kind of rapid spread of the COVID virus seen in crowded workplaces has not been happening in schools.

With the many negative impacts that distance learning has been having on so many kids, and with many education and mental health experts already worried about the long-term effects of kids being out of school and isolated, reopening schools should be a priority.

But the CDC report also adds that “preventing transmission in school settings will require addressing and reducing levels of transmission in the surrounding communities through policies to interrupt transmission.”

In other words, when it comes to re-opening schools, government leaders need to keep getting more of the vaccine into more arms. And parents, teachers, kids and all of us need to keep doing the things that keep the virus from spreading.

If we want to help our kids and get them back in school and keep them safe, we do have to do this together.

(Photo Getty Images)