Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Pressured To Make Decision On Safe Distancing As Schools Reopen
Fox News: CDC’s Walensky Pressed On School Distancing Guidance: ‘You Need To Do It Now’
The director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Rochelle Walensky was pressed again on the agency’s potential plans to update school distancing guidance during a Senate committee hearing on Thursday as Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, cited increases in mental health emergencies among the nation’s youth. Walensky, whose agency currently recommends 6 feet of distancing to safely reopen, faced similar questioning in a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. (Hein, 3/18)
In other updates about school reopenings —
The Oregonian: Portland School Board Approves Compromise With Teachers Union To Get Students Back For Part-Time Face-To-Face Teaching
The Portland school board approved the district’s agreement with its teachers union on the conditions for resuming face-to-face teaching Thursday evening, paving the way for elementary schoolers to begin in-person classes after spring break. The agreement passed 6-1. The memorandum of understanding between Portland Public Schools and its teachers union requires students and educators to remain at least 6 feet apart whenever at school. (Campuzano, 3/18)
Nj.Com: ‘Now Is The Time’ For Schools To Reopen, Murphy Says As Pressure Mounts
Gov. Phil Murphy urged more New Jersey schools to return to in-person learning Wednesday, just days after rallying parents placed blame for lingering closures squarely at the governor’s feet. “Now is the time for all of our schools to meaningfully move forward with a return to in-person instruction, whether it be full-time or with a hybrid schedule,” Murphy said during his regular coronavirus briefing in Trenton. (Clark, 3/17)
The Wall Street Journal: Florida Schools Reopened Without Becoming Covid-19 Superspreaders
As school districts around the U.S. continue to grapple with whether to reopen classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic, data shows Florida started in-person learning without turning schools into superspreaders. The state was one of the earliest to resume in-person instruction in August, following an executive order by Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran that directed districts to provide families the option of classroom learning five days a week or risk losing funding. The mandate triggered outcry among some teachers and parents who considered it risky, and drew unsuccessful lawsuits aimed at blocking it. (Campo-Flores, 3/17)
New York Post: NYC Parents Push Back On City Hall's 'Gold Standard' School Reopening
Angry New York parents have lashed out at Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying his so-called reopening of schools is a “farce” and a failure. Many complain that serious staffing shortages have created bizarre scenarios where kids sit at desks to watch a teacher broadcast the lessons to their laptops from a nearby room. Others say their kids are lucky if they attend school five days a month. “It’s a farce,” said Kate Cassidy, a mother of two kids in Manhattan’s District 2. (Algar, Brachfield and Hicks, 3/18)
Mother Jones: Why Black Parents Aren’t Joining The Push To Reopen Schools
Amid the fierce debate, Black parents across the country have largely resisted the push to return to public schools. According to a December report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 62 percent of white parents strongly or somewhat agreed that school should reopen this fall, while less than half of Black parents agreed. In a Pew Research survey conducted in mid-February, Black adults were the most likely of all racial groups to worry about the health risks of reopening—80 percent of Black adults wanted kids to stay remote until teachers were vaccinated, for example, while only 51 percent of white adults felt the same. (Anderson, 3/18)
San Francisco Chronicle: Defying Union Leaders, Oakland Teachers Group Protests April Schools Reopening
A group of Oakland teachers protested a plan to bring students back to classrooms starting at the end of the month, calling an agreement between the district and their union “reckless and foolish” unless staff, students and families are vaccinated. The organizers of the Wednesday protest, which included the union reps from individual schools, rather than Oakland Education Association leadership, urged district teachers to vote against the deal, which would have the first students — in preschool through second grade — back in classrooms on March 30, with older elementary students and high-needs students across all grades phased in over the following two weeks. (Bobrowsky and Tucker, 3/18)
CalMatters: Desk Spacing Arguments Rage As Big School Districts Plan April Reopening
California’s rules for reopening, updated in late January, allow schools to physically reopen if they follow strict safety measures, which includes spacing desks no less than four feet while making a “good-faith effort” to maintain six feet of spacing. Recent studies have suggested schools can safely operate with three feet of distancing versus six feet. The Centers for Disease Control recommended six feet of distance in its latest February guidance, but doesn’t set a minimum standard. The CDC said this week that it would reconsider easing its spacing guidance. Now, health experts, parents and administrators want California to clarify its distancing requirements for reopening campuses.(Cano, 3/17)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal: Remote Schooling Strains Parents And Their Children, CDC Survey Suggests
Parents whose children received virtual instruction were more likely to report poorer well-being for themselves and their kids, a federal government survey found. The parents were more likely to report that they were emotionally distressed, concerned about job stability and struggling to balance work and child care if their children were learning virtually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Thursday. Some of the parents also reported the mental and emotional health of their children had worsened, while their physical activity had decreased. (Abbott, 3/18)
The Washington Post: These Children Had Covid-19. Now, They Have Long-Haul Symptoms.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, 13-year-old Madilyn “Maddie” Dayton played volleyball and basketball and ran track. She attended in-person school — and still had plenty of energy left over to race around her small town of Cokeville, Wyo., with friends. Today, more than six months after being infected with the virus, she’s struggling with lingering effects of her illness. While doctors recently cleared her for limited physical activity, Maddie estimates she can do only about half of what she used to do. Even Zoom school can be too much some days. “She’ll zonk out in front of her computer,” her mother, Marilyn Dayton, said, “and I’ll have to wake her.” (Cha, 3/18)
