Many European countries, including Germany, France and England, have had a similar story, which made it their mission to continue personal education, despite taking drastic measures to combat the second wave of coronavirus epidemics.
In contrast, major cities in the United States, including Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia, are closing schools and moving moving online classes to stem the rising rate of infection.
Anthony Steins, a professor of health systems at Dublin City University, told CNN that there are rates of infection that are too high to keep schools open, and that has happened in many parts of Europe.
But he said the main response was “to be effective, very effective for public health.”
“Schools spread the virus, but it’s not a big way to spread it.”
Steins said it was appropriate to take different measures in different places “because their economic situation is different, the spread of the virus is different.” Israel, for example, had large outbreaks involving schools.
“School closures may be part of the response for the period,” he added, “but it is not necessary to close schools with the right knowledge, information and understanding.”
“I believe that European countries have made a choice that it is very important to try to keep schools open.”
U.S. School closed
The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSC) announced Thursday that it is suspending all face-to-face notifications due to the city’s rapidly rising infection rate. Starting Friday, January 11th, the class will be fully online.
The decision was taken with the city’s health department after the infection rate came close to%% last week and is on the rise this week, the DPSCD said. If rates improve, the district will consider reopening learning centers before January 11, a statement said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned in his Thursday briefing that the city was preparing to close its schools if test-positivity rates continued to rise.
The city is currently seeing a test-positivity rate of 2.6% based on a seven-day average. De Blasio had previously said that schools would close if the figure reached 3%.
The mayor said that if schools remain closed, “our hope will make it very short-term,” adding that despite the increase in positivity rates, there is still time to turn the numbers around.
The Philadelphia School District announced Tuesday that all notifications will be fully virtual until further notice.
The city’s schools have been using digital learning since Sept. 2 and were expected to begin the transition process to the hybrid process on Nov. 17. In a letter obtained by CNN, the school’s chief Evelyn Nunez told school leaders that remote learning would now continue, “to help the health and well-being of our staff, students and families.”
Boston’s public schools began to reopen in phases, with the city’s most needy children returning from October 1, three weeks after returning to kindergarten, the same way the city returned to distance education.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told CNN’s Jim Siotto and Poppy Harlow at the time that the main reason for raising the city’s positivity rate from 4. %% to 7. %% in one week was “disastrous for me to close schools.”
Walsh CNN No. Wolf Blitzer said in the Situation Room that the city felt the number was “a bit on the edge so continuing personal education for our high-need students. It was a really difficult decision.”
Superintendent Brenda Casellias said in a statement that she was “sorry” about the closure of the schools. “Our families are desperate for these services for their children, many of whom are non-verbal and unable to use technology at home.”
Des Moines and Iowa City have also been closing schools for two weeks.
European option
However, not all leaders believe that such a move is necessary.
France and England entered the second national lockdown of the month on 28 October and 4 November, respectively. In both countries, non-essential businesses, restaurants and bars have closed, residents are only allowed to leave home for work, medical reasons, exercise or grocery shopping.
One of the main differences between the spring lockdown in these two countries is that they have chosen to keep schools open.
Amanda Spielman, chief education inspector at the UK Education Watchdog Of First, said in a report published this week that the decision to keep schools open during England’s second lockdown was “really very good news”.
“The effects of summer school closures will be felt for some time to come – and not just in terms of education, but in all ways they affect the lives of young people.”
A first report released on Tuesday found that some children were severely depressed due to school closures and movement restrictions earlier this year.
It has been found that Younsters without good support structures have in some cases lost key skills in numeracy, reading and writing. Some even forgot how to use knives and forks, the report said.
Some older children lost physical health or showed signs of mental distress, with increased self-harm and eating disorders, while younger children were found to be reluctant to use diapers.
“There is a significant risk of educational disruption in places where schools are largely closed,” Steins said. “Children from poorer and more disadvantaged backgrounds lose more and take longer to recover from what they lose,” Steins added.
He said the school also “provides a comprehensive childminding service,” allowing families to participate in the economy.
The decline in social services has also raised alarms in the UK about whether abuse will be detected.
Merkel said schools and kindergartens would remain open, with strict hygiene measures, not just as an “educational mission”, but Spring showed “how dramatic the social consequences are when children can’t go to school or the daycare center.”
“This has a direct impact on families. To put it bluntly: there has been a dramatic increase in violent attacks against women and children,” he said.
While they may present a small risk to grandparents, Steines said, “The biggest risk to grandparents is the older adults in the household.”
Many European schools have introduced measures such as ventilation, mask-wearing and holding classes outside or in small, spaced groups.
Steins added, “Both Europe and the United States have messed up to manage Covid.”
“Lockdown is not to control infection in the population, lockdown buys you time to bring public health measures. They buy you time to trace contact,” he said.
“Make schools safer by making the rest of society safer. So reducing the rate of infection in the community reduces the risk of schools.”
Nadine Schmidt, Maria Fleet, Amy Cassidy, Elizabeth Stewart, G’s Greer, Evan Simco-Bednarsky, Sheena Jones, Jennifer Henderson, Gregory Lemos, Barbara Vojazer, Lindsay Isaac and Claudia Otto reported.
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