With Americans now dying at a rate of 1,000 people a day and coronavirus cases increasing in some states, parents and teachers are faced with difficult choices about when and how to return to school. COVID-19 cases have now top 5.1 million in the U.S., and the virus has killed more than 165,000 nationwide, according to data collected by John Hopkins University.
More than half a million people are infected in Texas, and the state’s positivity rate has jumped to more than 24%.
“Besides, that’s a very high number, it really means that there are a lot of cases that are missing in the whole state,” said Drs. Ashish Jha.
Health officials said more test centers in Texas are open than there have been in months, but fewer people will attend. The mayor said some schools could not reopen until October.
AP
Meanwhile, some schools that have already reopened are closing because students and staff are testing positive. In Cherokee County, Georgia, a second high school closed Wednesday. About 1,100 students and staff were quarantined.
At schools in Muncie, Indiana, 200 were quarantined. In southern Mississippi, nearly 100 students were sent home this week after coming in contact with a teacher who exhibited COVID-19 symptoms.
Meanwhile, halls were packed the first day at a school in Evansville, Tennessee, and about 800 students showed up for personal learning at Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale.
In New Jersey, where classes would be held in person, hundreds of teachers said they would not return, forcing Governor Phil Murphy to say he would no longer require school districts to offer personalized instruction.
“If a school district at this point does not feel they are not ready to open up with the health and safety protocol, we will work with them,” Murphy said.
The decision to allow districts to offer only distance learning comes after more than 400 teachers filed for medical exemptions in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“How are you going to keep the mask on a little 6-year-old?” asked first class Marie Tichenor.
Tichenor said she applied for a medical exemption because her husband had been immunochromically compromised.
“What do I do when a child cries and needs her shoes?” she asked. “How do I respond and say, ‘I can not help you, I can not comfort you, because we have to be 6 feet apart.'”
There is some hope for students and parents seeking a return to school. The US has announced that it will purchase 100 million doses of Moderna’s experimental vaccine, which is currently in late-stage human trials. CBS News medical officer Dr David Agus said government contracts have also been awarded to other fax makers.
“By doing this manufacturing at risk, it takes months – many, many months – of development. So as soon as we have the data, we can start vaccinating,” said Agus.
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