‘Hard times call for hard truths.’ Reeves picks middle ground on MS school reopenings.
Gov. Tate Reeves listened to advice from the state health officer and medical community in issuing executive orders for reopening of schools, but stopped short of delaying the start of school as they had suggested because of the high spread of COVID-19 in Mississippi.
“There are some who have presented the choice before us as chaos vs. a blanket mandate,” Reeves said in his Tuesday afternoon news conference, where he pulled off a mask before speaking. “In my view, that is simply not the case.”
He said children would be harmed as much or more from being kept out of school indefinitely rather than returning with the restrictions he is ordering, including a statewide mask mandate for all schoolchildren and teachers.
Reeves followed public health advice with a statewide mask mandate, including for school personnel and teachers in his executive order. But he delayed the start of school only in eight counties with the highest case counts over the last two weeks.
The governor was unwilling to follow widespread medical advice that asked for a delay in the start of schools until September.
In that regard, his mandates mirror those in other Southern states, such as Florida and Texas, that are taking less cautious approaches to reopening schools than are some metropolitan districts that are starting school with virtual learning only.
Reeves announced his decision at the 11th hour, as many districts return to school this week, in his regular afternoon news briefing on Facebook Live.
After he spent days reviewing individual school district plans, Reeves said all 144 district have submitted “aggressive” sanitizing and social distancing plans.
He said that 132 districts are planning meals only in classrooms, while 71 have detailed plans for hybrid virtual and in-class schedules to keep classroom numbers small.
A total of 51 school districts plan to start this week, followed by 49 next week, 14 the week of Aug. 17, and 23 after that date. He delayed the start of 7-12th grades in eight hard-hit counties, but only until Aug. 17. Only one of the districts, George County, is in South Mississippi.
While Harrison and Jackson counties have been COVID-19 hotspots, case spread slowed after mask mandates. He said counties that will have a delayed school start have reported more than 200 new cases and have 500 cases per 100,000 people for the past two weeks.
Reeves said he tried to balance the risk of returning children to school with the dangers they face by remaining out of class, including missed meals and single mothers who need to work.
“These are hard times and hard times call for hard truth,” Reeves said. “We will not and cannot prevent people from contracting COVID-19 whether children are in school or out of school.”
Mandates fall in line with some medical advice
In the days leading up to the governor’s announcement, the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Mississippi State Medical Association released a joint statement saying school re-entry should be delayed until at least Sept. 1 so districts would have time to prepare strategies to reduce COVID-19 transmission.
Their position falls in line with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that schools be dismissed for two weeks or more in communities with a high rate of COVID-19 spread.
High rates of spread in Mississippi were concentrated Tuesday in north and central areas of the state, plus in George County in South Mississippi, where a widespread COVID-19 outbreak has been reported in the jail.
Cases are still increasing in other counties as well, but mask mandates issued in problem counties, including Jackson and Harrison on the Coast, appear to be slowing spread.
Safe school return requires masks, groups say
For a safe return, the MSMA and MSAAP not only endorsed masks for everyone in schools, but also distance-learning options for all Mississippi students.
“We are encouraged by the fact that young children appear not to be super-spreaders of COVID-19,” the statement from pediatricians and doctors says. “Young children can become sick with COVID-19, but the illness tends to be milder and is usualy contracted at home.”
“On the other hand, older children and teens maybe able to spread COVID-19 similarly to adults.”
Both organizations also endorse Mississippi State Department of Health guidelines for school reopenings. Those guidelines suggest temperature screenings, adequate hygiene supplies, social distancing of at least 6 feet between students, masks or face shields for staff, masks for students when feasible and staggered cafeteria times.
A matrix published with the guidelines shows level of risk for various activities. For example, an activity involving groups of more than 10 for more than 15 minutes would be high-risk, especially without social distancing.
Reeves said that he wants to allow districts autonomy because they know their schools best, but he urged them to follow the MSDH guidance.
COVID-19 outbreaks already hitting MS schools
COVID-19 outbreaks are already being reported in Mississippi schools. Reeves said Tuesday six cases have been reported in the Corinth and Alcorn school districts.
And the Jackson County School District, which plans to start school Thursday, learned last week that five students and four teachers had tested positive.
Evidence from school closings worldwide indicates that children will suffer irreparable harm if they are unable to attend school for a prolonged time, according to an article published by Science magazine. Some go hungry, and there is evidence they suffer more abuse because school officials are not there to report early signs.
By June, Science reported, more than 20 countries had reopened schools, although data on outcomes was scarce. Science concluded from studying reopenings in nations that adopted a variety of strategies:
“Together, they suggest a combination of keeping student groups small and requiring masks and some social distancing helps keep schools and communities safe, and that younger children rarely spread the virus to one another or bring it home.”
A patchwork of reopening strategies
President Donald Trump has said he wants schools reopened and recently threatened to cut federal funding to schools that do not reopen.
Around the country, a number of states and districts have already announced changes to the school calendar or plans to start the year virtually. These include Bay St. Louis-Waveland on the Coast, which pushed the first day of school back to Sept. 8, and Moss Point, which will be all-virtual until at least September, with a planned start date of Aug. 17.
Ten of the largest school districts in the country, including Los Angeles and Houston, will be online-only at least for the beginning of the school year. Others, such as New York and Chicago, plan hybrid models, with only a portion of students on campus at any given time.
The most common model chosen by districts on the Coast — a traditional reopening with the option of virtual learning — appears to be a rarity among big districts nationwide, which have largely chosen to avoid the risk of bringing most students back to campus.
Governors in other states with high rates of COVID-19 transmission have also taken action to control school reopening plans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered schools to reopen in August, offering five days of in-person instruction. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is requiring districts to open at least one facility by Aug. 17.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 5:50 PM.
