Can K-12 schools reopen safely in Mississippi during the pandemic?

The children want to go back to school.

And they need to go, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Their overall health and well-being, as well as their academic progress, depends upon it.

The trouble is COVID-19 cases are still surging here in the South. The number of people diagnosed with this deadly virus is averaging about 1,500 a day just in Mississippi. ICUs are full, the morgues are overflowing, and state hospitals are at or over capacity.

Opening schools safely requires at least a two-week trend in the other direction, so Mississippi teachers and the state’s AAP Chapter are asking that school openings be delayed to at least September.

Teachers are also saying that school districts need more time and funding to prepare classrooms to minimize the risk of spreading the virus. Each school district’s plan for how they will manage reopening was due this past Friday.

SCIENCE magazine has released recommendations they gleaned from researching what happened when schools reopened in other nations around the globe. The most effective practices for children and adults in schools are still wearing face masks and thorough and frequent handwashing.

COVID-19 is primarily spread through extremely tiny water droplets in the air. The virus hitches a ride on these droplets when an infected person sneezes, coughs, or talks. Giving the old saying, “Say it, don’t spray it,” a much more ominous meaning.

A face mask first of all protects others by keeping the virus-laden droplets of an infected person from jettisoning out into the air. Since an infected person can spread the virus for up to two weeks before they have symptoms, everyone should wear a mask to protect others.

And experience is showing that a well-fitting mask with at least two layers of fabric can stop a lot of infected droplets from reaching the wearer’s nose and mouth, protecting them too.

Both the MSAAP and the Mississippi State Medical Association (MSMA) are advocating for a statewide mask mandate to reduce COVID-19 spread and protect school reopenings.

SCIENCE found that structuring the school day so that small cohort groups of children stay together in one classroom, with absolutely no big-group assembling, is best by far.

This is actually the CDC’s medium risk recommendation; the least risk is distance learning which should be available to any child, according to the MSAAP and MSMA’s recommendations.

Some schools that have used the cohort model successfully have teachers change classrooms; some use in-class distance learning to bring subject specialists into the classroom.

Lunch is best in the classroom. If that cannot be managed, spacing lunch times out, wiping down tables between seatings, serving lunch in pre-prepared disposable containers, and sitting children on one side of a lunch table only can minimize disease spread.

Medical scientists advise that being outside is beneficial because the UV light in sunshine kills the COVID-19 virus, and fresh air is restorative. Because all children need to get up and move throughout the day, outdoor classrooms and learning walks can help children of any age better manage being contained in one classroom all day. Teens in particular need to be outside and active, especially given that who knows when school contact sports will be safe again.

In their survey of school practices that work, SCIENCE found that children younger than 11 or 12 are less likely to get and to spread COVID-19. As children get into their teens, they become more likely to get sick with COVID-19 and more likely to spread it.

The current secondary school model of changing classrooms on the hour through crowded halls will not be safe for anyone; it will maximize the chance of COVID spread. This is where teachers and administrators must be especially innovative, guided by what medical science knows about how this virus spreads.

COVID-19 is a terribly dangerous virus and the U.S. is not close to being on top of it.

To open safely, schools must implement best practices that have been proved to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in schools around the world.

This column by Lynn Evans is an education activist, former Jackson Public Schools board member, and former legislative consultant for AAP.