New Variants and School Reopenings

(from EdSurge) Whether most U.S. schools will be reopen by late April, as proposed by President Biden and new Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, will depend on how quickly teachers can receive vaccinations and how quickly and widely new, more transmissible and possibly more lethal variants of the novel coronavirus spread. Some experts are cautiously optimistic that cases will drop in the coming months, as teachers and other essential workers receive the vaccine, and as the weather warms, which makes for less efficient spread of the virus, though they caution current mitigation measures will need to remain in place for many months. While the vaccine roll-out in the U.S. has been slow, it is among the fastest in the world, pointed out Asaf Bitton, a physician, public health researcher, and executive director of Ariadne Labs.

Meanwhile, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters Wednesday that vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for continuing safe in-person instruction.

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