by Ryan Chou and Rajesh Balkrishnan
In the weeks and months preceding Virginia school re-openings, parents, teachers, and students speculated about what distance learning would be like. Following the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, many districts had hastily shut down schools to protect students and teachers from the virus and had implemented distance learning plans, resulting in technological mishaps, decreased communication, and an end to many student opportunities. Thus, many students and parents were hesitant to accept continued distance learning in the fall.
Thankfully, virtual school re-openings in Virginia more closely resembled in-person schooling than the chaotic version from a few months ago. Extracurriculars made an attempt to resume virtually, and sports began conditioning.
Despite this, the majority of students and parents ultimately cited declining mental health and difficulty learning, especially for younger students, as the reason to push for an in-person reopening. As a result, many school systems in distance learning mode have drawn, and are now implementing, plans to open in-person in small groups or as a whole, within the next month or two.
However, it’s clear that we cannot open our schools up.
In-person K-12 school re-openings this fall have been disastrous. Most that opened have been forced to quickly order quarantines and close after COVID-19 cases grew among students and staff. North Paulding High School in Georgia, which gained national attention after videos of crowded hallways made their way onto social media, announced within days that it was switching to online instruction after at least nine coronavirus cases were reported. This has happened in school systems around the country.
These outbreaks are occurring for several reasons.
Firstly, while most know that the elderly and immunocompromised are at risk, few understand that children are also at risk of being infected and becoming severely ill. EndCoronavirus addresses this well:
Recent studies have found that children may have comparable risks of being infected as adults and may even carry higher levels of virus in their respiratory tracts. In the last two weeks of July, COVID-19 cases in children have risen 40%, with over 97,000 children testing positive. Another is that children rarely become severely ill. However, 3% of confirmed cases in children required hospitalization, with a third of these needing intensive care.
As of November 1, the CDC estimated that almost 635,000 children in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus, with states in the South and West accounting for more than seven of 10 infections. Even then, this worrying estimate is only a baseline, as it did not include complete data from Texas and parts of New York State outside of New York City.
Additional outbreaks that have occurred in schools around the U.S. and the world prove this. Israel, England, Indiana, Georgia, and Texas are just some examples. In recent days, many more outbreaks have occurred.
On top of this, there have been many false claims that the metrics are showing improvement. The reality is that the majority of states remain in a condition of high risk for community transmission. Schools are superspreader events waiting to happen.
But that doesn’t mean students are helpless against this change in lifestyle. With support from friends and family, students can undoubtedly come to appreciate this new normal. Here are some ways students have adapted to this new norm:
Staying Physically Active. Individual outdoor exercise (with masks and appropriate social distancing) or group virtual exercise are great breaks from distance learning.
Staying Mentally Active. Mental activity is just as important as physical. Students can take an online self-guided course, look for virtual work or volunteer opportunities, or pick up a hobby. Especially now, many organizations responding to the pandemic could use volunteer support!
Reducing Social Media and Streaming Time. These activities are undoubtedly entertaining, but they create a sense of unproductive repetition that contributes to pandemic fatigue and distracts from virtual schooling.
Socializing Virtually. Setting up virtual social calls, or social-distanced, small, mask-wearing, gatherings with people who have recently tested negative for the virus can encourage interaction.
Scheduling. Taking planned activities and compiling them into a calendar can not only provide a sense of organization but can also be a great way to show accomplishment during the pandemic.
Administrators, parents, teachers, and students alike would like nothing more than to open up schools and return to normal. However, Virginia is not in a situation where we can safely do so.
As of Monday, November 2, Virginia has had 183,418 total cases of COVID-19, including confirmed lab tests and clinical diagnoses, according to the Virginia Department of Health, with over 1,000 new cases a day. This does not reflect a situation in which we can facilitate the reopening of schools without putting school staff and students at risk. We need to lower our daily new case rates and start a dialogue around those metrics in the community before we can start thinking of physical school re-openings.
As we work towards that by taking appropriate precautions (face coverings, physical distancing, self-isolation spaces), be patient. Students and schools can create a temporary new normal.
But for now, remember that we are all in the same boat. Stay safe, and healthy, and here’s hoping everyone in Virginia has an excellent school year.
Rajesh Balkrishnan is a professor of public health sciences at the University of Virginia. He can be reached at rb9ap@virginia.edu. Ryan Chou is the communication lead at EndCoronavirus and a senior at McLean High School. He can be reached at naturalworld321@gmail.com. Both are a part of citizen action groups Virus Free Virginia and EndCoronavirus.org.
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