Even as the nation鈥檚 health officials and school administrators continued to grapple with the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, the Biden administration kept its focus on reopening schools for in-person learning Monday, stressing the need for appropriate safety precautions.
The U.S. Department of Education released for schools, parents, and communities that highlight best practices about how to keep students safe and reopen classrooms that were shuttered to contain the pandemic. The 鈥淩eturn to School Roadmap鈥� emphasizes the importance of mask- wearing in schools and vaccinations for all eligible students, teachers, and staff as key strategies for reducing virus transmission and keeping communities safe.
鈥淪chools should continue to take multiple measures this fall to ensure the health and safety of teachers, staff, and students, especially those who are not fully vaccinated. Schools and districts should monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, screening testing, and the occurrence of outbreaks to guide decisions on layered prevention strategies,鈥� the document said.
The 鈥淩oadmap鈥� the Education Department released Monday largely link back to previously released resources and best practices from schools around the country. They include a and and communities on keeping students safe, promoting emotional well-being, and supporting academic recovery.
The White House also released Monday a about efforts President Biden has made to help schools reopen, including a surge of about $122 billion in K-12 aid provided through the American Rescue Plan and efforts to prioritize educators as recipients of early vaccine doses.
鈥淭he Administration has taken decisive action to support the safe reopening of schools for in-person instruction and to address the pandemic鈥檚 disparate impact on students of color and other underserved students,鈥� the White House said.
The messaging moves showed continued emphasis on reopening schools, even as the pandemic enters a new phase. About 60 percent of U.S. counties had a high level of community transmission during the last week in July, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That鈥檚 a 16 percentage point increase from the week prior. In previous guidance, the CDC recommended that schools in high-transmission areas cancel some extracurricular activities, like football and wrestling, prioritizing in-person school instead.
Public health officials attribute the growth in cases to low vaccination rates in some areas combined with the emergence of the Delta variant, a strain of COVID-19 that is much more contagious than earlier waves of the virus.
New research confirms that vaccinated people are much less likely to contract the new variant and much less likely to face serious illness if they do. But even vaccinated people can spread the Delta variant if they contract it, the CDC said. That led the agency to revise its guidance to schools last week, recommending universal mask-wearing by all students and adults.
