With students headed back to the classroom, many parents are eager to start in-person learning again while remaining nervous their children may catch COVID-19. In addition, a new poll has found that 2 out of 3 parents support mask mandates.
The poll, conducted by USA Today and Ipsos from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 among roughly 2,000 adults in the U.S., found that optimism surrounding distance learning has declined after over a year of students bringing the classroom home.
Almost 1,000 schools have already stopped in-person learning, pushing students to return to online as COVID-19 outbreaks forced thousands of kids into quarantine. In addition, a recent study found that states with schools already open are seeing a spike in child COVID-19 cases.
The poll found that half of the parents thought their districts were adequately prepared for distance learning methods, compared to 65% last May. Concerns for Black parents have also gotten worse as 37% say their children were well-prepped for distance learning.
Among parents with schoolchildren, 7 out of 10 support returning to full-time instruction in classrooms. Along with the support to return to in-person learning, the poll found that roughly 2 in 3 Americans support mask mandates for teachers and students. However, only 43% think that parents should decide if their students wear masks.
A growing number of American adults also think that teachers and school staff should be vaccinated against COVID-19, with 65% of all participants and 56% of parents saying they support mandates.
Some physicians, like Dr. Michael Osterholm, have come out in support of vaccine mandates in schools, going as far as to say that any students or school employee who doesn't receive the shot should be excluded from school.
"I think they [vaccines] should be mandated, and teachers, staff, students [who are eligible, but not vaccinated] should be excluded from school," Osterholm said.
Osterholm also said that he thinks there will be a spike in cases within the coming weeks as school returns nationwide.
"I think we're going to see widespread transmission throughout the country in the next six to eight weeks as schools come back into play," he said.
As of now, there is no government-issued mandate for grade school students or teachers to receive the vaccine. However, some school districts and universities have implemented their own mandates.
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