The surging delta variant of the coronavirus is causing a recalculation of how the medical community is viewing the upcoming school year. The American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending “All students older than 2 years and all school staff should wear face masks at school.”
The exceptions are when medical or developmental conditions prohibit their use.
The recommendation is a sharp brake-tap from recent months, as states reopened and mask requirements dropped. Reasons for the new suggestions include:
--A significant portion of the student population is not eligible for vaccination
--Protection of unvaccinated students from COVID-19 and to reduce transmission
--A lack of a system to monitor vaccine status among students, teachers and staff
--Potential difficulty in monitoring or enforcing mask policies for those who are not vaccinated; in the absence of schools being able to conduct this monitoring, universal masking is the best and most effective strategy to create consistent messages, expectations, enforcement, and compliance without the added burden of needing to monitor vaccination status
--Possibility of low vaccination uptake within the surrounding school community
--Continued concerns for variants that are more easily spread among children, adolescents, and adults.
They are recommendations that cannot be enforced in Texas.
Under an executive order signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on May 18th, 2021, “After June 4, no student, teacher, parent, or other staff member or visitor can be required to wear a mask while on campus.”
There are penalties for any school district that tries to disobey the order, said Rena Honea, president of Alliance AFT, one of the largest teacher unions in Texas. She says they have buttonholed the Governor on a number of occasions, trying to allow each district to decide for itself.
“I’m sure that we will continue on that dialog with him because it is a real question for the safety of everyone that’s going to be in the campuses, especially our elementary schools,” Honea said
Unless things change, school districts and teachers can strongly suggest mask-wearing, but the order does not let them go further.
Still, the AAP is urging school districts to conduct testing and stick with protocols recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.
“Schools must continue to take a multi-pronged, layered approach to protect students, teachers, and staff (ie, vaccination, universal mask use, ventilation, testing, quarantining, and cleaning and disinfecting),” the AAP said in a statement posted on its website. “Combining these layers of protection will make in-person learning safe and possible. Schools should monitor the implementation and effectiveness of these policies.”
The CDC updated its vaccine recommendations last week.
“COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for everyone 12 years and older for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has issued interim recommendations for the use of:
--Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (in persons ages 12–15 years and ages ≥16 years)
--Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (in persons ages ≥18 years)
--Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine (in persons ages ≥18 years)
These clinical considerations provide additional information to healthcare professionals and public health officials on use of COVID-19 vaccines,” the CDC’s web page says.
Health care authorities say they are working on vaccines that can be used for children under age 12, but those vaccines are still in the developmental stage.
“We have to take every precaution to keep everyone safe,” said Honea.
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