BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - "We've got six weeks before school starts. We've got a little time here to see how things unfold," said Michael Cornell, Superintendent of the Erie Niagara School Superintendents Association during an appearance on WBEN Tuesday morning.
As the Delta variant spreads in the U.S., so do vaccine mandates.
The state of California is mandating the vaccines or face weekly testing for 246 thousand state employees and 2 million healthcare workers. New York City is requiring city employees - including teachers - to get vaccinated by mid-September - or face weekly testing and a mask mandate.
Cornell notes it's difficult to know what the state's perspective is going to be.
"They have a lot of input from the CDC, AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and what Mayor Bill de Blasio did in NYC. It will be interesting to see how the state weighs that along with the data that they are getting
now from the kids that are learning in mask free environments without physical distancing requirements" (Summer school).
There are ten thousand kids in Western New York this Summer who are learning in schools without masks and without physical distancing. "Thus far, we haven't had any significant challenges with infections in our school settings. We hope that continues and we are taking every mitigation strategy seriously. We're encouraged by where we are," said Cornell.
Cornell is encouraging the state to think about contingency guidance, rather than emergency guidance. He said schools could participate in regional mitigation strategies if a region were hit a certain level of infection per 100,000.
"It's really important that whatever guidance the state gives, they start with, why. Whatever guidance they give, has to be purpose-driven. People don't always react to being told what to do. They respond much better with the purpose of whatever mitigation strategy the state wants us to implement."
Cornell adds, "we've been doing this for 18 months. At this point all we can do is plan for everything. It's very difficult to predict what the state is going to do. It's difficult to predict what Covid is going to do. Given that, all you can do is be ready for everything and be able to adapt."
One area where there is consensus from all health agencies, Cornell said, is the importance of five-day a week in-school learning. "It's highly unlikely that
we would repeat the mistake of leaving liquor stores open 7 days a week but schools only 2 days a week. I take comfort in that," said Cornell.
