Even as they recommended working to reopen schools in-person, the nation's science academies warned: "It is likely that someone in the school community will contract COVID-19."
But largely missing from the reopening protocols at states and schools around the nation are concrete plans for what administrators are to do when coronavirus infections enter a school.
The prospect of reopening school in the fall is already looking less likely in much of the nation. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have skyrocketed to nearly 3.6 million, and more than half of states have paused or scaled back efforts to reopen their economies.
A growing number of school districts have decided to start the fall semester online. California's districts with high cases or transmission must begin the academic year with distance learning, the state's governor announced Friday. In other states, districts are pushing back their start dates.
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But many still plan to hold in-person classes. They're releasing plans that include implementing social distancing, closing school buildings to visitors and, in some cases, splitting students into groups that attend school on some days and study from home on others.
How a school would handle multiple California coronavirus cases across the building, and how many infected students or teachers would raise alarms, are details often left up to parents to guess. Typical plans include only references to "case-by-case" decisions.
USA TODAY Network reporters reviewed 35 schools' reopening plans. Most plans didn't include specifics on decisions that would lead to closing school buildings and putting learning online for all students.
Instead, most schools echoed some of the basic recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: deep-cleaning the area where an infected person spent time, quarantining the person, and leaving it up to consultation with state or local health officials to make decisions about school closures.
But largely missing from the reopening protocols at states and schools around the nation are concrete plans for what administrators are to do when coronavirus infections enter a school.
The prospect of reopening school in the fall is already looking less likely in much of the nation. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have skyrocketed to nearly 3.6 million, and more than half of states have paused or scaled back efforts to reopen their economies.
A growing number of school districts have decided to start the fall semester online. California's districts with high cases or transmission must begin the academic year with distance learning, the state's governor announced Friday. In other states, districts are pushing back their start dates.
Covid Breaking News
A parent's guide to online school:9 questions to ask to vet your back-to-school choices
But many still plan to hold in-person classes. They're releasing plans that include implementing social distancing, closing school buildings to visitors and, in some cases, splitting students into groups that attend school on some days and study from home on others.
How a school would handle multiple California coronavirus cases across the building, and how many infected students or teachers would raise alarms, are details often left up to parents to guess. Typical plans include only references to "case-by-case" decisions.
USA TODAY Network reporters reviewed 35 schools' reopening plans. Most plans didn't include specifics on decisions that would lead to closing school buildings and putting learning online for all students.
Instead, most schools echoed some of the basic recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: deep-cleaning the area where an infected person spent time, quarantining the person, and leaving it up to consultation with state or local health officials to make decisions about school closures.
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