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Teachers around the country are continuing to resist efforts by states and individual districts to reopen schools for in-person instruction as new research indicates kids rarely spread COVID-19 to each other or adults.
In Gwinnett County, Georgia, teachers and their families staged a “socially distant” protest for the second day on Thursday by lining up their vehicles and blaring their horns at the school district administration office in Suwanee, CNN reported.
The teachers are upset that the district plans to phase in classroom instruction as the school year is set to begin in just a few weeks, though “hundreds” of district employees have tested positive for the virus, the network added.
We were in Gwinnett County, GA today at the district office of the largest school system in the state, for a teacher protest. Warning: there is some LOUD HONKING. pic.twitter.com/pvlfcbVoyA
— Natasha Chen (@NatashaChenCNN) August 6, 2020
“There have been 28 confirmed and 67 suspected cases of COVID-19 among employees of Gwinnett County Public Schools as of Wednesday, according to Sloan Roach, the executive director of communication and media relations,” CNN noted further.
The school year begins August 12 with virtual learning. However, Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said that in-person instruction will be phased in beginning August 26.
The district also defended its position.
“In making our plans, we have tried to balance the information about COVID cases in Gwinnett with the concerns of parents who fear for their children’s educational progress, as well as their own employment, and need for us to bring their children back to school,” said Sloan Roach, the district’s executive director of communication and media relations.
Roach noted that while teachers may have concerns, the district is doing what it believes is best overall for kids’ health, safety, and educational well-being.
“Our district is having to make difficult decisions that we know will not be popular with everyone,” she said, comparing teachers to other “essential workers.”
At least we’ll never have to sit through another TEACHERS ARE HEROES lecture ever again.
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 6, 2020
“Just as other essential workers serve the community, our school district staff members serve the children and families of this community,” Roach adds.
CNN noted that while teachers are balking at in-class instruction, many parents are not.
“The virus is not going away, we know it’s not going away. We have to enforce some sort of normal,” parent Joanne Bayouk told the network. “And though our normal is going to change, our kids need to go back.”
CNN added that in Columbia County, Georgia, four students from three high schools have tested positive for the virus.
However, a newly published meta-analysis by the American Academy of Pediatrics of several coronavirus studies worldwide found that students rarely spread COVID-19 to teachers or others.
Published in the organization’s August journal “Pediatrics,” the AAP examined school reopening data from Australia to France and concluded that American schools can and should reopen as well.
Teachers gathered for socially distant protesting from their cars for a second day, against the district phasing in face-to-face instruction later this month pic.twitter.com/a2ZINHyuIn
— Natasha Chen (@NatashaChenCNN) August 6, 2020
“Almost 6 months into the pandemic, accumulating evidence and collective experience argue that children, particularly school-aged children, are far less important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than adults,” the AAP noted.
“Therefore, serious consideration should be paid toward strategies that allow schools to remain open, even during periods of COVID-19 spread,” the analysis added.
Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, who has been documenting and reporting little-covered information about the progression — and subsequent slow-down — of coronavirus cases and deaths, noted on his Twitter feed this week there are a growing number of teachers and physicians who agree reopening schools is the best plan.
Here are some of the original comments from the doctor, btw: pic.twitter.com/7LOhZCFtVK
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) August 6, 2020
Wow. @IAGovernor (who has a PREGNANT daughter who is a teacher) politely but firmly blows up a panic porn reporter blathering about Schoolpocalypse:
"We have to think about the whole child."
Four minutes and well worth watching.https://t.co/SJuCFJT3xA
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) August 6, 2020
He also noted that Italian government officials ignored their own immunology experts earlier this year, ordering a full lockdown of the entire country two days after the experts said a partial lockdown of the hardest-hit regions was all that was necessary.
Wish I’d had this available for Part 2: an Italian newspaper reports the Italian government IGNORED its own scientists when it imposed a national lockdown on March 9; two days before, they’d recommended a partial quarantine of the hardest-hit provinces. Panic is the real virus. pic.twitter.com/wtm8wj6kwM
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) August 6, 2020
Berenson also included data from some regions of the country that experienced sharp increases in coronavirus positive tests but not corresponding spikes in hospitalizations or deaths.
Arizona: hospitalizations for Covid are now just over half the July 13 peak, positive tests have fallen similarly, and it looks like deaths are rolling too. A very hopeful sign for Texas and Florida, which just reported its lowest Tuesday-Saturday death figure in three weeks. pic.twitter.com/tl0LHrsAA6
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) August 6, 2020
Miami – the epicenter of the Florida epidemic – is clearly rolling now too, with hospitalizations down ~20% since the July peak. Of note, Miami-Dade County has 2.7 million people; last month it averaged three #Covid deaths a day in people under 60. pic.twitter.com/eT6exmizuX
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) August 6, 2020
Just FYI, first chart is ICU beds, down over 30% from peak July 18, second is general beds, down over 40% from peak July 15. Almost exactly like Arizona. Team Apocalypse can’t catch a break.
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) August 7, 2020
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