It happens seemingly every school year.
A child gets sick and passes a virus to a classmate or someone on the playground. Soon, the illness spreads to the adults in the child’s life, everyone from teachers to parents and grandparents.
So, what happens when the virus they are spreading is responsible for 586,000 deaths worldwide since January? And unlike the seasonal flu that’s common each year, there’s no vaccine for COVID-19.
The Clark County School District is proposing a return to partial in-school learning Aug. 24 for its 324,000 students. While the infection rate in children remains low, they could become carriers of the virus and pass it on to teachers or school workers, or bring it home to family members who are vulnerable because of age or past illness, or even a seemingly healthy parent.
“Anyone can potentially become infected with coronavirus. It doesn’t discriminate with age,” said Dr. David Di John, an associate professor of pediatrics at the UNLV School of Medicine, whose patients include multiple children who have had the virus.
“Younger people, when they get infected, they tend to be less ill,” he continued. “Anyone can become infected. We can’t eliminate the risk. We can try to minimize it, but (we can) not eliminate it.”
Of the 31,924 positive coronavirus tests in Nevada, 3% are children age 9 and younger, and another 7% are aged 10-19, according to the Nevada Health Response. Most are mild cases that don’t require hospitalization.
Schools across Nevada went to remote learning in mid-March when the state shut down to limit the virus spread. Extracurricular activities — sports, scouting, church youth groups — were also put on pause. While some functions have picked up in a socially distanced fashion in the past month, there’s still little local data as to how the virus spreads with children.
What is known? Total cases of the virus have gradually increased in the past month statewide with a current test positivity rate of 8%.
“The virus lives here. It is here to stay,” said Di John, an infectious disease specialist. “We need to find ways to deal with it intelligently.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for the school year to begin as scheduled with in-person learning because “a lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of supportive services often results in social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation.”
The recommendation comes with a caveat: Making sure that social distancing standards to keep desks 6 feet apart, requirements of facial covering for students and teachers, and sanitizing tabletops are followed.
Of course, keeping grade-school children social-distanced is easier said than done. The district’s plan initially calls for two days of in-person learning and three days online each week, in part to allow schools to be disinfected on days when students are not present.
“Wearing a mask is so important. It’s one of the tools we have that has shown to be effective against the virus,” said Di John, who is in favor of children returning to schools, if done intelligently.
Take what happened in Israel, where schools reopened in May with limitations after two months of closures when health officials felt they had the virus under control with just 300 deaths. Two weeks later, they lifted all limitations and everything appeared to be back to normal.
But two weeks later, more than 300 students and staff tested positive for the virus, igniting a potential second wave of infections in the country. One school alone had 130 cases.
“Anytime you bring people together there is a risk. There is no way to avoid it,” said Dr. Brian Labus, the UNLV epidemiologist.
It’s a grim reminder that until a vaccine becomes available, everyone is at risk — no matter the precautions. Labus compares it to driving a car, where the vehicle’s air bag and wearing a seat belt are designed to limit injury. But traffic accidents and fatalities still happen.
The district’s reopening proposal, which is awaiting approval from the Nevada Department of Education, limits classroom sizes to 18 pupils, staggers school days, and dictates the thorough cleaning of the campus, among many protocols. But that doesn’t mean students and educators are immune from catching and spreading COVID-19, Labus said.
“Nothing we are doing is going to eliminate the risk of transmission,” he said. “Everything we do is a risk. There is nothing in life that is perfectly safe. What we are trying to do is reduce the risk as much as possible.”
The plan doesn’t call for testing teachers for COVID-19 before they return to the class. It also doesn’t require the temperature to be taken of individuals before entering a campus. A high temperature is one of the signs of the virus.
That isn’t sitting well with the Clark County Educators Association, said John Vellardita, the union’s executive director. He said the gradual increase in the percentage of positive virus tests in Clark County begs another question: Why return next month? Teachers are scheduled to go back Aug. 10.
“There is an escalation of the virus in the state of Nevada and Clark County,” Vellardita said. “That begs the questions of revisiting the reopening date. That date should be reviewed for a possible change.”
What hasn’t been decided is the process once someone — student, teacher or staff — tests positive. Would all of the children in that classroom be required to quarantine for two weeks? And what if there’s an outbreak similar to the situation in Israel at one school?
In the case of a positive coronavirus test, the school would get an electrostatic spray cleaning, according to the district’s plan.
The Teachers Health Trust is proposing an $8.2 million plan to test the 40,000 district employees before they return as part of a multistep process of testing, tracing, isolating and managing the spread of the virus, said Michael Skolnik, the CEO of the trust. The plan would span five months and test employees multiple times in collaboration with University Medical Center, Skolnik said.
He said funding would come from the federal CARES Act.
“The plan is very complete. We are ready to move forward,” Skolnik said.
Vellardita says that once schools are reopened, teachers need to be given the proper personal protective equipment, “and not just masks. Whatever is needed.” The union won’t sign off on the district’s reopening strategy until a detailed safety plan is included.
Three teachers sharing a classroom in Arizona each contracted coronavirus, and one died two weeks later, on June 26, CNN reports. The teachers reportedly wore masks and gloves, socially distanced and used hand sanitizer, but still got sick.
The virus isn’t slowing down. Florida set a U.S. record last weekend with a daily increase of more than 15,000 cases, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered a rollback of the reopening of the state’s economy, and many states have reported surges in cases.
Yet, President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos are insisting all schools returns to a full-time schedule. Trump has even threatened to withhold federal funding if his demands aren’t met — something that could further cripple Nevada, which is considering slashing $156 million in K-12 spending to reduce a $1.2 billion budget deficit.
Don’t expect CCSD to cave into Trump’s demands.
“When you look at the impact and the safety and welfare of our children, we are listening to the health experts,” Superintendent Jesus Jara said. “I can’t speak for the secretary and I can’t speak for the president. I am going to follow the lead of the health experts, and this is the best way possible.”
The best way possible could be the two-day-a-week model. It could be online only. That’s the mystery of managing the reopening of the world while the virus is still present.
“There isn’t a best plan of attack,” Labus said. “There isn’t as much information as we wish we had about the disease. That is the challenge right now.”