'˜We're Not Controlling It in Our Schools': Covid Safety Lapses Abound Across US

Computer science teacher Suzy Lebo saw covid-19 dangers frequently in her Indiana high school: classes with about 30 students sitting less than 18 inches apart. Students crowding teachers in hallways. Students and staff members taking off their masks around others. ‘œI’m concerned,’� said Lebo, who teaches at Avon High School in the Indianapolis suburbs. ‘œWe’re not controlling the virus in our county. We’re not controlling it in our state. And we’re not controlling it in our schools.’� President Joe Biden’s covid response proposes $130 billion to improve school safety, offers federal guidance for making schools safer and improves workplace protections to safeguard teachers and other workers from covid. This comes after many school districts and states holding in-person classes have ignored recommendations from public health officials or written their own questionable safety rules – creating a tinderbox where covid can sicken and kill. A KHN analysis of federal and state Occupational Safety and Health Administration data found more than 780 covid-related complaints covering more than 2,000 public and private K-12 schools. But those pleas for help likely represent only a small portion of the problems, because a federal loophole prevents public school employees from lodging them in 24 states without their own OSHA agencies or federally approved programs for local and state employees. Still, the complaints filed provide a window into the safety lapses: Employees reported sick children coming to school, maskless students and teachers less than 6 feet apart, and administrators minimizing the dangers of the virus and punishing teachers who spoke out. KHN also found that practices contradicting safety experts’ advice are codified into the patchwork of covid rules put out by states and districts. For instance, about half of states don’t require masks for all students – including 11 that have exempted schoolchildren of various ages from mandatory masks, with New Hampshire excluding all K-12 students. Districts can craft stricter rules than their states but often don’t. ‘œThe response to the virus has been politicized,’� said Dr. Chandy John, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at the Indiana University School of Medicine. ‘œThere’s a willingness to ignore data and facts and go with whatever you’re hearing from the internet or from political leaders who don’t have any scientific knowledge.’� But even with Biden’s rollout of new school safety steps, struggles over balancing the need for education with covid safety are sure to continue, since it will be months before the nationwide vaccine rollout reaches all school staff members, and the shots haven’t yet been approved for kids. Meanwhile, the scope of covid in schools remains unknown. Biden’s order calls for tracking it on the federal level, which wasn’t happening. States haven’t collected uniform data either. The Covid Monitor, a project launched by volunteers and public health researchers, has counted more than 505,000 cases in K-12 schools – more than a quarter of them among staffers. Although kids are less likely than adults to become seriously ill, recent research suggests they can spread the virus even if asymptomatic. The American Federation of Teachers estimates covid-19 has killed at least 325 school employees, though it’s unclear whether they caught it at school. Among them was Susanne Michael, 47, a fourth grade teacher at Harrisburg Elementary School in northeastern Arkansas. As a cancer survivor with diabetes, she rarely went anywhere outside her home this past fall, according to her husband, Keith. She told him she worried about catching the coronavirus while teaching, but she ‘œwent and did it because she loved it.’� She tried her best to keep more than 20 students 6 feet apart, he said, but told him it was nearly impossible.