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New York City schools will no longer require a five-day quarantine for those who test positive for COVID, according to issued to principals and posted online Monday.

Educators across the five boroughs have been eagerly awaiting an update for more than two weeks, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended its pandemic-era guidance that urged individuals who tested positive for COVID to isolate for at least five days.

Since March 1, the federal agency has instructed people to remain at home and they have not had a fever for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication. The CDC still advises people to take over the following five days, including wearing a mask, social distancing, and testing.

Education Department policy directs those experiencing COVID symptoms to isolate themselves from others and get tested. Like the CDC, the city now recommends students and staff stay home until symptoms have improved and they鈥檙e fever free for 24 hours without the aid of medication. The department also urges students and staff to wear a mask and take other precautions for five days after returning to school.

For those who test positive for the virus but exhibit no symptoms, 鈥渢here is no need to stay home, but precautions outlined in the updated guidelines should be taken upon return to school,鈥� according to the email sent to principals.

The new policy for schools also matches the city鈥檚 .

The elimination of a minimum isolation period is the latest in a series of changes that have loosened COVID-related restrictions in schools 鈥� as federal and city health authorities have moved to treat the virus more like the flu and other common respiratory infections. Last spring, Mayor Eric Adams announced that proof of vaccination against the virus would for city employees and school visitors. And schools previously sunsetted masking requirements, vaccine mandates for student athletes and prom attendees, as well as daily health screenings and in-school COVID testing for students and staff.

The city鈥檚 public schools will continue to provide COVID tests in school upon request, according to the email sent to principals. (As of this month, the federal government has ended its free COVID test distribution program, and are no longer distributing free tests.)

Schools staff will still be able to take up to 10 days off for COVID-related absences without dipping into their sick days this year, according to the United Federation of Teachers, which emailed members about the updated guidance Monday evening.

COVID cases have fallen steadily since mid-January, after the city saw an uptick in cases over the holidays. As of March 14, there were about , according to New York City鈥檚 daily average of the last seven days from the Health Department. That was down slightly from the week before and had fallen from roughly 87 cases per 100,000 people in September.

Though the city鈥檚 Health Department tracks cases by age group, the spread of the virus is no longer publicly reported by school. In September, the city鈥檚 Education Department tracking the daily number of cases among students and staffers across schools.

The city鈥檚 Education and Health departments did not respond to multiple requests for the city鈥檚 COVID guidance for schools in recent weeks.

Michael Elsen-Rooney contributed.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

This article originally appeared in the  

On March 1, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials announced new guidelines for people with COVID-19, recommending those with the virus treat it the same as the flu and RSV 鈥� staying home while they have symptoms and fever.

The guidelines eliminate earlier recommendations for five days of isolation and testing for COVID, marking a new approach for the federal health agency. They said the new guidelines are intended to make it easier for people to know how to protect others and take into account that people may not know which virus they have.

鈥淲e are in a different situation with the level of protection we have against the virus and the prevention steps we know work to protect ourselves and others,鈥� said CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen in announcing the changes at a press conference.

People with COVID can return to work or regular activities if their symptoms are mild and improving and it鈥檚 been at least 24 hours since they鈥檝e had a fever, without fever-reducing medicines 鈥� the same standard used for the flu and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV.

After resuming normal activities, the CDC recommends people consider additional strategies for the next five days to prevent the spread of the virus, including wearing a well-fitted mask and keeping a distance from others. Those who are at high risk of severe illness, such as the elderly or those with weakened immune systems, should seek out treatment right away to help reduce their chances of getting seriously sick.

The changes reflect the diminishing threat of the coronavirus and come on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the first two confirmed COVID cases in Georgia.

Four years into the pandemic, most people have had COVID at least once. At least 98% of the U.S. population has some immunity, whether from infection, vaccination or both.

The changes in recommendations should be easier to understand and follow, CDC officials said.

Many people have not been following the five-day isolation guidance anyway, health officials say. A recent survey by the CDC found less than half the people questioned said they would use an at-home COVID test if they had COVID symptoms.

CDC officials also emphasized we have more tools to treat COVID, including the antiviral Paxlovid.

But immunity can wane as new variants emerge. CDC officials repeatedly stressed the importance of getting updated COVID vaccines to help protect against severe illness. CDC officials said about 95% of people who were hospitalized during this winter season with COVID did not get one of the updated vaccines released last fall.

Nationally, 41% of people 65 and older took the updated vaccine since it was released last year, the highest vaccination rate of any age group. That rate is much lower in Georgia, where about 22% of people 65 and older took the shot, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Cohen said even with high levels of the coronavirus spreading this winter season, COVID hospital admissions have decreased by about 75% and deaths by more than 90% compared to January 2022.

While the number of COVID illnesses are down dramatically from earlier points in the pandemic, they remain higher than influenza and can be more serious. COVID continues to hospitalize and kill more people than the flu and can trigger lasting complications such as long COVID which doctors and scientists are still trying to understand.

The new isolation guidelines will not apply to nursing homes and hospitals with more vulnerable populations, CDC officials said.

鈥淟et鈥檚 be clear,鈥� said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis director of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory. 鈥淐OVID-19 is not the flu and it is different from other respiratory illnesses, and leads to more lasting effects.鈥�

But COVID does have key things in common with these other viruses, which lead to a streamlined guidance for these respiratory illnesses. Daskalakis said the symptoms are similar, they are spread in similar ways, and share many of the same prevention strategies.

Dr. Jayne Morgan, executive director of health and community education for Piedmont Healthcare, said COVID can be managed differently now that there鈥檚 more immunity to the virus that causes it. 鈥淭o be clear, COVID-19 remains a public health concern, and a new variant can change the trajectory at any moment, however currently, that threat is no longer critical,鈥� Morgan said in an e-mail.

Jodie Guest, a professor at Emory University鈥檚 Rollins School of Public Health and vice chair of the Department of Epidemiology, said one positive outcome from the new guidelines might be that more people will test for COVID if a positive test no longer requires a five-day isolation period.

The CDC originally advised 10 days of isolation for COVID cases, but in late 2021 cut it to five days for those with no symptoms or only mild illnesses. That change in guidelines led many companies to pull back on paying employees to stay home with COVID, including Walmart and Amazon.

Over more recent years, many employers and employees have not been adhering to the isolation guidelines. Questions about the impact remain, as well as questions about whether workers with no paid sick days will go to work while still sick.

Guest expressed concern about this.

鈥淲e need to remember that our workforce is negatively impacted when people who are contagious feel they have to come to work,鈥� Guest said in an e-mail.

Students won’t have to quarantine or take a COVID test to attend school if they were exposed to someone who tested positive, according to  from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday. The guidance is in line with a version leaked last week.

Students also won’t have to stay in groups, called cohorting, which was intended to limit transmission and make contact tracing easier. And schools are no longer urged to conduct screening tests of students participating in “high-risk” activities, such as contact sports, band or theater. 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the new recommendations allow families and educators to “head back to school this year with a sense of joy and optimism.” 

But Leah Perkinson, director of research translation and evaluation at Brown University School of Public Health, said it’s important not to forget lessons learned over the past two years. 

“A lot of schools [and] districts might be relieved to turn the screening testing corner if it means that teachers, leaders and staff focus more on the social, emotional and learning needs of students,” she said. “But we’d be remiss if we didn’t take time to look in the rearview mirror and document what worked [and] what didn’t … when we need to stand up school-based testing again.”

Quarantine rules last school year may have prevented COVID from spreading, but they also contributed to high absenteeism, with some students sent home multiple times because they were a 鈥渃lose contact鈥� of someone who tested positive.

Students missed an average of 15 days between September and January alone due to quarantines, according to But now, after more than two years of disrupted learning, new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could keep more students in the classroom.

The agency is expected to update its recommendations to say that those who are unvaccinated can continue to attend school if they wear a mask and test negative five days later, according to multiple news outlets, including and . recommends that those not up-to-date on vaccinations stay home for five days after coming in contact with someone who tested positive. 

鈥淪ince the beginning of the pandemic, [messaging] has mostly focused on encouraging students to stay home as a strategy for keeping healthy,鈥� said Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a research and advocacy organization. 鈥淲e think a more balanced approach would be to emphasize that showing up to school matters for health, well-being and learning.鈥�

The guidance would reflect the direction that many states and districts were already moving toward, noted John Bailey, a strategic adviser at the Walton Family Foundation who has monitored COVID policy since the beginning of the pandemic. In July, for example, said students exposed to the disease don鈥檛 need to quarantine if they lack symptoms. Many districts aren鈥檛 requiring masks this fall, and recently backed off last year鈥檚 strict protocols involving daily health declarations and weekly testing. By next week, of the nation鈥檚 students will be back in school, according to Burbio, a data company.

鈥淭he CDC should have released updated guidance in June or July to give schools time to adjust their plans and preparations,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淩eleasing it this late creates needless frustration and confusion, which just further erodes confidence in both the CDC and administration.鈥� 

Critics have pointed to multiple lapses at the agency since the beginning of the pandemic, such as allowing teachers unions to heavily influence guidance for schools and fumbling updates to mask recommendations for early-childhood programs.

Some experts think it would have been difficult to start the new school year enforcing the same protocols school districts implemented before 鈥� like masking and frequent testing. That鈥檚 despite a highly contagious BA.5 variant, being in the high transmission range, and among young children and .

鈥淭he problem is that these comprehensive efforts are meeting two powerful forces 鈥� exhaustion and apathy from the American people, and the clash of politics and public health in ways I鈥檝e never seen in my lifetime,鈥� said John Bridgeland, founder and CEO of COVID Collaborative, a team of experts that has provided recommendations throughout the pandemic. 

Quarantine policies also contributed to a lack of academic progress last year even at a time when students were back in school, researchers with NWEA, a nonprofit assessment organization, said when they released their latest results in July.

Parents complained about inconsistent rules. Some also violated them. In California鈥檚 , last year, parents knowingly sent a child who had tested positive to school. And three with zip ties threatened a citizen鈥檚 arrest on a principal last fall when the administrator told one of them his child had been identified as a close contact and would need to quarantine. They were charged with criminal trespassing. 

鈥淚 think that school will be much more 鈥榥ormal鈥� than it was even last year,鈥� said Annette Anderson, an education professor at Johns Hopkins University and deputy director of the Center for Safe and Healthy Schools. 

鈥楽eem appropriate鈥�

District leaders certainly hope so.

鈥淎ttendance rates had never been lower, and certainly impacted student learning,鈥� said Tony Sanders, superintendent of School District U-46, outside Chicago. 鈥淭he significant drops in attendance always correlated with spikes in COVID cases, mostly following periods when students were on break.鈥�

The week after winter break, when the Omicron variant was prevalent, attendance fell to 72% in the district.

As the new school year begins, some districts are dropping all COVID protocols, according to .

Some parents, however, still want reassurances that schools will take precautions to limit exposure. Alexis Rochlin, a Los Angeles parent, said her preschooler was quarantined multiple times last year, 鈥渨hich was a huge pain.鈥�  But she鈥檚 comfortable with the county鈥檚 . Close contacts are required to mask for 10 days after exposure and test three-to-five days later. Those who test positive can stop quarantining on the sixth day as long as their symptoms improve and they test negative.

鈥淭hese policies seem appropriate to keep kids safe and limit learning loss. Anything less would be concerning to me,鈥� said Rochlin, who also has a son entering second grade. 鈥淏ut we are in a post-COVID world, I guess, where everyone wants to live with it by ignoring it.鈥�

Disclosures: The Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to 蜜桃影视. Andy Rotherham is a member of the Virginia Board of Education and sits on 蜜桃影视鈥檚 board of directors. He played no role in the reporting or editing of this story.

It鈥檚 long been an underlying logic of pandemic safety for schools: In order to contain COVID transmission, identify which students and staff have been exposed to the virus and make sure they quarantine or test negative before coming back to class.

That wisdom appears to be changing, however, in the wake of the Omicron surge, which experts say may have now peaked in many U.S. communities, but continues to strain K-12 operations.

Three New England states 鈥� , and 鈥� have recently announced new guidance recommending a pivot away from individualized contact tracing in schools and toward strategies like symptom monitoring and home test kits for those worried that they may be sick.

鈥淲e are recommending that school health personnel increase their focus on identifying symptomatic individuals, rather than monitoring in-school close contacts,鈥� Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley, Massachusetts wrote in a Jan. 18 . 

鈥淚ndividuals identified as close contacts in school are very unlikely to contract or spread COVID-19,鈥� he continued. 鈥淭herefore, extensive contact tracing and associated Test and Stay procedures are not adding significant value as a mitigation strategy despite the demand they place on the time of school health staff and school staff at large.鈥� 

New York announced in mid-January that it was , which was for the general population rather than K-12 specific. And individual school systems including ; ; and have also opted to ease away from the practice, often ramping up other mitigation strategies instead.

Contact tracing puts a 鈥溾�嬧�媙ow-impossible workload鈥� on school districts, Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Brent Stephens wrote in a Jan. 15 . The school system is now offering , regardless of exposure, and is investing in highly protective KN95 masks for students and staff.

A pre-Omicron study of classroom transmission in California and Illinois published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that roughly just out of every 100 school-based close contacts of positive cases, on average, ultimately got sick themselves 鈥� casting into doubt, for , the added value of the labor intensive practice of cross-checking rosters to track in-school exposure.

Then came the Omicron variant, spurring record-breaking infection levels. In Yonkers, New York, a . In Providence, Rhode Island, some classrooms had than present in class. Last week, across the country, more than caught the virus, a pandemic record and over four times more than at any point during previous surges.

The ultra-rapid spread made it next to impossible for some districts to accurately track exposures, school leaders said.

鈥淥micron is spreading more quickly than contacts can be traced. Contact tracing for this variant is ineffective,鈥� wrote Lou Goscinski, superintendent of Maine鈥檚 York School District, in a Jan. 13 explaining that the practice would be discontinued.

Indeed, the timeline from exposure to transmission is than with Delta or other strains of the virus, scientists say. For districts that are practicing universal masking, that means 鈥渃ontact tracing doesn鈥檛 do much as a preventative measure,鈥� said Danny Benjamin, co-chair of the at Duke University, which examines COVID-19 spread in schools.

鈥淏y the time you figure out who was in the room, were they really close, were they vaccinated, the list goes on and on, it鈥檚 now a couple of days after exposure and that child is now infectious,鈥� Benjamin told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淪o [contact tracing] is not as helpful to contain the disease as we were seeing with the ancestral variant or the Delta variant.鈥�

From a labor standpoint, too, Omicron made contact tracing less tenable, said Linda Mendonca, president of the National Association of School Nurses. Tracking exposure was already a heavy lift for school personnel, usually requiring nurses to scour seating charts from mealtimes, bus rides and classrooms every time a student would test positive. In many cases, that work continued into the weekends because schools needed to keep sick or potentially exposed students from showing up on Monday, she said. At some schools, nurses had to let the typical yearly screening of students鈥� eyesight and hearing go by the wayside because the contact tracing programs took up so much of their time.

Then after the winter holidays, skyrocketing caseloads pushed many schools鈥� case tracking programs past the breaking point.

鈥淚 heard many school nurses just saying, 鈥楾his is not manageable. We can’t keep doing this at this 鈥� capacity,鈥� Mendonca told 蜜桃影视.

Regardless, the longtime school nurse chose not to comment on whether now is the right time to ditch contact tracing altogether.

鈥淲e鈥檙e waiting to see what the CDC comes out with,鈥� she said, emphasizing the continued importance of mitigation strategies like masking, ventilation and vaccination.

The last update to CDC guidance on contact tracing in schools came in mid-October, according to the agency鈥檚 , which says the practice remains an effective strategy for reducing COVID spread in schools when used alongside other layered mitigation strategies.

But Benjamin is willing to take a stronger stance. Even amid Omicron, COVID transmission in schools remains low when all students and staff are wearing masks, he said. His team has a forthcoming paper that answers a key question: How many close contacts in fully masked schools develop infections after being exposed to the highly infectious variant?

鈥淚f everyone鈥檚 wearing masks, it鈥檚 still under 5 percent, but it鈥檚 no longer in the 1 percent range,鈥� he said, referring to the secondary transmission rate in school under the earlier strains.

Those numbers combined with Omicron鈥檚 speed of transmission and the logistical headaches of exposure tracking lead him to believe contact tracing may no longer be a necessary or useful measure for schools that are universally masking. But for schools that aren鈥檛 mandating face coverings, he takes a different tune.

鈥淚n the unmasked districts, you probably want to [continue contact tracing],鈥� said the Duke University doctor, explaining that the practice can help determine whether specific individuals who were exposed should mask going forward so as not to infect others and test, tactics known as mask to stay and test to stay.

鈥淚t interrupts the chain between a bunch of us infecting each other,鈥� said Benjamin.

As cases begin to subside in some, but not all, parts of the country, many schools are now scrapping mask rules. Virginia Gov. Glen Younkin鈥檚 to let parents opt out of school face-covering requirements took effect on Monday (although it is now facing ). And two Long Island districts to end their requirement that students wear face coverings in school when the New York state masking mandate expires on Feb. 1.

A New York state judge, meanwhile, ruled on Monday night that the and can鈥檛 be enforced, but that decision was quickly stayed by an appellate court judge Tuesday afternoon. For now, until the appellate court decides whether to uphold or overturn the lower court’s ruling. The back-and-forth created at least temporary confusion for school leaders Tuesday and fueled school mask opponents, with the hashtag #UNMASKOURCHILDREN trending on Twitter.

Meanwhile, students themselves are spooked. In early January, young people in New York City staged a walkout to protest what participants said were unsafe conditions in schools. Thousands of students joined the demonstration, calling for more COVID safety mitigation measures and a temporary pivot to remote learning.

In the following days, students in ; ; and have also staged walkouts making similar demands.

Samantha Farrow, an organizer of the New York City walkout and a high school junior in the city, said that her school did not notify her when her desk-mate in French class left halfway through the school day after testing positive. The high schooler only found out about the exposure, she said, because that student texted her directly.

鈥淣o one tells students anything and it feels like we鈥檙e getting left out of the loop,鈥� Farrow told 蜜桃影视 in early January. 鈥淚t’s not fair to us because we’re the ones being impacted by this.鈥�

Mere weeks ago 鈥� though it may feel like a lifetime 鈥� K-12 operations seemed to be moving toward something of a pandemic equilibrium. Studies had confirmed that COVID than the surrounding community, children as young as 5 had gained access to vaccinations and, according to the White House, of schools were open for in-person learning.

Then came the Omicron variant, sweeping over the country like a tsunami and plunging nearly all aspects of everyday life back into deep uncertainty.

In the weeks since, daily reported COVID cases in the U.S. have exploded, . More children are being with the virus than ever before. And positivity rates among school communities have reached levels that were previously unheard of: in Chicago, in Yonkers, in Detroit.

While most districts reopened as planned after the holidays, nearly closed their buildings for all or part of the first week of January, according to the data service Burbio. 

Even where classrooms did reopen, many parents chose not to return their children. In New York City, for example, nearly a third of students did not show up on the first day back from break and on Friday when parents were also dealing with a morning snowfall, attendance plummeted to

The unprecedented case numbers usher in a 鈥渘ew math,鈥� in the words of Harvard University infectious disease specialist Jacob Lemieux, for understanding and navigating life as the variant circulates.

鈥淚t鈥檚 likely that Omicron COVID is going to be so ubiquitous that every child will be exposed repeatedly at school and elsewhere,鈥� Rebecca Wurtz, professor of health policy at the University of Minnesota, told 蜜桃影视.

For many parents, that may be an unnerving reality.

The questions swirl: Do vaccines work against Omicron? How much protection does my child get from a cloth mask? What about an N95? What should I do if my kid tests positive?

The risk calculus can quickly become overwhelming.

Amid the widespread anxiety, and as pandemic fatigue continues to creep, 蜜桃影视 spoke directly to health experts for clarity on how to understand the virus during this latest stage 鈥� with many of their takeaways offering reassurance.

Experts also weighed in on hot topics like what masks to wear in school, how to handle positive cases and the recent, controversial move from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cut its recommended quarantine time for infected individuals from 10 to five days.

Here鈥檚 what they had to say:

1 Are schools safe for children right now?

Yes, under the right circumstances, doctors agreed.

鈥淚 think for school districts that have a high vaccination rate, I think for school districts that have mandated indoor masking and I think for school districts that have appropriate ventilation and distancing 鈥� they’re going to be OK,鈥� Philip Chan, medical director for the Rhode Island Department of Health, told 蜜桃影视.

Numerous academic studies underscore that when schools employ multiple mitigation strategies together 鈥� like masks, distancing and ventilation 鈥� transmission of the virus happens less frequently in classrooms than in the surrounding community.

鈥淭eachers and students are far more likely to be infected at social gatherings, restaurants, etc. than at school,鈥� George Washington University Professor of Public Health Leana Wen wrote on .

Even as thousands of schools across the country announced closures in the early days of the new year, President Biden implored K-12 leaders to continue in-person learning.

鈥淭he president couldn’t be clearer: Schools in this country should remain open,鈥� said White House advisor Jeff Zients during a Jan. 5 press briefing.

But school leaders are running into a roadblock: not enough staff due to high shares of K-12 workers testing positive for the virus. Where COVID spread is especially rampant, it may be the right call to take a brief pause on in-person learning, said Kristina Deeter, a physician at Renown Children鈥檚 Hospital in Reno, Nevada. Teachers, she added, should not be coming into school if they鈥檙e sick.

In Chan鈥檚 Rhode Island, the majority of schools are open, though a handful had to close due to positive cases. The father of a 10-year old and a 14-year old, Chan said he felt confident sending his children back to their public school classrooms after the winter break. Both are fully vaccinated and wear surgical masks inside the building.

鈥淚’m reassured that they’re protected, even against the Omicron variant,鈥� he said.

2 Do vaccines work against Omicron?

The unanimous response from health professionals came in the form of a three-letter word: Y-E-S!

(Doctors, often technical and somewhat restrained in their email responses, answered this question using more exclamation than any other.)

Omicron has caused more breakthrough infections than other strains, they acknowledged, but emphasized that the immunizations have overwhelmingly succeeded at their key functions.

鈥淭he vaccines are still doing what they are intended to do: preventing severe infection and death,鈥� said Peyton Thompson, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. 

鈥淒eaths are declining despite the rapid rise in cases, thanks to vaccination,鈥� she added.

And while it remains possible to catch the virus if you have received two, or even three shots, each dose of the vaccine provides an added layer of protection. Such cases tend to be mild, explained Wurtz.

鈥淏reakthrough infections are almost always asymptomatic or trivial. Occasionally flu-like. So, yes, we can count on our vaccinations to keep us from getting really sick,鈥� the Minnesota professor wrote in an email to 蜜桃影视.

Children under the age of 5 are not yet eligible for shots, and are not expected to gain access until this spring at the earliest, Pfizer on Wednesday.

In the meantime, 鈥渢he best way to protect kids under 5 is to vaccinate all of the people around them 鈥� their older siblings, other family members, day care providers [and] teachers,鈥� said Wurtz.

3 Boosters for kids 鈥� yay or nay?

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday and, on Tuesday, the CDC recommended an extra shot for as young as 5, five months after the initial two-dose series.

Deeter recommends that those who are now eligible receive their third doses.

鈥淢any of our vaccines are actually three-shot series,鈥� she told 蜜桃影视, citing the Hepatitis B immunizations, for example. 

鈥淢y message to teenagers is this: you got your first shot, you got your second shot, you鈥檝e got to finish the series.鈥�

4 Why are so many children being hospitalized with COVID?

The answer, doctors say, boils down to two factors: vaccination rates and community spread.

Nationwide, pediatric COVID and are at a pandemic high, the latter surging 66 percent in the last full week of December to an average of 378 daily admissions.

But at the same time, vaccination rates among young people remain much lower than adults. Less than a quarter of children ages 5 to 11 have received a single dose of the COVID vaccine, and just over half of adolescents ages 12 to 17 have been fully immunized, according to data published by the . By comparison, of U.S. adults have received both shots.

The overwhelming majority of hospitalized pediatric COVID patients are unvaccinated, . 鈥淭his is tragic, as the vaccine could have kept these children out of the hospital,鈥� said UNC-Chapel Hill鈥檚 Thompson. 

And regardless of vaccination status, the ballooning pediatric hospitalization levels do not mean that the Omicron strain is more severe to kids than previous variants.

鈥溾�嬧�婭n large part, this is a numbers game,鈥� said Kanecia Zimmerman, a study lead on Duke University鈥檚 , which guides school leaders on how to navigate COVID policy. 

Even though surging caseloads nationwide have meant that more children have tested positive for the virus in recent weeks, 鈥渢he proportion of hospitalized children remains small among the number of infected children,鈥� the pediatrician explained.

5 What kind of masks are 鈥済ood enough?鈥�

The extreme transmissibility of the Omicron variant has spurred , some in red states, to reinstate mandatory masking rules 鈥� and has also reignited debates over which face coverings are most effective at protecting against infection.

There鈥檚 no doubt that the N95 and KN95 models do a better job of filtering out viral particles from the air, doctors agreed. They have a layer of polypropylene, a type of plastic, that can . Compared to a cloth mask, they can extend the time it takes to transmit an infectious dose of COVID by over seven times. If both the infected and exposed individuals are wearing N95s or KN95s, compared to both wearing cloth masks, transmission can take up to 50 times longer.

That said, Chan admits that the N95 and KN95 masks can be uncomfortable, and some may find it harder to breathe while wearing them.

鈥淲ith my kids, I send them to school with surgical masks,鈥� he said, noting that he himself will slip on an N95 before walking into crammed indoor spaces like the grocery store. 

But whether you opt for a simple surgical mask, or something beefier, here鈥檚 his bottom line: 鈥淭he cloth masks just aren鈥檛 quite as good as other types of masks,鈥� said the Rhode Island doctor.

6 How should my child鈥檚 school be testing students and staff for the virus?

In December, the CDC endorsed 鈥渢est-to-stay鈥� guidance that allows students and teachers who may have been exposed to the virus to take rapid tests and return to the classroom if their results are negative.

It鈥檚 a helpful approach, Duke鈥檚 Zimmerman believes. Through the Delta variant wave, 98 percent of people who were exposed to the virus were never ultimately infected, she said 鈥� meaning that without test-to-stay, the vast majority of quarantines are forced to miss class without ever having gotten sick.

But testing can be costly and a heavy logistical lift. Furthermore, COVID tests are in nationwide. To cut down on the total number of noses to swab, schools in her state of North Carolina target resources to lunchtime exposures, where children drop their masks, she explained, eliminating the possibility of quarantine among less-likely cases where both students are masked.

Also important, according to Zimmerman: testing location. If students need to travel to an off-site area to receive their tests, it can exclude youth without access to transportation from participating in the program, forcing them to miss class for quarantine and creating further setbacks for the students already most affected by the pandemic. 

鈥淥ffering testing at individual schools (not centralized locations) is critical for [the] success of this program because it is more likely to provide equal opportunity to all eligible staff and students within the district,鈥� said the Duke pediatrician.

7 How should I navigate quarantine if my child or I test positive?

In late December the CDC reduced its quarantine guidelines for those who test positive for the virus from 10 days to five, a move that divided many in the medical community.

The takeaway, according to the doctors we spoke to? 鈥淵es, returning to school or work five days after a known infection when someone is no longer symptomatic is fine,鈥� said Wurtz.

Emphasis, they noted, is on no longer being symptomatic. Many individuals will continue having symptoms well beyond the five-day quarantine recommendation. If that鈥檚 the case for you or your child, you should continue to isolate until symptoms subside, or test results come back negative, as you may continue to be infectious, doctors said.

鈥淐ome back symptom-free,鈥� said Deeter.

8 How long will the Omicron surge last?

A bit of good news here. 

Though epidemiologists don鈥檛 know for sure how long the Omicron surge will last in the U.S., cases have in South Africa, where the variant was first identified in late November. Some believe the peak in many American communities will arrive of January.

鈥淚n most countries that saw Omicron, it went up sharply, which is happening now in the U.S., and it came down sharply,鈥� said Chan. 鈥淭here should be a steep decrease in the near future for us.鈥�

With a of over 1 million daily COVID cases reported on Monday and more than this week temporarily closed or pivoted to remote instruction, educators and families are being thrust back into the existential struggle over keeping schools open.

The second half of the 2021-22 school year began with a growing list of shutdowns, including major urban districts such as Atlanta, Milwaukee and Cleveland. In Philadelphia, leaders on Monday night announced that on Tuesday, though stopped short of shutting down the entire district.

Other top school systems such as New York City and Chicago have moved forward with plans to reopen in person, but have hit snags along the way: In New York, nearly a third of students did not show up for classes on Monday, and in Chicago, a late night vote Tuesday held by the teachers union demanding to teach remotely Wednesday.

The reactions from weary parents ranged widely. 鈥淚t鈥檚 chaos,鈥� National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues The New York Times, pointing out that when schools nix plans for in-person learning at the final hour, it leaves families scrambling for child care options. 

On the other hand, with the Omicron variant rampant post-holiday, Cleveland parent Tiffany Rossman was glad schools stayed closed to start the new year. She and her teenage daughter both tested positive for the virus in December, and she fell quite ill despite her vaccination, she told 蜜桃影视. The mother worried that opening classrooms after the holidays could lead to infected kids spreading the virus.

Rossman acknowledged, however, that 鈥渋f I had small children and needed to go into the office then I don’t know what I would do.鈥�

While a handful of school systems had planned before the winter break to be remote for short stints in January or to close for testing, the vast majority of announcements were made last minute as record-high COVID case rates came into view. Yonkers Public Schools started classes this week remotely after of students who took rapid tests over the holidays were COVID positive. Detroit announced that school would be closed Monday through Wednesday after rapid testing revealed a positivity rate. Districts are open for in-person learning in and , but officials there had to shut down eight and 12 school buildings, respectively, for lack of staff.

鈥淎 lot of it was last second, and it continues to be,鈥� Dennis Roche, co-founder of the K-12 data tracker Burbio, told 蜜桃影视.

The , and school systems are exceptions to the trend, he noted, as each district had planned before the holidays to take a handful of days in the new year for students to receive rapid tests. As it currently stands, classrooms are set to open in all three districts in the coming days. Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation鈥檚 second-largest, does not re-open until Jan. 10, but has said it intends to test all students before it does.

Over the weekend, Roche watched Burbio鈥檚 jump from 1,591 to 2,181, and again on Tuesday to 3,556. Shutdowns were concentrated in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, where current COVID rates are among the .

Amid the chaos, the Biden administration has maintained that schools should keep their doors open wherever possible and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended booster eligibility to two separate groups of children this week.

鈥淚 believe schools should remain open,鈥� the president said during a on the current Omicron surge. And in fact, despite some conspicuous closures, the vast majority of the nation鈥檚 roughly 98,000 public schools have returned from the holiday break in person. 

Hedging slightly in a conversation on Fox News Sunday, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona added: 鈥淲e recognize there may be some bumps in the road, especially this upcoming week when superintendents, who are working really hard across the country, are getting calls saying that some of their schools may have 5 to 10 percent of their staff not available.鈥�

鈥淔or anyone who has gone remote, we want to similarly keep on engaging with them, and make sure that they can come back as quickly as they can,鈥� a senior White House official told 蜜桃影视 Tuesday.

Federal policymakers underscore that districts can draw on American Rescue Plan dollars as well as multiple other devoted to helping K-12 facilities stave off COVID through purchasing tests and other mitigation measures.

To help schools stay open, the CDC in December endorsed 鈥渢est-to-stay鈥� practices allowing students and staff who may have been exposed to the virus to remain in the classroom if they test negative for COVID. 

The federal agency also took the controversial step on Dec. 27 of reducing its recommended quarantine timeline for infected individuals, including teachers and students, from 10 to five days. The move divided many health experts, leaving numerous observers to wonder whether the CDC was after .

But several school officials appreciated the chance for teachers and students to return more quickly to the buildings.

鈥淎nything that will help the schools to stay open is welcome,鈥� Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, told 蜜桃影视.

Nationwide, pediatric COVID and are at a pandemic high. But top infectious disease experts say that the vast majority of serious infections are among unvaccinated youth. Under a quarter of children ages 5 to 11 have received a single dose of the COVID vaccine, and just over half of adolescents ages 12 to 17 have been fully immunized, according to data published by the .

鈥嬧�嬧�淢ost of our pediatric population is still undervaccinated,鈥� said Kristina Deeter, a physician at Renown Children鈥檚 Hospital in Reno, Nevada. Even though the Omicron variant has generated more breakthrough infections, the pediatrician assured that the vaccines continue to be successful at their key function: preventing severe illness and death.

鈥淲e鈥檙e still so much safer having received the vaccine,鈥� she told 蜜桃影视.

For youth who have received both shots and are ready for a booster, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday and, on Tuesday, the CDC recommended an extra shot for , five months after the initial two-dose series.

Amid the widespread concern and flurry of new pandemic policies, a bit of good news regarding the giant spike in cases also surfaced on Sunday. In South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first identified, the surge in infections driven by the hyper-transmissible strain has , giving health experts hope that the U.S may follow a similar course in the weeks to come.

Still, other mutations of the virus may arise further down the road, Deeter pointed out. The only long-term path to move beyond the pandemic, she said, is getting immunized.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 a light at the end of the tunnel, it鈥檚 going to come through vaccination.鈥�

鈥淲e keep cohorts together during lunch, so if you’re in a mask-required classroom, you’re eating as a group 鈥� socially distanced,鈥� said Superintendent Mark Hansen. 鈥淲e’re keeping those bubbles pretty tight.鈥�

Until now, elementary schoolers couldn鈥檛 get a COVID-19 vaccine. No longer. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Tuesday endorsed the unanimous vote of a CDC vaccine advisory panel recommending Pfizer-BioNTech鈥檚 pediatric coronavirus vaccine for use in children ages 5 to 11. That means as many as 28 million children can begin receiving shots this week. 

But just as parents split on masks, they鈥檙e also divided on vaccines: Nearly half say they may pass on vaccinating their children for now, mostly because they aren鈥檛 especially worried their children will get seriously sick from coronavirus 鈥� even as doctors warn the virus will become endemic and virtually unavoidable in coming years, much like the annual flu.

That could set up a tense confrontation in coming months between schools and parents as public health officials push to make the shots part of mandatory school vaccine regimens. And as with the divide over masking, social distancing, and other practices, it could also change how schools operate, as pro-vaccine parents insist on keeping their kids apart from unvaccinated classmates.

Even requiring the vaccine for enrollment might not settle the dispute: An Oct. 23 poll found that 46 percent of parents simply wouldn鈥檛 send their child to school if COVID vaccinations are required.

In southern California鈥檚 ABC Unified School District near Los Angeles, Superintendent Mary Sieu said many cautious families are already hesitant to send their children back to school 鈥� about 700 have remained in remote instruction programs this fall. Overall, she said, the district has lost more than 1,400 students over the past two years, forcing her to consider closing one of her schools next year.

鈥淚 just feel that a lot of people are afraid of coming back to school,鈥� she said.

While suggests that children remain at a lower risk than most adults of contracting serious illness due to the virus, outbreaks happen. In , conducted in early October, nearly one in three parents said their child鈥檚 schooling had been disrupted by COVID-19.

鈥淟ook at your ZIP code and see what your vaccination rates are, and your infection rates are,鈥� said Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. 鈥淭hat’s going to tell you the quality of education that those kids are getting in those schools. If a child isn’t in school consistently, they’re not going to be getting the quality education that they need. That’s the bottom line.鈥�

Domenech, a former superintendent in Fairfax County, Va., said he fears that the vaccination gap taking shape between districts could replicate the existing achievement gap. Recent research in has found, for instance, that communities with high poverty rates had COVID-19 infection rates in 2020 that were two to three times as high as those in wealthier areas.

鈥淲hat we’ve seen is that the areas that are suffering the most in terms of lack of a vaccine and high infection rates are exactly [high-poverty] areas, where families of color are afraid to get their kids vaccinated and are afraid to send their kids to school,鈥� Domenech said. 

鈥楻ipe for a contentious situation鈥�

Though they typically get a raft of vaccinations just to attend school, children鈥檚 COVID-19 vaccination rates have already shown evidence of parental hesitation. In September, the CDC said just of children ages 12 to 17 had gotten at least one shot and 32 percent had completed the two-shot dose by July 31. That鈥檚 more than two months after the FDA granted it emergency use authorization 鈥� and more than seven months after it first approved the vaccine for adolescents aged 16 to 17. 

In Marshalltown Community School District, northeast of Des Moines, Iowa, as many as 90 percent of school employees are vaccinated, said Superintendent Theron Schutte. But just 40 to 50 percent of eligible students have been vaccinated so far. For the youngest eligible students, ages 12 to 13, the vaccination rate is closer to 40 percent. 鈥淢y guess is that a lesser percentage of the younger kids’ parents will probably get them vaccinated,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’m hoping that more of them do.鈥�

Dr. William Raszka, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont鈥檚 Larner College of Medicine, said the risk-benefit analysis for vaccination 鈥渋s just so overwhelming. I have trouble understanding why someone wouldn’t get vaccinated at this point in time.鈥�

So far, he said, life-threatening illnesses associated with the vaccines 鈥渁re awfully rare.鈥� One of the most common reactions to Pfizer鈥檚 vaccine 鈥� the only one approved for emergency use in children 鈥� is 鈥渁 sore arm,鈥� he said.

From the beginning of the pandemic, said Schutte, 鈥淲e operated on the premise that we know COVID’s going to come into the school. There’s no way we can know whether it is or isn’t coming in 鈥� but what we can control is its opportunity to spread.鈥�

He couldn鈥檛 immediately predict how his school board would respond to the recent FDA approval of childhood COVID vaccines. 鈥淭hey’re a reflection of our community. So if our community is split on whether we should or shouldn’t require vaccinations, I think it’s always going to be ripe for a contentious situation.鈥�

Mandates are years off

Once COVID vaccines earn full FDA approval, states could move quickly to mandate them for school attendance 鈥� California Gov. Gavin Newsom has he plans to add it to the list of vaccinations required to attend school in-person for middle and high school grades, as with vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, and the like. 鈥淲e want our kids back in school without episodic closures,鈥� on Oct. 27.

Speaking after he received a COVID booster shot in Oakland, Newsom said children already receive 10 other vaccinations in order to attend school. 鈥淭he politics around this are disturbing to me. Lives are quite literally at risk.鈥�

Leaders in four of the state鈥檚 鈥� Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Oakland 鈥� have already said students must get a first shot of the vaccine or attend school virtually from home in January.

But former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb in October predicted that any COVID vaccination mandate for school attendance would be 鈥渁 couple of years away, perhaps a little longer,鈥� for children ages 12 to 17, and even further for children ages 5 to 11. Appearing on CBS鈥檚 , Gottlieb said CDC has typically taken several years to add most childhood vaccines to their immunization schedule. 

That will leave the decision for now to parents like Debra Garrett, a mother of four children, all of them under 12, in Troy, N.Y. 

Garrett said she鈥檚 vaccinated, but added, 鈥淚’m not really sure about my kids getting it done right now.鈥� Parents need more information about how the vaccines affect children, she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all brand new. We don’t know how anybody’s going to respond to it.鈥�

That sensitivity is heightened, Garrett said, because she grew up Black in a country with a history of mistreating Black research subjects in the name of medicine. 鈥淚 just don’t want my child to be looked at as 鈥榯he tester,鈥欌�� she said.

Garrett鈥檚 four children all attend , part of the Uncommon Schools network of charter schools in six Northeastern cities. She said the school has given parents of students 12 and up the choice to vaccinate. 

But if Uncommon makes vaccination mandatory, 鈥渢hat’s when it’s going to be tricky 鈥� and it’s going to get tough for the school, and for parents. I just feel like there is going to be some kind of push and pull on both ends. I can’t say whether one is right or wrong, but what I do know for certain is that we have to educate people in order for them to be able to fully get it and fully feel like, 鈥楾hey’re not just pricking my kid.鈥欌��

Many parents will likely find themselves agreeing with Garrett. In a June survey , as the more-contagious Delta variant began to take hold in the U.S., the parents of just 51 percent of students under age 18 said they鈥檇 鈥減robably鈥� or 鈥渄efinitely鈥� have their child vaccinated, with vaccine hesitancy much higher for parents of younger children. They鈥檙e far less likely to say they鈥檒l vaccinate their kids compared to parents of high schoolers 鈥� 46 percent vs. 59 percent. 

Political party affiliation also plays a role: Republican-identifying parents of 35 percent of children say they鈥檒l vaccinate their kids, while that figure is much higher for Democrats at 66 percent.

A September Gallup poll suggests that of parents of children under 12 would get them an available vaccine. Parents鈥� own vaccination status strongly predicted their attitude toward their kids: 82 percent of parents who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 said they鈥檇 vaccinate their child, while just 1 percent who don鈥檛 plan to get vaccinated themselves planned to vaccinate their kids. 

Dr. Benjamin Lee, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and associate professor at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital, said the findings are cause for concern.

鈥�It’s discouraging to me to see how many parents have already sort of expressed that they don’t want to get their children vaccinated as soon as vaccines are available,鈥� he said.

While it鈥檚 natural for parents to hold out a high threshold for vaccine safety, he said, no vaccine carries zero risk. 鈥淎nd that includes all of the vaccines that we use routinely鈥� for both children and adults. 鈥淚n all scenarios, the data are so overwhelming that risks from vaccination are far lower than the risks of natural infection.鈥�

Schutte, the Iowa superintendent, said it鈥檚 true that children are less likely than adults to get seriously ill due to COVID, but he urged parents to see the bigger picture: Even if kids don鈥檛 get sick, they could take the virus home. 鈥淲e have a lot of multi-generation (families) living under the same roof in our community,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o it’s not only the parents, but the grandparents, and maybe in some cases, the great-grandparents.鈥� 

The longer it takes to get most people vaccinated, he said, 鈥渢he longer the situation is going to stretch out.鈥�

In reality, said Lee, the Vermont pediatrician, SARS-CoV-2 鈥渋s going to be with us from now on. Any chance to completely eradicate this virus is long gone. And this will become an endemic virus,鈥� like the annual flu, sticking around for years. Because it鈥檚 so contagious, he said, 鈥渨hat we should recognize is that all of us are going to get this virus. And the question is: Under what conditions or terms do we want to catch it?鈥�

So far, the only statistically significant side effect of the vaccine is a mild case of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, in adolescent males. But it鈥檚 enough to prompt physicians in a few countries to give young people of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, offering at least partial protection from the virus without this side effect. 

鈥淲e should acknowledge that that is a known risk of vaccination,鈥� Lee said. 鈥淗owever, when you look at the risk of myocarditis from vaccine versus the risk of myocarditis from COVID-19, the risks are far higher of catching myocarditis if you catch COVID-19 than from the vaccine itself.鈥� 

Also, he noted, 鈥渁lmost without exception鈥� the myocarditis associated with the vaccine is 鈥渁 very, very mild illness that completely resolves.鈥� COVID-19, by contrast, carries a higher risk of severe outcomes. 

Lee also warned against taking to heart the many unsupported claims about the vaccines鈥� quick development and emergency approval, claims that might turn parents, like Garrett, off to vaccination. 鈥淲hen all is said and done, these will end up being the most heavily scrutinized vaccines in terms of safety perhaps ever, compared to any vaccine that we’ve ever used.鈥�

And then came the Delta variant.

Pediatric coronavirus cases have now surged above 250,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, according to . Hospitalizations of children stricken by the highly transmissible strain are reaching and some of students across the country last week were quarantining away from schools that had just barely begun. With a swiftness that surprised even health experts, the virus has across some 278 districts in 35 states, according to the website Burbio, a data service that tracks school calendars.

As for the adults in schools, at least have died of the virus since mid-August and shut down all its schools earlier this month after two teachers perished in the same week.

The Delta drumbeat of distress is one of the main reasons that President Joe Biden came out Thursday with a new plan of attack, including mandatory vaccinations for some 300,000 school staff members working for federal programs, such as Head Start or schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education, and grants for districts confronting loss of funding for implementing mask mandates.

It will take some time to tell if Biden鈥檚 new strategy will be successful in beating back this latest surge. Right now, many parents and school officials are in a state of anxiety about how to keep their K-12 communities safe and perhaps questioning whether they miscalculated the strength of the COVID-19 enemy.

Complicating the matter further, decisions to implement basic virus mitigation measures in school have in some cases exploded into or even .

Amid the uncertainty and high tensions, and with , 蜜桃影视 spoke directly to health experts for clarity on how to understand the virus in this critical stage and tips on how to safely navigate the back-to-school season.

Here鈥檚 what they had to say:

1 We鈥檝e seen a surge in pediatric coronavirus cases. Should we abandon the prior wisdom that kids rarely catch COVID, and when they do, it鈥檚 not too serious?

Not exactly.

鈥淸The Delta variant] is more infectious, but it鈥檚 not a whole new game,鈥� explained Benjamin Linas, professor of medicine at Boston University.

The variant鈥檚 high transmissibility has pushed up case counts, including among children, he told 蜜桃影视. But serious illness among young people remains 鈥渧anishingly rare,鈥� he said 鈥� citing a case fatality rate of .00003 for those under 20.

鈥淭his underlying reality that kids are at far less risk of severe COVID-19 than adults remains true, even with Delta.鈥�

Young people do represent a larger share of infections nationwide now than they did at the outset of the pandemic. But that鈥檚 likely because far fewer minors than adults are vaccinated, and many remain ineligible for shots, said Kristina Deeter, professor of pediatric medicine at University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.

In most cases, 鈥淸kids] are not as sick as the adults,鈥� she agreed.

Still, Rebecca Wurtz, professor of health policy at the University of Minnesota, cautions that the risk of infection remains high, particularly for the unvaccinated. The idea that young people couldn鈥檛 catch or spread COVID was always silly, she told 蜜桃影视, and the Delta variant means that transmission is now easier than ever before.

鈥淒elta will find you if you are not thoughtfully masking and social distancing,鈥� she said.

2 Does the Delta variant make kids sicker than previous strains?

There is no conclusive evidence that it does, according to the experts.

鈥淭he jury鈥檚 still out,鈥� said Deeter.

Studies from Canada and Scotland have found that than those infected with previous mutations of the virus.

And while those papers don鈥檛 examine virulence specifically among young people, Wurtz believes it could still be 鈥渞easonable to extrapolate that to kids.鈥�

Evidence from the U.S., however, seems to contradict the idea that Delta causes more severe infections among youth. Even as pediatric COVID cases have surged, the proportion of children and adolescents hospitalized with severe disease has , points out Amruta Padhye, pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Missouri.

The hospitalization rate among unvaccinated adolescents was , recent CDC data reveal.

3 After the Pfizer vaccine鈥檚 full approval from the FDA, parents may now theoretically seek 鈥渙ff-label鈥� vaccines for children under 12. Should they do so?

In short, no.

Although the FDA鈥檚 full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for those 16 and up means that doctors now have the power to prescribe the shot 鈥溾�� to any individual regardless of age, it would be irresponsible to do so, said Deeter.

The biggest unknown, she explained, is dosage. She prescribes drugs off label every day as a pediatrician, but explained that the COVID vaccine is different because it鈥檚 still so new.

鈥淚 don’t feel safe even deciding on what dose I might want to prescribe for a child. I have no idea what’s going to work,鈥� she said, explaining that too much vaccine could elevate risks such as myocarditis, already more prevalent in young vaccine recipients than adults, and too little vaccine might not provide adequate protection against the coronavirus.

鈥淭here’s a reason that we have the approval process, even in the middle of a crisis,鈥� added Linas. 鈥淚 don’t recommend going out to get your child vaccinated before the vaccine has actually been approved or emergency authorized for kids.鈥�

Youngsters aged 5 to 11 are expected to become eligible for coronavirus shots , experts say. The process has stretched out over months in part due to federal health regulators efforts to bolster confidence in the shots by in clinical trials.

Once shots are approved for that age group, they will be the most effective way to keep children healthy, said Linas.

鈥淲ith the vaccine, you鈥檙e very well protected from the bad outcomes.鈥�

4 Should schools implement vaccine mandates for staff?

Immunization requirements for school staff have multiplied since the FDA issued full approval for the Pfizer vaccine. 鈥�, , and multiple other states have enacted rules requiring educators to receive the COVID shot or be regularly tested for the virus.

In his Thursday address, which unveiled new vaccination rules covering two-thirds of all U.S. workers, President Biden to help move the needle on teacher immunization from its reported 90 percent level up to 100 percent.

鈥淰accination requirements in schools are nothing new,鈥� said the president.

Expecting teachers to be immunized against COVID represents a sound public health policy, says Linas.

鈥淚t’s reasonable for school districts 鈥� to say to their educators and staff鈥� 鈥榃e have an expectation that if you鈥檙e going to come into our buildings where we have our unvaccinated children, we expect you to be vaccinated. And if you won’t do that, then I’m sorry, you can’t teach.鈥欌��

That strategy also minimizes learning disruptions, pointed out Janet Englund, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

鈥淲hen a teacher gets sick, he or she is unable to perform his or her job,鈥� she told 蜜桃影视.

5 What about vaccine mandates for students?

Very few school districts have extended vaccine mandates to students, as 12- to 15-year-olds remain eligible for shots only on an emergency authorization basis, and those under 12 are still ineligible.

On Thursday, however, Los Angeles Unified School District, which serves 600,000 students, became the first major U.S. school district to require that eligible students attending school in person be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Students 12 and older in the nation鈥檚 second-largest school system will have to receive their second dose of the shot by Dec. 19, officials announced.

Culver City, California and also instituted similar requirements for students in late August. Experts told 蜜桃影视 that they expect the vaccination rules to face legal challenges.

Although Englund said she is a believer in many student vaccine mandates 鈥� they helped control diseases such as measles and polio, she pointed out 鈥� requiring a vaccine that is approved only on an emergency use authorization may be premature.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not quite time,鈥� she said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, however, expressed his while speaking on CNN in late August, and the University of Minnesota鈥檚 Wurtz told 蜜桃影视 that she is 鈥渁bsolutely in favor of mandatory vaccinations for students,鈥� due to the high safety and efficacy of COVID shots.

6 How effective are masks and other safety mitigation measures at slowing the spread of COVID in school?

Experts agree that safety measures to slow the spread of COVID are more effective when implemented in tandem with multiple others than on their own.

鈥淸Masking] has to be a part of a layered protection strategy,鈥� UCLA professor of pediatrics Ishminder Kaur told 蜜桃影视.

That means that classrooms should employ all strategies available to them, she said: universal masking, ventilation, distancing, outdoor activities and rigorous testing to keep infected students out of the classroom.

Doing so can result in schools effectively containing the virus and keeping case rates below those of surrounding communities, academic studies show.

Although quarantining students exposed to the virus can disrupt academics, experts said it is a necessary step to contain transmission. They pointed out that with widespread access to testing, a negative result after five days may allow students to return to the classroom more quickly. On Thursday, Biden announced that the White House will move to make 280 million rapid and at-home tests available using the Defense Production Act and lower the cost of over-the-counter tests from Walmart, Kroger and Amazon.

Some districts鈥� quarantine protocols are more stringent than those recommended by the CDC, according to a recent survey of 100 districts from the University of Washington鈥檚 Center for Reinventing Public Education.

Some observers have recently made the case that the , but Kaur points out that a recent study from Bangladesh with a randomized design 鈥� considered the 鈥済old standard鈥� in causal research 鈥� finds that , though it cautions that cloth masks may be less effective.

And while masking controversy has turned many school board meetings ugly, including in Broward County, Florida where the board chair said 鈥�all hell broke loose鈥� when they required face coverings in defiance of Gov. Ron DeSantis鈥檚 order, kids don鈥檛 actually seem to mind wearing masks, said Kaur.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not fidgeting, they鈥檙e not touching it,鈥� she said of the youngsters who come into her clinic. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the new normal for them.鈥�

Deeter, who works in a sedation clinic and has to ask kids to remove their masks, has observed the same.

鈥淭hey get so upset when I try to take it off of them. It’s their buddy,鈥� she said.

7 Outside of school, what鈥檚 the best way to navigate playdates and other social activities?

The number one tip, experts say, is to stay outside as much as possible.

鈥淥utdoor activities were not the ones that were spreading these infections, which remains true even for Delta,鈥� said Kaur, although she recommended avoiding overcrowded locations even outside. For example, coaches calling players into a huddle might ask everyone to momentarily mask up.

Even when the weather gets cold, Wurtz recommends limiting indoor hangouts. She suggests some compromises: building a snowman outside then coming indoors for hot chocolate at the end, perhaps.

8 What鈥檚 the COVID end-game for schools?

Once all students have had the opportunity to receive COVID vaccinations, it could be time to consider rolling back virus mitigation protocols, Linas said, and beginning the conversation about how to live with a virus that within the global population. But that鈥檚 still a long way out.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not there yet,鈥� he said.

But other than some paper assignments, which DeHerrera plans to spread out over the next several days, she wasn鈥檛 given any guidance to keep her daughter on track.

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鈥淭here was zero planning in how students are being educated when they are being sent home,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey haven鈥檛 offered any virtual learning, even though the teacher has no children for a whole week.鈥�

A limiting students to 40 hours of remote instruction for the entire school year 鈥� an effort to strongly nudge everyone back to the classroom 鈥� is one reason. Many districts around the country are finding themselves similarly caught off-guard. Some chalk it up to an overcorrection on the part of states and districts, under pressure from parents and the Biden administration to get students back in school after previous botched attempts. But the Delta variant has spoiled best-laid plans for a full return. Some districts are struggling to shift back to remote learning and others are leaving families hanging over how their children will stay on track.

鈥淚 really can’t believe our schools are as unprepared for remote learning as they seem to be,鈥� said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. 鈥淚t’s been clear for months that remote options would be necessary, at least as long as kids remain unvaccinated. Everyone had their heads in the sand, and kids will pay the price.鈥�

The Center鈥檚 of districts鈥� reopening plans shows that 38 out of 100 provide information on how they鈥檒l continue learning for quarantined students, and of those, 16 say they will provide instruction or support.

鈥楴ow they鈥檝e overcorrected鈥�

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in July that required parents who wanted their children to remain in remote learning to sign up for a program called Independent Study.

That鈥檚 caused confusion across the state over whether teachers can still hold Zoom classes with their quarantined students. The principal at Overland Elementary in Los Angeles was among those unclear on the rules, telling parents that the law prohibited teachers from providing live instruction.

That left Alexis Rochlin鈥檚 first grader Henry 鈥� one of 20 students in a single class quarantined for six days at Overland 鈥� with no more than an hour of schoolwork. And with family gatherings for Labor Day and the Jewish holidays approaching, she鈥檚 expecting more quarantine periods in the future.

The Los Angeles district announced this week in which teachers can use Zoom if an entire class is out or livestream their lessons if just a few students are out.

But that was after Kathy Meza鈥檚 fourth-grader Matthew missed seven days of learning. He was quarantined on the first day of school, Aug. 16, and she said she never received any communication from teachers.

鈥淗e was not getting any homework. He was basically home doing nothing,鈥� said Meza. He was like, 鈥榃hen I go back to school, everything will be new for me.鈥欌��

Even though Los Angeles leaders responded to concerns from parents, others in the state are still waiting for answers. When Bobbie Lambert鈥檚 daughter Krystal, a student in the San Juan Unified School District, near Sacramento, was quarantined, her junior ROTC teacher was the only one to upload any assignments onto Google Classroom.

Jenny Hontz, spokeswoman for advocacy group Speak Up, said she doesn鈥檛 expect the legislature or Newsom, who is facing a Sept. 14 recall, to make any changes regarding remote learning until after the vote.

鈥淭he governor doesn鈥檛 want to do anything that looks like we鈥檙e going back to Zoom school, but that鈥檚 standing in the way of common sense,鈥� she said. The state has been criticized for delaying school reopening in the spring, and 鈥渘ow they鈥檝e overcorrected,鈥� she said. The California Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Echoing complaints about uneven access to remote learning last year, some observers say students in Los Angeles鈥檚 鈥� where case rates are higher and vaccination rates are lower 鈥� will likely miss more school because they鈥檒l have to quarantine more often.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be such an equity issue,鈥� said Hannah Gravette, regional vice president in Los Angeles for Innovate Public Schools. 鈥淭here needs to be some other access to classrooms, even if you鈥檙e just watching what the teacher is doing.鈥�

One complication in many districts, however, is that the laptops students were assigned last year have now been returned to school. That鈥檚 the case in the Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, where nearly 10,000 students are in quarantine. The district last week approved a $2.6 million contract with an online that students can access around the clock.

But there鈥檚 a hitch: In many ways, schools in the Tampa area are facing the same remote learning challenges they did when schools first closed in 2020. Some don鈥檛 have internet access. Others only connect on their phones, and some parents can鈥檛 pick up paper copies of lessons at school because they鈥檝e tested positive for COVID-19. Even if a student has a computer, teachers aren鈥檛 required to teach over Zoom due to an agreement with the local teacher鈥檚 union, said spokeswoman Erin Maloney.

鈥淜ids are required to keep in contact with their teachers,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut we try to be reasonable because every student鈥檚 situation is different.鈥�

In Georgia, several metro Atlanta schools have already transitioned to or added hybrid options because of outbreaks. The Cobb County School District, where have been protesting leaders鈥� decision to keep masks optional, initially turned down requests to reopen registration for its virtual academy.

This month, leaders announced they will reopen the later this fall if families want remote learning during the second semester. But that doesn鈥檛 address the interruption in learning for students in quarantine.

鈥淭here was pretty much nothing offered to us 鈥� no Zoom, no live option at all,鈥� said Meredith Copley, whose children, ages 10 and 12, were quarantined last week.

She had to work, so she told her son how many chapters to read each day and gave him a math worksheet.

A few states, such as and , are now considering policies that would bring back remote options.

Some lawmakers want to limit virtual options to higher-achieving students. The legislature is advancing a bill that would cut off state funding for students learning remotely if they scored low on state exams last year or were chronically absent.

Joseph South, chief learning officer at the International Society for Technology in Education, said it鈥檚 鈥渃ounterproductive鈥� for leaders to eliminate options that technology has already made possible.

It’s a political climate where it’s hard for schools to catch a break. Just three months ago, they were under fire for taking too long to reopen. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said he was 鈥渁ll schools will offer full-time in person learning to every student this fall.” Assessments show some students are months off track academically 鈥� with remote learning getting the lion’s share of the blame.

But the tricky politics of the pandemic seem unlikely to change soon.

Looking several months ahead, Vikki Katz, a professor of communications at Rutgers University in New Jersey, expects to see 鈥渁 checkerboard where the politics of where you live will determine the vaccination rates for younger kids.鈥� Once vaccines are available for students in the elementary grades, quarantines will recede in some communities and persist in others, she said. She doesn鈥檛 expect vaccine mandates for students until 2022-23.

That鈥檚 why this year, she said, policymakers and district leaders should 鈥渦se a scalpel and not a hammer鈥� in determining remote learning policies.

Katz advocates for districts to hire college-age to serve as a 鈥渓ink between families and schools when they need it badly.鈥� But she added, 鈥渓arge bureaucracies move slowly and viruses move quickly.鈥�

After just eight days in classrooms, 37 positive coronavirus cases in the 16,000-student district outside Indianapolis had triggered hundreds of student quarantines, forcing young people to miss out on classes and extracurriculars.

Superintendent Jeff Butts knew he had to act fast. The district had begun the year mask optional in late July. But in early August, he stumbled on a solution, hidden in plain sight: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had just updated its guidance, exempting students from self-isolation if they and the infected student were properly masked and spaced at least 3 feet apart.

鈥淭hat was my biggest tipping point, quite frankly, when the CDC came out and made that change,鈥� Butts told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淚 realized that if we had all of our children in masks 鈥� I can quarantine fewer children.鈥�

But not everyone got the message. It doesn鈥檛 appear that the guidance trickled down to many other school systems, where , according to a recent survey of 100 districts from the University of Washington鈥檚 Center for Reinventing Public Education. One reason for the disconnect is that CDC made little attempt to billboard the policy shift, which only appears in an on case investigation and tracing updated Aug. 5.

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鈥淚t鈥檚 buried in some appendix to the close contact definition,鈥� Emily Oster, Brown University economist who has tracked schooling through the pandemic, told 蜜桃影视. Under many school systems鈥� quarantine protocols, spending 15 minutes within a six foot radius of an infected individual 鈥� sitting next to them in class, for example 鈥� can force students to stay home for up to two weeks. The new exemption allows schools to bypass that rule in cases where both individuals mask up.

Across the country, as school leaders struggle with quarantine totals that are stretching into the thousands just weeks after schools opened their doors, the new masking exemption to self-isolation guidelines, could help districts sidestep chaotic reopenings amid divisive politics surrounding the use of masks.

In the past week across the country, New Orleans School District after 299 recorded COVID cases. Mississippi has statewide, an official announced. And a district in Texas . Meanwhile, Texas 鈥� among other states like Florida, Arkansas and Arizona 鈥� maintains a ban on mask mandates, though school systems like those in Dallas and Miami are .

The CDC did not respond to 蜜桃影视鈥檚 request for an explanation of why the update wasn鈥檛 publicized more widely. But Oster, the Brown economist, said it鈥檚 possible that when the CDC updated the definition of close contact for quarantining, 鈥渢hey didn鈥檛 realize how important it would be for school guidance,鈥� and thus didn鈥檛 heavily broadcast the change.

At the very least, it鈥檚 clear the hidden clause gives districts a 鈥渉uge incentive to have everybody mask,鈥� Oster said.

As of Aug. 11, all students and faculty in Wayne Township are now required to wear face coverings. Site leaders have told Butts that the district is already seeing fewer quarantines, though the superintendent said he doesn鈥檛 yet have this week鈥檚 numbers.

Wayne Township is not the only locale to pull the trigger on face coverings in response to skyrocketing COVID absences. Elsewhere in Indiana, Greater Clark County Schools adopted a universal masking rule on Aug. 7 after some 70 COVID cases . In Arkansas, the Marion schools superintendent mourned that the state-level ban on mask mandates had caused a nearly in his district. And in Ohio, in an effort to avoid the fate of mass quarantines, Lakota Local Schools outside Cincinnati announced a , just two days before students returned to classrooms.

鈥淏ecause we want to keep our kids in school all year long, just like we did last year, we made a decision this weekend to move to masks,鈥� Superintendent Matt Miller told 蜜桃影视.

Where school systems have the latitude to set their own face covering rules, 鈥渁ll these school districts are probably going to go to masks because there鈥檚 too much COVID right now,鈥� said Dennis Roche, co-founder of the website Burbio, which has tracked school policy through the pandemic.

While exposure to infected individuals often keeps large numbers of students home from school, very few students in isolation actually turn out to contract the virus themselves, Oster noted. Having a rule that allows healthy students to avoid missing class is crucial, she said.

鈥淭he quarantine itself is tremendously disruptive. And so I think that having an off ramp or a way to make it possible for people not to have to quarantine after an exposure is just huge for generating a functioning school system.鈥�

As Delta variant COVID cases continue to surge, allowing students to come to school without masks and spread the virus is inexcusable, said Dan Domenech, executive director of the School Superintendents Association.

鈥淚f you have to now quarantine a student because they’ve been exposed to somebody because nobody was wearing a mask, that’s a problem,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淔rom a logistical point of view, the easiest thing to do is to say everybody needs to wear a mask.鈥�

Despite the potentially large implications for schools鈥� daily operations, there was 鈥渘ot much emphasis鈥� on the CDC鈥檚 policy change, said Domenech 鈥� meaning many districts may still be struggling to catch up.

From a public health perspective, the move aligns with what Phil Chan, medical director for the Rhode Island Department of Health, says are the best practices to prevent the spread of COVID.

鈥淲here we are with our case transmission rates across the country鈥� I think [masking] makes all the sense in the world,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视. It鈥檚 鈥渢he bare minimum we should be doing at this time.鈥�

Still, in his home state, face covering policies in school are 鈥渁ll over the map,鈥� he said, which he fears could spell unnecessary COVID spread and lost learning.

Last week in Georgia, for example, four school districts 鈥� some of which had mask-optional policies 鈥� due to COVID outbreaks.

As summer ends and students return Wednesday to Lakota Local Schools, that鈥檚 precisely the situation that Superintendent Miller hopes to avoid.

鈥淚 think the social emotional pitfall of masking is bad enough, but I think the social emotional pitfall of being at home and learning again from home is probably worse.鈥�

鈥淎t this time, our public health authorities have informed us that the district may not quarantine students,鈥� said the letter from Erick Pruitt, who began as . 鈥淲e will continue to collaborate with the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Polk County Health Department to ensure our actions are aligned with their direction. We recognize that this guidance is subject to change. Please refer to the Iowa Department of Public Health for the most recent guidance.鈥�

Ankeny is the sixth-largest district in the state with more than 12,000 students and 2,285 employees, according to the .

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LaKeshia Richmond of Ankeny is a mother of three children. The family chose virtual learning for their kids last year.

鈥淲e were looking forward to going back to school this year,鈥� Richmond said. 鈥淥nce again our family is thrown a curveball regarding the pandemic and schools.鈥�

IowaWatch contacted Pruitt for comment and did not hear back at the time of publication.

The Polk County Department of Public Health said they didn鈥檛 advise the school on that letter but indicated they are bound by the laws and guidance of the Iowa Department of Public Health IDPH).

Nola Aigner Davis of the Polk County Health Department clarified quarantine only applies to a child who has been exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual. However, if a child tests positive for COVID-19 they must stay home.

鈥淭here is a sick child policy [for the district] so if a child tests positive they must stay home,鈥� Aigner Davis said.

Schools are required to provide face-to-face learning this fall; however, a district can opt to implement hybrid and virtual learning models as well.

With no mitigation strategies mandated in Iowa, online learning may be the only option some medically fragile children have.

鈥淢y 8-year-old daughter was a preemie and was on oxygen for six months,鈥� Ankeny parent Ashley Lappe said. Her daughter was diagnosed with chronic lung disease as an infant.

Luckily her daughter has been healthy and was looking forward to being back in school this fall.

Lappe chose a hybrid option that worked for her family last year. But now Lappe is not sure what to do if the school doesn鈥檛 offer hybrid or online learning models again this year.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to send my daughter to school only for her to get COVID and find out the hard way that she is medically fragile,鈥� Lappe said.

Iowa public health department guidance to public schools. The letter provides revised medical guidance that children who have been in close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to be quarantined. Garcia is not a medical doctor.

鈥淭his is not founded in science,鈥� Dr. Megan Srinivas, a Fort Dodge infectious disease doctor, said. 鈥淚 do not understand how this guidance was decided on as it goes against everything the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and medical professionals advise.鈥�

鈥淲e know kids can fall seriously ill with COVID-19, which can have long term health implications,鈥� Srinivas said, 鈥渁nd we know that kids can be completely asymptomatic but still transmit the COVID19 virus.鈥�

In July, the CDC issued a science brief, 鈥溾�� Since children can be asymptomatic carriers the CDC encourages proactive screening testing in schools to promptly identify cases and that mitigation strategies including isolation and quarantine be implemented to ensure kids stay healthy, according to the brief.

Pruit鈥檚 letter mainly focused on face masks, stating that the Ankeny district could not require masks to be worn. A law signed by Reynolds in May bans mask mandates in schools, cities and counties, with some education and extracurricular activity exceptions. There is no law backing Garcia鈥檚 direction on quarantines.

The superintendent鈥檚 letter says that families are encouraged to decide what steps are best for them and that other mitigation practices for the upcoming school year will be discussed at the Aug. 3 board meeting.

IowaWatch also contacted the Iowa Board of Education, the 10-member panel that 鈥渙versight, supervision, and support for the state education system,鈥� to find out if they reviewed the governor and Garcia鈥檚 school guidance to ensure no disabled child or medically fragile child鈥檚 civil rights would be violated by not requiring quarantining, masking or proactive screening. Students are ensured equal access to education under the Americans With Disability Act and Individuals with .

The education board did not return calls in late July. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds鈥� office and IDPH also did not respond to IowaWatch at time of publication.

This article was produced by the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch, a non-profit, online news website that collaborates with news organizations to produce explanatory and investigative reporting. Read more at .