Many teachers are worried about returning to the classroom this fall. | stock photo
Many teachers are worried about returning to the classroom this fall. | stock photo
As concerns are raised regarding the risks of exposure to COVID-19 that could be presented to educators if schools permit students to return this fall, there remains no recorded incident of an educator contracting the novel coronavirus from a student.
A recent story from Michigan Capitol Confidential discussed editorials and statements from educators who consider the return to in-person instruction as a direct threat to both themselves and their families.
This included a statement from Liza Parkinson, president of the Utica Education Association, who was quoted in Macomb Daily saying, “I don’t want anybody to die from going to school or a family member to die from going to school.”
“Asking me to return to the classroom amid a pandemic and expose myself and my family to COVID-19 is like asking me to take (a) bullet home to my own family,” Rebecca Martinson, a teacher in Washington state, said in a New York Times editorial. “I won’t do it, and you shouldn’t want me to.”
Yet Mark Woolhouse, a leading epidemiologist and member of the United Kingdom’s Sage committee, was quoted in The Times of London questioning whether there had been any benefit to even closing schools in the first place at the beginning of the pandemic. Woolhouse said that children have had a limited role in the spread of the virus.
Michigan Capitol Confidential also cited a Denver Post story that looked to research from Australia, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany, which demonstrated negligible transmission of the coronavirus in schools.
Additionally, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment epidemiologist Dr. Brian Erly noted during a recent virtual news conference that research indicated Sweden saw no greater transmission between students and teachers due to keeping schools open than Finland did while closing its schools.
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