Open Letter: Reopening Schools During a Pandemic

I am no school administrator. I am no epidemiologist. I am no public health expert. I am a pastor, charged with the care of my parishioners and the well-being of the community in which I serve. I have had many varied experiences in multiple countries, studied more than a handful of languages, and am used to processing new information and cultural contexts, and am trained in strategy development.

Over the last few months, I have had a lot of new information to process, just like so many others struggling to make sense of shifting information about the Covid19 pandemic that has taken the world by storm. I have watched its exponential growth, read guidance from my denominational leadership, read what epidemiologists have been saying, and tried to make sound decisions regarding the welfare of the congregations under my charge. We have taken steps to find new ways to be the church in uncertain times, always following John Wesley’s principle of “Do No Harm.”

I would like to share some questions that I have compiled from various sources as the nation is talking about bringing teachers and students back into the public school classroom. In my context of public worship and Bible study, I have only had to worry over gathering people for up to a couple of hours once or twice a week. The school day is much longer and gathers students, teachers, administrators, and support staff more times per week.

What we know of the virus to date tells us that there are a couple of main issues to consider. We must deal with viral load and viral transmission. We don’t yet know (as far as I can tell) how many viral particles are necessary to spread contagion and infect someone. We do know that extended exposure increases viral load. We also know that a one-hour choir rehearsal is sufficient time to spread enough virus to infect dozens of people beginning with one infected carrier. We know that HVAC systems circulate aerosolized virus in microdroplets, expanding their reach beyond the popular 6-foot notion of vapor spread. We know that surfaces can be decontaminated in various ways. We know that wearing masks reduces the spread of respiratory droplets. We also know that most masks become inefficient after as little as half an hour of use. We know that the more people we gather in a space, the greater the odds of having an infected carrier present. We know the odds are also increased for that carrier to spread the virus to others.

We know that this virus has an incubation period as long as two weeks (maybe even three). We know that checking temperatures may be helpful, but it hardly addresses the fact that some people are asymptomatic and still carry and spread the viral infection. We know that testing has been shown to be irregular in predicting both infection and the presence of antibodies. We also know that testing for the virus often has a delayed result turn-around time, which has been as long as two weeks. Testing has also not been available on a consistent basis for all those seeking testing.

We know that this virus carries a death sentence for somewhere in the neighborhood of one percent of those infected. We also know that beyond those who die, 19 require hospitalization, 18 develop permanent lung damage, 10 develop permanent heart damage, 3 have strokes, 2 have neurological damage leading to chronic weakness and loss of coordination, and 2 have neurological damage leading to loss of cognitive function. Those are not insignificant issues affecting closer to 20 percent of those infected and considered to have recovered.

How then, would we make decisions regarding a return to the classroom in a manner that is safe for all concerned and achieves the goals of promoting the education of our children, preparing them to work, lead, create, and become productive members of our society?

How do our schools deal with an outbreak of head lice? What are the implications of that in the context of a virus which is transmitted in airborne particles? How do our schools deal with an outbreak of Tuberculosis? What are the logistical issues on getting testing accomplished for all students, teachers, and support staff, as well as following up on testing results while being faithful to HIPPA restrictions?

What kind of system will we put in place to carry out contact tracing? Will it begin prior to positive test results, or will it depend on playing catch-up in the event of a positive result? Will we have to recreate contact tracing with students or teachers who are suddenly hospitalized? When a teacher tests positive for Covid19, will we require them to quarantine for 2-3 weeks? Will we cover their sick pay? Will their students also need to stay home in quarantine for 2-3 weeks? How will we handle their instruction during that time? What about other staff that teacher was in contact with during the 2-3 weeks prior to being tested?

When a teacher’s family member tests positive for Covid19, how will we deal with that? Will they be offered sick pay during their required quarantine? How long will we go back on their contact tracing to determine who else needs to quarantine and be tested? How long do we await testing results before taking action? Do we immediately begin quarantine on suspicion of a case? Do we await a positive test result, knowing that some results are inconclusive or inaccurate? How do we handle a doctor determining someone has Covid19 without a positive test?

When a student tests positive, how do we handle their quarantine, contact tracing, and those the student was around in the two weeks prior to that testing? If the results are delayed a week or two, how does that time need to be figured into the calculation of how we respond? If a teacher is infected with Covid19, what are the school’s legal responsibilities and liabilities? Does the Worker’s Compensation plan pick up the tab if the teacher contracted the virus on the job? How does that affect insurance premiums? What are the liabilities for students exposed by that teacher, administration, or support staff? What are the liabilities to the school for students infected by other students?

When we consider issues of physical distancing, masking, hand-washing, etc., how do they play into the daily interactions students have with office staff on a day-to-day basis? How will it impact issues of discipline? How will it impact the use of restrooms? How will it impact physical recreation during the school day?

How will we handle issues arising from the potential spread and contagion by Covid19 during meals, snacks, and water breaks, during which masks cannot be used? How far apart do students need to be during meal times? How many students can be allowed to eat at one time? How will that impact contract tracing processes? How much time is needed for disinfecting between groups of students? Will students eat or drink in their classrooms, and under what guidelines?

If students are going to be together in a classroom with faculty, what definitions will we use to determine the point at which we should treat them as sharing a living space like members of a household? Is that a question of 5 hours a week, 10 hours a week, 20 hours a week, or 30 hours a week?

What kind of masks will be required? Who will pay for the masks? How do we address that masks come in different levels of quality and fit? How will we take into consideration the differences in mask effectiveness and leakage due to fit, quality, and manner of usage? At what point does the use of a leaky mask that has become saturated with respiratory droplets make their use pointlessly ineffective?

If students are infected by a teacher or staff person, who among the student body needs to be tested? Will that include family members of those students? Who pays for the testing? Who pays for the treatment? Is the school liable for Covid19 infections spread by staff? Can the staff, administration, school, district, or board be sued for negligence? Can they be sued for negligent homicide? Will liability insurance cover any such claims?

If the school chooses not to follow the guidance given by experts in epidemiology and contagious disease, what is the school’s legal liability? Does that liability end with the proclamations of a political official or a governmental body about schools opening? Who makes the decisions regarding defining the expert consensus on best practices?

What happens if a household member of a teacher, staff member, administrator, or student becomes infected? What if there is only a suspicion of infection? Who needs to be tested? Who pays for the testing? What is done while awaiting the test results? How much do you trust the results? What do we do with substitute teachers if we reopen? Are we willing to bear the burden of training them to meet the new regulations in the school’s operations? How will we respond if they test positive? How will we track what classrooms they were in across the school system or into neighboring systems? How will that impact our contact tracing procedures?

Will we be able to find substitute teachers to assume the risks and responsibilities of teaching amid a pandemic? If they need to be tested and treated, who is liable for the cost? What if they refuse to be tested? Will we then have to assume they are positive and deal with those they were in contact with accordingly? What will we do in the lag time between testing and getting testing results?

What will resuming school operations do to the school system’s insurance premiums for medical, life, and liability? What are our plans to pay for projected premium increases? How will the plans we formulate impact those premiums?

What will we do when we discover that a student or student’s family member is infected and did not inform the school? Will we hold that student and family liable? How is that impacted by HIPPA?

How will we disseminate information on contacts of those testing positive for Covid19? How will we abide by HIPPA and protect students, faculty, and staff?

What will we do to address the mental health issues all the restrictions, guidelines, and procedures are sure to produce in the school family? Will we add counselors to the local schools? How will they interact with students and staff while respecting safety needs? How will we deal with the first diagnosed case of Covid19 within a school? What about the first death of a student? What about the first death among staff? What about the first death among faculty? What about the first death of a parent, sister, or brother? What about the second, third, and fourth? How will a cumulative death toll be addressed regarding mental health? What about the numbers of those whose health is drastically affected after recovery? How will the fact that students may well already know someone infected with Covid19 be brought into this conversation?

How will we adapt the school busing system to accommodate physical distancing, enforce the use of masks, get students to class on time, and deal with the potential for asymptomatic spread? If children from more than one class are on the same bus, how will that figure into our calculations of potential contamination and viral spread?

How will we handle disinfecting surfaces throughout the school, including buses? How much will that add to the school’s operational budget? How will we train workers in the new diligence measures?

How will we address the teaching of science in the context of so many ignoring the words of the experts in the fields of epidemiology, community health, and contagious disease? How will our policies and decisions relate to the teaching of science and support evidence-based decision-making? What will we do about all those drills we make students go through to ensure their safety? How many of them are legally mandatory? How do they need to be adapted in observance of physical distancing guidelines? Who can make those determinations? How likely are students, faculty, and staff to become victims from any of those perceived threats in contrast to a one percent death rate from Covid19?

If we closed schools back in March over safety and health concerns, what has fundamentally changed? How have the infection numbers changed? What more do we know about the virus now that we did not know then? Knowing what we know now, did we make the right decision back in March? On what bases are we assessing that decision? Do those decisions still make sense today?

If we bring children back to school, what are the chances we can maintain physical distancing among them? What are our expectations on their wearing masks appropriately? What would we expect in terms of a compliance failure rate? How much of a threat is that to the school and the welfare of all parties? How long do we expect those strategies to remain successful?

If we open up according to a new set of guidelines now and we have a few cases of Covid19 spring up, how will we determine whether or not to stay the new course? How many new cases are acceptable? How many are too many? Will that definition be used for an individual school or will it be applied district-wide? How will that definition impact families with students in more than one school? What will the financial impact of each case be on the school for a teacher, staff member, administrator, student, or family member of one of the above? If we have to reverse course, what would be the implications of such a decision?

As we learn more about this virus, how do we expect to keep students, staff, and faculty up to date on the latest advice we are following? How will we communicate effectively with parents, knowing that we may be making changes every couple of weeks for a while?

Addressing the above questions will require additional funding. Where is that coming from? Are the voices clamoring for schools to open going to open their checkbooks? How has the economic impact of the pandemic affected the tax base from which the school is funded? Will it support the changes deemed appropriate?

There is a whole lot to process here. I am glad the responsibility does not rest on my shoulders. I do hope that these questions will be of use to those on whose shoulders it does fall.

As a final consideration, if we are discussing these and related issues through online meeting venues, rather than face-to-face, do we have any business asking them?

— ©Copyright 2020, Christopher B. Harbin

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