WEBVTT - The Bitter Fight Over What's Safe For Schools 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:08.239 Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day three and 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:13.240 thirty one since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:18.720 main story in Chicago, after a heated negotiation, public officials 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.440 and teachers unions are getting close to an agreement about 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:27.040 whether and when to return to in person school. But 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:31.360 Chicago's fight is one that's playing out in cities all 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:36.519 over the country. But first, here's what happened in virus 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:50.200 News today. Early data suggests the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:55.800 is only effective against mild and moderate disease caused by 0:00:55.840 --> 0:01:00.080 the South African strain of coronavirus. Astra said in a 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.600 statement that there isn't enough information yet to say whether 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:09.840 it's effective at preventing severe COVID nineteen cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.280 The company said work was already under way to adapt 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.800 the vaccine to deal specifically with the South African variant, 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.480 and that a new version could be available by the fall. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.759 South Africa, where over of new cases are the more 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:31.520 contagious strain first identified there, will temporarily halt the rollout 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.760 of the astro vaccine. The country plans to accelerate its 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:40.920 supply of shots from Johnson and Johnson and Fiser Dr 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:45.039 Anthony Fauci warned Americans not to delay their second dose 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.640 of the coronavirus vaccine. That came after other health experts 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.360 suggested recently there may be a benefit to pushing more 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.160 people to get a first shot and delaying follow ups. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.600 Fauci said the scientific data it's strongly to the benefit 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.960 of following the recommended timetable for the two doses, and 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.480 that US vaccine supply should improve in February and March 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:17.919 as the manufacturing capability escalates. Finally, President Joe Biden's that 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.560 it's unlikely the US will reach herd immunity for the 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:26.120 coronavirus before the end of the summer. Herd immunity means 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:30.240 enough people become resistant to the disease that it spread 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:35.760 becomes unlikely. In the US, logistical delays and vaccine shortages 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.919 have meant only a small fraction of the population has 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:44.080 received shots since two different vaccines became available in December. 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.760 Biden spoken an interview with CBS News that aired on 0:02:48.800 --> 0:03:00.600 Sunday and Now for Today's main story. This weekend, Chicago 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.240 public schools reached at tentative agreement with its teachers to 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:09.160 resume in person learning later this week. The deal isn't final, 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.080 and it's the latest in a series of tents back 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:15.880 and forth between the city schools and its teachers unions. 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:20.639 The bitter fight in Chicago echoes other big cities. I 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:24.360 spoke to Chicago based reporter Truthi Singh, who explained that 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:29.000 tensions have escalated coast to coast between unions fearing the 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:33.000 spread of COVID nineteen and local officials under pressure to 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:46.400 get teachers back into the classroom. As school districts across 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.120 the US face the very difficult decision about whether and 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:54.520 how to bring students back to in person teaching, schools 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:59.720 in Chicago have been facing a particularly difficult path. Can 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:01.880 you give us maybe just a brief lay of the 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.920 land in terms of what's been going on in the city. 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.560 It has been a long year, and uh, a lot 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.480 of kids have not been in person school since about March, 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.800 so it's about ten eleven months. And now there are people, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.840 whether it's parents or district officials or others starting to question, 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:26.200 you know, when do we go back to school. So 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.880 one of the concerns has come from or many of 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:32.160 the concerns have come from the teachers. They've brought questions 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:36.200 up regarding vaccinations, They've brought questions up regarding work from 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.840 home arrangements for those who are either at risk themselves 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.360 or may have a family member that may be at 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.440 risk if they are exposed to COVID nineteen. So over 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:50.520 several months, Chicago Public Schools in the Chicago Teachers Union 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:54.720 has been negotiating on how to bring teachers, staff and 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:58.479 students back into the classroom. I think both sides have 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:02.240 said that they want in person learning, but how to 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.840 do it and how to do it safely is the question. Now. 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.560 Over the last month or so, things have become a 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:13.440 little bit more tense as there was initially a mark 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.880 on the calendar for preschool and special education kids to 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.200 come back in early January UM, and then there was 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:25.200 a date for the kindergarten through eighth grade students to 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:27.360 come back as well. You know, a lot of there's 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:31.080 a lot of concern about that and those deadlines you know, 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.239 that were set by the city. I think the teachers 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.400 were just not ready for those and you know, when 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:42.840 it comes to discussing the timeline of bringing students back 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.200 into the classroom, and of course teachers as well would 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.000 have been some of the key issues that say, the 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.120 teachers Union and the city have been wrestling over when 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:58.240 it comes to how essentially do we make classrooms safe. Well, 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.960 the two sides have been going over for ariety of issues, 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.440 including ventilation. There are safety committees that have been set 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:07.919 up at at the school level now, um there are 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:13.200 questions about sanitation ppe and also some of the issues 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.839 that were remaining towards the end of negotiations over the 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:21.560 last few weeks have been things like vaccinations as well 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.320 as the accommodations for teachers and staff who may be 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.320 at risk themselves or may have family members at risk. 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:33.400 And in terms of these timelines that you you referenced earlier, 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.839 what has been the latest in terms of when Chicago 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.760 have wanted some students back in the classroom, what are 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:46.200 the new timelines. Well, so, initially the district as well 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:50.240 as Chicago Mayor Lory Lightfoot, had said they wanted preschool 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:54.719 and special education children to come back and about mid January, 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.160 and then a few weeks after that they were asking 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.520 for kindergarten through eighth grade students to come back. The 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.599 teachers would also be coming back under that previous plan 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.800 on a rolling basis now under the current tentative agreement 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.600 that the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.600 have come at just over the weekend UM. The tentative 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.880 agreement outlines of framework where the earliest of the students, 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.520 which would be preschool and the special education kids, would 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.640 be coming back as early as this Thursday, But high 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.640 school is still an unknown right now. The district has 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.040 said they want to try to bring as many kids 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.800 back into school in person as possible, but right now 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.160 they haven't sort of laid out what the timeline and 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.720 what the return for in person for high school students 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.000 and teachers is going to look like. And I also 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.800 want to mention that this is an option that UM 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.080 the District is offering to parents, and not everybody has 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.360 chosen to come back in person. Even through eighth grade, 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.320 about sixty seven thousand students have indicated that they will 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.680 come back in person of that preschool through eighth grade 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:06.080 and special needs UM category. But that's out of a 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.600 pool of about two hundred and seven thousand or so. Now, 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.200 you know, there are a lot of moving parts in 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.480 terms of bringing students back at whatever age, and it 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:22.480 certainly might be the case that teachers don't necessarily feel 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.840 that their classrooms are safe to come back for them 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:30.200 to teach in what happens if a teacher says, I'm 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.719 unwilling to come back to do in person teaching. So 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.599 that has been actually a point of contention over the 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.280 last several weeks because when the earliest groups of teachers 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.599 were being asked to come back, there were still negotiations 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.920 going on between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.960 Teachers Union, and there were a certain number of teachers 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:53.280 who said, I am going to continue to work remotely 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.400 as the union had voted to do, and not go 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.760 into the school building. Some teacher is even chose to 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.840 work outside of their school building up to highlight some 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.240 of the concerns that they have. There was a certain 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:12.560 number of teachers given those actions that were considered absent 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.840 without leave, and some of those teachers were locked out 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.480 of the technology that's needed to teach remotely within the 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.680 school system. That has actually been a point of contention 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.440 between the district and the union, and so the union 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.560 has said, we will continue to work remotely until we 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:35.040 have an agreement and the district and the mayor. As 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:39.360 recently as Friday had said that if teachers who were 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.760 required to come back today under the most recent deadline, 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.000 because there's been several deadlines, if they did not show up, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.520 then they would be locked out. But then this tentative 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:55.080 agreement arrived over the weekend and that has been put 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.400 to the side for right now. As the US vaccine 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.240 distribution rollout pick up speed, a lot of people have 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.840 mentioned perhaps the need for teachers to be closer to 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.960 the front of the line, that um, they need to 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:12.520 receive their vaccines in order to be safe in the classroom. 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.960 Does this agreement or have has there been any discussion 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:20.120 about the ability for Chicago teachers to receive vaccines in 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.640 order to get back to get back to the classroom. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.640 The teachers are in one B, which is the phase 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.760 that includes essential workers and those who are sixty five 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.000 and over, at least here in Illinois, I know from 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.120 state to state it differs a little bit, but they 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:40.120 are in the essential worker category and they are asking 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.720 the district to set aside and allocate a certain number 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.720 so that teachers can be prioritized on a rolling basis. 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:50.880 There's been a lot of back and forth about this, 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.800 but where things stand right now is that under the 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:58.839 tentative agreement, there would be about fifteen hundred first doses 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:04.280 allocated per week to CPS, the Chicago Public Schools. You know, 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.680 we're recording this on Monday, February eighth, and today is 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.160 a day that a lot of decisions may be made 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.640 about the future of in person learning and the tentative 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.840 agreements between the teachers Union and the city in Chicago. 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.080 What are some of the decisions that may be made today, Well, 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.760 this has been an ongoing process for months. The two sides, 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.679 the Chicago Public Schools and the Teachers Union, have been 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:30.960 negotiating for months and now over the last few weeks, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.520 in the last few days, there have been ongoing negotiations 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.800 and you know, certainly we saw updates throughout the weekend. 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.520 Right now, where things stand is that the Chicago Teachers 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:46.520 Union is reviewing and assessing the most recent tentative agreement 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.160 tentative proposal that the city has put forth, and they're 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.280 going to assess it with their governing body, which is 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:55.920 called the House of Delegates and their rank and file members. 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.920 So we're all waiting to see what the latest update 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:08.040 might be. It could be an time. That was Shruthie 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.880 Sank and that's it for our show today. For coverage 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.160 of the outbreak from one D and twenty bureaus around 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:18.120 the world, visit bloomberg dot com slash Coronavirus and if 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.240 you like the show, please leave us a review and 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.240 a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.880 way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.760 Prognosis Daily Edition is produced by Toph for foreheads Magnus 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.600 Henrickson and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.880 by Shruthi Sank. Original music by Leo Cedrin. Our editors 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:45.160 are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.800 head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.