WEBVTT - CDC Officials Say Schools Can Reopen With Proper Precautions

0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.160
<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, January. I'm Oscar Emrrors from the Daily Dive

0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:08.840
<v Speaker 1>podcast in Los Angeles, and this is Reopening America. CDC

0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:11.639
<v Speaker 1>officials have said that it might be time to reopen schools.

0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.440
<v Speaker 1>The most available evidence says that in person instruction can

0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.720
<v Speaker 1>be safely carried out if proper precautions like mask wearing

0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:21.759
<v Speaker 1>is followed and a community willing to impose restrictions on

0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:26.480
<v Speaker 1>other settings like bars and indoor dining. Ronnie Rabin, health

0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.040
<v Speaker 1>writer at The New York Times, joins us for white

0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.640
<v Speaker 1>schools maybe on the path to opening back up. Thanks

0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:34.920
<v Speaker 1>for joining us, Ronnie, Hi, thank you. Nice to be here.

0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.000
<v Speaker 1>One of the things that's been plaguing the country really

0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.840
<v Speaker 1>when it comes to the pandemic and reopening has really

0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.800
<v Speaker 1>been schools. How do we get our children back into schools?

0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:46.479
<v Speaker 1>And there was a lot of discussion. We had to

0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:48.599
<v Speaker 1>close all the schools at the beginning of the pandemic.

0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:50.960
<v Speaker 1>No one knew what really what was going on. We

0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.240
<v Speaker 1>found out that younger people, children are spared some of

0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.640
<v Speaker 1>the worst effects of coronavirus, and there was lots of

0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.280
<v Speaker 1>calls to open schools. They opened and they closed. It

0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.520
<v Speaker 1>was it was really like a roller coaster going on

0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.080
<v Speaker 1>with it. But now CDC officials are weighing in and

0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.400
<v Speaker 1>saying that the available evidence we have say that we

0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.240
<v Speaker 1>can open schools safely if the proper precautions are taken.

0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.040
<v Speaker 1>There are some caveats though, we need to deal with

0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.960
<v Speaker 1>community spread. For the most part, school should be the

0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.039
<v Speaker 1>last places to close and the first places to open

0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.240
<v Speaker 1>when we're doing shutdown. So Ronnie, tell us what we're learning.

0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.160
<v Speaker 1>I think what's really going on if it were as

0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.959
<v Speaker 1>we come in and we're entering the second year of

0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.160
<v Speaker 1>this in which all of our lives have been altered,

0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.120
<v Speaker 1>but certainly for children who aren't in regular school, these

0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:43.399
<v Speaker 1>are huge developmental, very important, critically important periods in their lives.

0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:45.000
<v Speaker 1>I mean a year in the life of a child

0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:48.400
<v Speaker 1>is is huge, huge changes go on, and I think

0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.360
<v Speaker 1>there's increasing concern about the deficits that aren't just educational,

0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.320
<v Speaker 1>but are also kind of just holistic in a child's life.

0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.480
<v Speaker 1>You know, it's their social life and their peers and

0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.600
<v Speaker 1>all the services schools provide, and they are most physical

0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:04.040
<v Speaker 1>health and so many developmental milestones that people are concerned

0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.360
<v Speaker 1>about them not making just the basic thing of getting

0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.320
<v Speaker 1>up in the morning and having a routine and getting

0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.200
<v Speaker 1>yourself organized and getting out of the house. I mean,

0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.920
<v Speaker 1>just that basic kind of structure, as well as the

0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.679
<v Speaker 1>services that are really vital for kids who are abused.

0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:17.560
<v Speaker 1>You don't get food at home. So I think there's

0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.639
<v Speaker 1>increasing concern and there's a lot of push. A lot

0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.160
<v Speaker 1>of parents really want the kids back in school and

0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.359
<v Speaker 1>see what it's doing to their kids. And there are

0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.960
<v Speaker 1>studies showing that it can be done safely, but in

0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.560
<v Speaker 1>a very different way. The schools are different, they look

0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.919
<v Speaker 1>different than they used to. And what the CDC, these

0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.040
<v Speaker 1>CDC officials and it's not the official policy, but these

0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.120
<v Speaker 1>are CDC top officials and researchers are saying is that

0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.600
<v Speaker 1>we have some studies now that show that it can

0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.519
<v Speaker 1>be done safely in the sense of schools aren't nursing homes.

0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:50.480
<v Speaker 1>Schools are are not going to have to spark these

0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:55.079
<v Speaker 1>enormous outbreaks and conflagrations that spread through the community. One

0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.720
<v Speaker 1>specific study that they looked at seventeen elementary and secondary

0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.359
<v Speaker 1>schools in Wisconsin and where mask wearing was routine. That

0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.560
<v Speaker 1>seems to be one of the main components to all this.

0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.120
<v Speaker 1>But during thirteen weeks in the fall of there was

0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.000
<v Speaker 1>only a hundred and ninety one infections among staff and students,

0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.600
<v Speaker 1>and only seven of those were from in school transmission,

0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:20.440
<v Speaker 1>so very very low numbers. But these were also schools

0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.280
<v Speaker 1>in rural Wisconsin that were smaller than a lot of

0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.119
<v Speaker 1>schools in big cities. That's the newest study. They looked

0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:27.920
<v Speaker 1>at a number of studies that have come out, and

0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.560
<v Speaker 1>there was once in North Carolina in which they found

0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.960
<v Speaker 1>infections within the school are very rare. There were infections,

0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.840
<v Speaker 1>but there weren't any students of staff transmission. Remember one

0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:38.880
<v Speaker 1>of the big concerns. As we know, the kids overall

0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.160
<v Speaker 1>do fairly well with this disease, but teachers and staff

0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.000
<v Speaker 1>are concerned. And that's where you're getting a lot of

0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.640
<v Speaker 1>the pushbacks from the teachers and the unions who are

0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.800
<v Speaker 1>worried about their health. They're older, they're more likely to suffer.

0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:51.320
<v Speaker 1>And I have to say, on the other hand, I

0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.240
<v Speaker 1>had to take back what I just said. In Israel,

0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.440
<v Speaker 1>they started saying the schools of their new nursing homes

0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.840
<v Speaker 1>because they were actually big outbreaks that did start in

0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.600
<v Speaker 1>a high school that had very large class and the

0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.600
<v Speaker 1>air condition was on kids weren't wearing masks with the CDC.

0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.640
<v Speaker 1>I think is trying to say here is we need

0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:11.600
<v Speaker 1>to prioritize schools and not just businesses. That we maybe

0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.080
<v Speaker 1>we need to weigh things a little differently. We may

0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.360
<v Speaker 1>need to cut back a little bit on what we're

0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.719
<v Speaker 1>allowing in terms of businesses in order to let to

0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:20.919
<v Speaker 1>keep the rates low and let the kids go to

0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.240
<v Speaker 1>school and realize it as a social good that's incredibly important.

0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.119
<v Speaker 1>That was one of the big caveats there. They said, Okay,

0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.800
<v Speaker 1>let's reopen schools, and we're doing this as a community. Obviously,

0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.600
<v Speaker 1>we need to impose those limits on other settings, as

0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:38.080
<v Speaker 1>you mentioned your things like indoor dining bars, poorly ventilated areas.

0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.400
<v Speaker 1>You know, it's that give and take, but that school

0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:43.200
<v Speaker 1>should be a priority in that at least. And Emily Anser,

0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.200
<v Speaker 1>who's a ground professor who has a project tracking infection

0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:49.240
<v Speaker 1>rates in schools, said, you know, I can take my

0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.120
<v Speaker 1>kid to an indoor quarter park, but a lot of

0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:55.479
<v Speaker 1>schools and Massachusetts are closed. So that's kind of the

0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.640
<v Speaker 1>balancing we're talking about. Again. The schools have to have

0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.320
<v Speaker 1>certain things in place, will have to wear masks, kids

0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.080
<v Speaker 1>have to wear masks, there has to be social distancing.

0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.960
<v Speaker 1>They may need some way of the crowding schools of

0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.279
<v Speaker 1>facing kids out, need good air ventilation in the school,

0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.560
<v Speaker 1>need a lot of screening and testing so that if

0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:14.400
<v Speaker 1>you pick up the case you can deal with it

0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:16.880
<v Speaker 1>right away, and need to continue to have the option

0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.880
<v Speaker 1>of highbred or online attendance for kids who have risky conditions.

0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.600
<v Speaker 1>So it's not simple what have they learned in terms

0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.000
<v Speaker 1>of testing? Because I noticed in your article you wrote

0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.080
<v Speaker 1>a little bit about some of the people from the

0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.720
<v Speaker 1>American Federation of Teachers and kind of what they were

0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:35.080
<v Speaker 1>noticing when they saw testing among teachers that we're working remotely,

0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.880
<v Speaker 1>working in class. What did they say about that? What

0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.359
<v Speaker 1>they have found in one of the arguments is that

0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.479
<v Speaker 1>you don't see higher rates among the staff and teachers

0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.080
<v Speaker 1>than in the community case rates. Of course, we don't

0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.159
<v Speaker 1>have the data. We don't have any national track and

0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.520
<v Speaker 1>we have some voluntary data that's being put in a

0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.360
<v Speaker 1>dashboard where we don't really have complete data by any means.

0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.839
<v Speaker 1>But generally the rates have been similar, certainly not higher,

0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.360
<v Speaker 1>but there has been an increase in the case right

0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.400
<v Speaker 1>among keys and staff. Pagers have increased everywhere, but they've

0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.240
<v Speaker 1>increased a little bit faster. But on the out hand,

0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.280
<v Speaker 1>they've been increasing among teachers who are teaching remotely as well.

0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.920
<v Speaker 1>So we don't know, we don't know exactly what's going on. Well,

0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.240
<v Speaker 1>we know that reopening schools is a priority for President Biden.

0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.760
<v Speaker 1>I know as you mentioned parents, teachers, they you know,

0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:18.640
<v Speaker 1>they want to get back to normal on this. So

0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.880
<v Speaker 1>maybe with some of these CDC officials speaking out, maybe

0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.960
<v Speaker 1>we can get some proper guidance. And Ronnie Rabin health

0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:26.960
<v Speaker 1>rider at the New York Times, thank you very much

0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:32.720
<v Speaker 1>for joining us. Thank you. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this

0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.520
<v Speaker 1>has been reopening America. Don't forget after today's big news stories.

0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:38.480
<v Speaker 1>You can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast

0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.080
<v Speaker 1>every Monday to Friday. So follow us on I Heart

0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.200
<v Speaker 1>Radio or wherever you get your podcast.