WEBVTT - What to Do About Schools 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:09.160 Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day three hundred 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:14.400 and seventeen since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.759 main story. President Joe Biden has made it his mission 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.000 to reopen most schools in the US in his first 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:28.080 one days on the job. But teachers, parents and local 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.920 policymakers aren't all on the same page about how to 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:37.760 do that safely. But first, here's what happened in virus 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:50.680 News today. New York City will delay opening vaccination megacytes 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:55.560 at Yankee Stadium and City Field because of vaccine shortages. 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.400 The city will miss its goal of one million doses 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:03.640 by the end of January. The city received about one 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:08.120 hundred thousand fewer doses last week than it had expected 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.920 from the US government. Mayor build A. Blasio said the 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.560 city is equipped to vaccinate five hundred thousand people a 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.640 week if it gets a supply increase. In the meantime, 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:26.640 it's rescheduling appointments. US Infectious Disease Chief Anthony Faucci said 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.280 he's worried about a push to delay administering the second 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:35.040 dose of COVID nineteen vaccines at a world economic form 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.840 panel today, Faucci said it's best to give shots in 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:43.399 line with the schedules outlined in clinical trials. Fiser recommends 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.240 a second dose of its vaccine after three weeks, and 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.720 Moderna has a four week interval. Faucci was concerned about 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.720 the efficacy of the vaccine if those intervals were stretched, 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.600 and said that delaying the second shot could also give 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:05.560 rise to more mutated forms of the virus. Finally, the 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.240 UK reported the lowest number of new cases since the 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:13.919 middle of December. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.640 would start considering which measures could be relaxed at the 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.799 beginning of next month. The indicators hint at an impending 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:25.160 peak in the number of deaths being reported each day, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.360 which last week hit a record. There are still thousands 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.720 of people on mechanical ventilation and UK hospitals are still 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:43.359 under significant strain. And now for today's main story. President 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.880 Joe Biden has vowed to reopen most u S schools 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.680 in his first one hundred days, but that could ignite 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:55.400 clashes among teachers, their unions, and parents over how to 0:02:55.480 --> 0:03:00.919 do that safely. Petitions and potential teacher strikes loon even 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:06.480 while parents watch children struggle online. I spoke to Nick Carrillo, 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:08.720 who reports that the issue has been one of the 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:22.160 toughest pandemic challenges for local policymakers. Across the US. School 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:26.679 systems look vastly different right now. Some are entirely online 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.680 and others are back in the classroom. President Biden has 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:34.079 announced his intention to reopen the majority of US schools 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:38.200 within his first one hundred days. But how is his 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.880 administration planning to achieve this? Yeah, it's a great question, 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.480 and I think it's one that's on every teacher's mind. Um, 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.120 this has been a really complicated issue for policymakers and 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:55.960 education advocates, and it's been very different district to district, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.280 county to county. Biden has basically promised to roll out 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:04.560 federal guidelines to help schools kind of answer the question, 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.520 you know, how quickly can we reopen, when should we 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.560 be thinking about reopening, and how safe is it? This 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.320 in practice is going to look like help from the 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.960 federal government in terms of testing resources, It's going to 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.960 look like best practices in terms of social distancing for 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.040 the schools, what triggers they should really be using to 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.600 kind of decide when to reopen and send teachers or 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:34.839 students back into schools. And they've also asked FEMA to 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:39.560 release funding to help teachers and schools pay for UH 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.080 needed equipment to make it safe to return, like PPE 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:48.359 or testing. And so, what have been some of the 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.440 reactions say by teachers to this announcement. You know, it's 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.359 a good question. I would say that the national teachers 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.760 Unions are broadly in support of what Biden rolled out 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.200 last week. These were executive orders signed towards the second 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.880 half of last week, and for the most part, they 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.320 were pretty vague. I mean, they haven't quite yet explained 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.200 what that guidance will be. It was really just a 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.840 promise that the guidance is coming and that there's going 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.200 to be funds made available to the schools. So there's 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.960 nothing too controversial and what we've heard so far from 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:25.039 the Biden administration, but he has pledged to work towards 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.520 reopening a majority of US schools within his first one 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:33.239 hundred days, and depending on how quickly that happens. And 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.520 you know, what the COVID situation looks like in various places, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.240 it does set the stage for something that could become 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:44.599 potentially complicated we've seen in Chicago teachers unions are pretty 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.839 close to striking UM as a result of being asked 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.600 to return to schools and what teachers in their unions 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:56.320 have deemed potentially unsafe. New York has had complications going 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.520 back in practice, is a really tricky issue for the 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.640 Biden andrustration to nail down. Let's get into that a 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.760 little bit more specifically. I mean, what really are the 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.840 fears that say the teachers unions have identified about whether 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.760 or not the classroom is safe to return to. The 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.520 big fear is that teachers are going to be asked 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.600 to return to schools and it's going to be unsafe. 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.840 There is a lot of research about this, and for 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:28.680 the most part, we haven't really seen really dangerous situations 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:33.200 in classrooms or you know, strong outbreaks linked to classrooms. 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.679 Of a large majority of cases in schools are usually 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:42.760 acquired by teachers outside the classroom, and most students are 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:47.640 less likely to contract severe COVID symptoms. But that being said, 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.400 the vaccine rollout has been complicated and a lot of 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.800 teachers are being asked to go back to school as 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.520 we speak and may not even be able to get 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.200 the first shot UM. It varies state by state kind 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.760 of how high and the pecking order teachers are about 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.760 when they're going to get their vaccine. And if you're 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.359 an elderly teacher or someone who has a pre existing 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.480 condition or some sort of co morbidity, it makes sense 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.720 that they would be concerned about, you know, even a 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:18.280 small risk that a teacher might contract the virus. And 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:23.200 what has been the response to accusations that essentially schools 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:27.720 have not provided the necessary say testing or tracing that 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:32.440 simply the extent to which schools um are potential transmission 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.600 sites just is unknown, and we don't really have the 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.080 information needed to assess whether or not we can reopen 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:43.040 schools safely exactly. This is a really big point that 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:49.120 the Biden administration wants to address, is that schools without 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:54.720 really comprehensive contact tracing and testing systems in place aren't 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.720 able to say definitively what the situation with coronavirus is 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.600 inside their building. So in New York they've been testing 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.040 quite religiously. I think last week they did over three 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:10.520 thousand tests and they didn't find any single case of coronavirus. 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:15.160 But not every state or district has that kind of capacity. 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.560 In place right now to do so many tests so frequently, 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.440 and it's really not a sure answer as to whether 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.240 or not the schools are safe without that now. As 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:29.240 part of the announcement regarding his plans for schools, President 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.000 Biden has also, of course, recently announced his pick for 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.960 Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona. What we know about his 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.240 views regarding either remote or in person learning and the 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:45.040 reopening of schools. It was speculated that Miguel Cardona was 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.880 picked partly because of the role he played in Connecticut's reopening. 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.800 We don't know that for sure, but in that role, 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.640 he was the state's Commissioner of Education before becoming the 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.840 nominee for Secretary of Education, and he was a strong 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.360 advocate for school reopening along with the state's governor, but 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:09.160 didn't go so far as to mandate Connecticut schools to reopen. Instead, 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.080 they allowed the districts a bit of flexibility to decide 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:16.400 for themselves, and of course some did, some didn't. I 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.480 think New Haven Schools just opened last week for the 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.839 first time since the beginning of the pandemic. It's complicated. 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:24.760 I think he did get a little bit of pushback 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.160 from certain districts or teachers who were made to go back. 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.800 But he has done this once before as at a 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:37.400 state level. And do we know anything about the say, 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:42.640 prioritization of teachers in the vaccine rollout. Is there a 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:46.640 chance that more teachers will qualify for being say, front 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.320 of the line to receive vaccines. There are states that 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.840 are really pushing teachers quite high on the list in 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:55.880 order to get them vaccinated as quickly as possible, in 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.800 large part because a lot of state leaders see school 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.240 real opening has a huge hinge to the recovery of 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.679 their economies. Allowing students to get back into schools with 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:11.200 some regularity would free up a lot of parents who 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:13.560 otherwise aren't able to go into their work or have 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:17.360 complicated work schedules. So it does vary state by state. 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:19.760 In New York, I think teachers are in Group one B, 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.559 which is alongside some essential grocery workers and people over 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.839 the age of sixty five, and they are actively being 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.160 inoculated right now. But it's difficult, you know. I've talked 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.000 to a couple of teachers who have have their appointments 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.920 canceled or are unable to get a slot. I spoke 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.760 to one teacher in New Jersey last week who is 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.960 being mandated to go back into two in person teaching 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.600 and hasn't been able to get a shot. So it's 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.640 not perfect. Teachers are getting vaccinated, I think, as quickly 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:55.400 as states can vaccinate them, but it's just a huge 0:10:55.440 --> 0:11:00.320 lotistical challenge for these districts and teachers to get everyone 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:05.840 vaccinated as quickly as possible. Now, the opening of schools 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:09.880 within his first one days is a very ambitious plan. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.280 Many think that we are not going to be seeing 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:18.240 a normal school system or a school year really until 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.439 the start of the next school year in the fall. 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.160 I mean, how do you respond to to those who 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:27.560 think that this is really quite a distance off. I 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.560 guess it kind of depends what we think normal is. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.760 I mean, there's nobody really in education that is not 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.400 eager to get students back in schools in some capacity. 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.680 You know, Virtual learning has really been quite difficult for 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.680 a lot of students, especially UM students of color and 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.480 low income students who are you know, more likely to 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:51.040 be UM without digital devices or without strong internet access. 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.680 There have just been complications left and right. And I 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.080 think there's about a third of students in the US 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:01.200 who since the beginning of the pandemic, have never set 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.520 foot in a classroom, and right now, I think about 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.400 fifty pcent maybe a little bit less, are currently doing 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:13.240 virtual school. So Biden's goal to get a majority of 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.120 schools in person, we're technically not that far off from it. 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:18.480 I mean, there are a lot of places in the 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.960 country where students are doing in person or some sort 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:26.200 of hybrid situation. But presumably if he's talking about opening 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.320 a majority of those that have yet to reopen, that's 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.040 really tough. And there are going to be some schools 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:38.439 with strong social distancing protocols or um maybe a B schedules. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.120 It's going to be a mishmash of policies and what 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:45.120 these reopenings look like, and for sure that it's going 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.920 to look very different from you know, what we think 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.120 of as normal in person schooling pre pandemic for quite 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:57.600 some time. That was Nick Corrello, and that's it for 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.280 our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.079 and twenty bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.839 slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.599 us a review at a rating on Apple Podcasts or 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.319 Spotify it's the best way to help more listeners find 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:18.199 our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:23.360 Tophor foreheads Magnus Henrickson and me Laura Carlson. Today's main 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:27.800 story was reported by Nick Corrello. Original music by Leo Sedrin. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.400 Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.240 is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.