For our grandfamilies, we need to rethink school openings

Florida has one of the highest numbers of grandfamilies in the United States. ‘Grandfamily’ is used to identify families where grandparents raise children because their biological parents can no longer care for them. According to Grandparents.org, Florida’s school age children (18 and younger) being raised by their grandparent(s) is higher than the national average. This population also includes a significant number of older individuals who are in poverty and/or have a disability.

The probability of grandfamilies losing a grandparent is not a scare tactic; it is based on what has been felt across our country since the beginning of COVID-19. Collectively, we can agree the COVID-19 data has not been collected or reported consistently with fidelity. Regardless of which data point we use, the chance for a grandfamily to lose a senior adult is greater and extremely risky, since children can carry the virus without being symptomatic.

As Florida’s COVID-19 positive cases continue setting record highs, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued his plan to reopen schools in early August. DeSantis stated “We’re not shutting down, we’re gonna go forward, we’re gonna continue to protect the most vulnerable.”

The CDC defines the ‘most vulnerable’ as, “Older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness.” If the governor means what he says that his plan to reopen schools considers protecting the most vulnerable, I would urge the governor to reconsider his decision to reopen schools in a few weeks.

I am in favor of opening businesses and getting our jobs and lives back to a new normalcy. It’s unfortunate every issue in America seemingly turns into a partisan debate or political quarrel. My perspective on this is solely based on safety. Not only is the older population already a vulnerable group, but grandchildren are likely to bring the infection into the home from school, potentially infecting their sole provider.

With the current rise in positive cases and the trend not slowing down, opening schools means opening everything about schools. I am not convinced that returning millions of people together in schools can happen safely; it’s simply impossible to distance in schools.

I ask Governor DeSantis to reconsider his position for these reasons:

Lets protect Florida’s most vulnerable and all citizens — delay school reopenings while this virus is still active and spreading.

Florida’s public education system does not have funding for much-needed programs, professionals, resources, services or materials, so it absolutely doesn’t have sufficient money to make schools less infectious.

Florida is a hot bed for vacationers from all over the country who migrate for days/ weeks at a time and we are just beginning in this space and time.

The safer approach is to wait until a month after summer time is over and vacationers have left the state. Many states are still on vacation into early September because their state’s schools don’t start until right after Labor Day.