Lamont repeats support for in-person learning
Even as hospitalizations and infections have reached new levels in Connecticut, state leaders have been unwavering in their support to keep schools open, particularly for the youngest students.
“If I was a superintendent and parents are really anxious and I’ve got staffing issues ... I would think those high school kids who are less likely to be able to cohort, that would be the ones that you would probably move to distance first,” Gov. Ned Lamont said during his Monday press conference.
“I would think K-5, they don’t learn as well through Zoom, they need that supervision, they need that interaction, they’re much less likely to infect others — I would fight like heck to keep those schools open as long as I humanly could do it,” he added.
Lamont’s comments came a day after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reversed course by announcing the nation’s largest public school system will reopen beginning next week.
Connecticut schools, meanwhile, reported 918 new coronavirus infections last week along with 354 new cases among staff. Those numbers were down from the previous week, when 1,146 cases were reported among students and 487 among staff.
On Monday, Fairfield schools reported 17 new cases over the Thanksgiving break, though district officials said no schools would need to close.
In Norwalk, four schools — Norwalk High School, P-TECH Norwalk, Marvin Elementary School and Columbus-Magnet School — began remote instruction Monday due to COVID cases.
But Lamont and others remain confident in the governor’s claim that a third-grade classroom in Connecticut is among the safest places to be right now.
When students and teachers quarantine because they’ve been in contact with someone with the virus “we’re not seeing them get sick,” said Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. “We’re seeing them remain healthy until the end of the quarantine and come back. That would tell us that we are not seeing the spread in schools ... we’re just not seeing that transmission.”
Josh Geballe, the state’s chief operating officer, pointed to strict mask-wearing in classrooms as a factor.
“Those of us with kids know that the big difference with classrooms as opposed to some other places right now is they’re incredibly good about wearing their mask,” he said. “They wear it properly over their nose and mouth, they wear it all the time.”
Rabinowitz said concerns raised in the spring about students wearing masks “really were unfounded.
“They just take it as part of life right now,” she said.
When teachers are quarantined, they often continue to lead the daily instruction virtually from home while a substitute or paraprofessional monitors the class in person, Rabinowitz said.
The governor noted again on Monday that the state is providing guidance, but leaving decisions about closing schools up to the local officials. He also referenced a comment made over the weekend by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert: “Close the bars, open the schools.”
Lamont signaled support for that idea Monday when pressed by reporters about whether he would issue more restrictions on indoor dining or gyms.
In a letter and petition, a group of more than 40 Connecticut doctors have pushed the governor to close those businesses as hospitalizations have increased. Lamont agreed those restrictions would be the next logical step, but said the state’s hospital capacity has not hit the threshold for more restrictions yet.
The drug company Moderna announced Monday it would ask U.S. and European regulators for emergency use authorizations for its vaccine candidate. An earlier vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer is expected to be rolled out on Dec. 14, Lamont said.