Outbreaks force reversals on U.S. in-person learning

ATLANTA — A few weeks into the new school year, growing numbers of U.S. districts have halted in-person learning or switched to hybrid models because of rapidly mounting coronavirus infections.

More than 80 school districts or charter networks have closed or delayed inperson classes for at least one entire school in more than a dozen states. Others have sent home whole grade levels or asked half their students to stay home on hybrid schedules.

The setbacks in mostly small, rural districts that were among the first to return dampen hopes for a sustained, widespread return to classrooms after two years of schooling disrupted by the pandemic.

In Georgia, where in-person classes are on hold in more than 20 districts that started the school year without mask requirements, some superintendents say the virus appeared to be spreading in schools before they sent students home.

“We just couldn’t manage it with that much staff out, having to cover classes and the spread so rapid,” said Eddie Morris, superintendent of the 1,050-student Johnson County district in Georgia. With 40% of students in quarantine or isolation, the district shifted last week to online instruction until Sept. 13.

More than 1 of every 100 school-aged children has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two weeks in Georgia, according to state health data published Friday. Children age 5 to 17 are currently more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than adults.

Around the country, some schools are starting the year later than planned. One district in Western Oregon pushed back the start of classes by a week after several employees were exposed to a positive teacher during training.

Before the latest virus resurgence, hopes were high that schools nationwide could approach normalcy, moving beyond the stops and starts of remote learning that interfered with some parents’ jobs and impaired many students’ academic performance.

Most epidemiologists say they still believe that in-person school can be conducted safely, and that it’s important considering the academic, social and emotional damage to students since the pandemic slammed into American schools in March 2020.

In some cases, experts say, the reversals reflect a careless approach among districts that acted as if the pandemic were basically over.

“People should realize it’s not over. It’s a real problem, a real public health issue,” said Dr. Tina Tan, a Northwestern University medical professor who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Infectious Diseases. “You have to do everything to prevent the spread of COVID in the school.”

Tan and others say that means not just masks in schools but a push for vaccination, social distancing, ventilation and other precautions, providing multiple layers of protection.

Dairean Dowling-aguirre’s 8-year-old son was less than two weeks into the school year when he and other third graders were sent home last week in Cottonwood, Arizona.

The boy took classes online last year and was overjoyed when his parents said he could attend school in-person. But Dowling-aguirre said she grew more anxious as infections climbed. Masks were optional in her son’s class, and she said fewer than 20% of students were wearing them.