Should schools reopen?
Schools should not reopen due the unsafe effects it would have on the community as a whole.
For many months school administrations, teachers, students and parents have been hesitant about going back to school. On Oct. 24,2020, Michigan set the record for the highest number of documented COVID-19 cases, with 3,338 new cases. Since the end of March, cases in the state of Michigan have continued to increase. It is obvious to say it is unsafe to go back to school due to the spread of COVID-19 and the effects it has on individuals such as fever, cough, loss of smell and/or taste and possibly even death. Also, reopening schools will make teaching harder than virtual learning.
If schools are open, instructions will be less effective on students. School can’t go back to the way it was in the middle of a pandemic. Children will not be able to play together with toys, work in groups, or even do any activities together due to social distancing that has to be required. Also, no one is going to be comfortable with wearing a face mask for 7 hours. Teachers and students won’t stand the face mask.
There have been several active coronavirus cases that were reported, recently, in Dearborn Public Schools. These cases were identified shortly after opening up the schools to conduct in person labs and host sporting events. There were active cases reported by members of the field hockey team at DHS that put the season at a pause. So what makes it safe to send hundreds of students back to school during a pandemic?
Dearborn Public Schools district nurse, Carrie Conn, said that our community is susceptible to a major outbreak. “The spread of Covid-19 within our community is at the highest risk level currently. We are at a positivity rate of 8%—this indicates that many people in our community are becoming infected with Covid-19 without any apparent knowledge of where they are being exposed to the virus,” Conn said.
With a positivity rate that high, it is very unsafe to re-open schools. Positivity rate is the percentage of positive COVID-19 cases. Many districts in Michigan have opened schools back up again and had to shut down due to the spread of COVID-19. That indicates how quickly this virus is spreading due to schools opening up again.
Reopening schools will not only affect students, but it will affect their older relatives too such as their grandparents. Even though studies have shown that it doesn’t impact kids as much, and only impacts the elderly more, reopening schools can still affect the elderly. Many teachers are caregivers to their elder family relatives and can pass the virus to them. Also, many students live with their grandparents, and even their parents, that might still get affected by also passing it down.
The Dearborn Public School board has voted to maintain on-line instruction until January, and the earliest the high schools will return is for the start of second semester.Reopening schools is going to do more harm than good for the city of Dearborn and its residents. It will only spread this virus rather than containing it.
