Welcome Back… And Stay Safe!
Photo of yours truly, gracefully drooling her saliva into the tube for routine Covid-19 testing -- easy, peasy!
Happy Back-to-School! Whether you just started this week or have been back for a few weeks, pause for a moment to congratulate yourself, take a breath, and maybe even sit still for a second! This year feels a little different to me. Back in June, I was helping schools prepare for the next normal or even ‘post pandemic’, but guess what folks - COVID-19 is still here! And not just COVID, but Delta! Now, you might be saying, “COVID? I got this - I made it through last year’s virtual/ in-person/ hybrid schedule merry-go-round”. You can social distance like it’s your job, you keep your mask over your nose most of the time, and no one is better at cleaning classrooms than your team! All of that is great. It will serve you well, and it is a testament to you and your team’s persistence and drive during one of the most challenging years of teaching. However, this year it won’t be enough. Why not? We are all in this year - most everyone is back to school in person, and Delta is showing us just how persistent this pandemic is. We can’t let down our guard just yet. So, what do we do?
The CDC recently updated its guidelines for keeping you and your students safe in schools this year. Let me break it down and talk mitigation strategies. These are doable, require a minimal time investment, and can save lives! First up, the best way to protect yourself and others is the vaccine - get one! Seriously, just get it, you even get a cool sticker to wear around for the rest of the day. Get it to protect you, your students, your family, and your community. If you can, require that your school staff get the vaccine! Next up, masks. Masks should be worn at all times indoors this year, above your nose, by anybody over the age of 2. There is simply no excuse not to wear them at this point, you can easily pick up a cute, fuschia one from Target (a personal fave), or go big and splurge for the KN95 masks (another personal fave). Either way, masks are with us for the long term and need to become a part of your daily routine.
Other mitigation strategies that might seem like common sense at this point, but still deserve a mention include staying home when you’re sick (SUPER important, y’all, stay home, really, stay home), physical distancing (no hugging please...air fives will have to serve for another year!), hand hygiene (I’ve become my mom with all the free pumps of hand sanitizer I enjoy when I’m visiting schools), clean air (this means HVAC upgrades and opening windows to enjoy that fall air!), keeping surfaces clean and disinfected, and contact tracing (yes, we do still need to do contact tracing, it works to stop the spread). We worked miracles last year keeping this up in the school environment, but with back to school in person in full effect this year, we need to work harder to sustain the implementation of these layered, mitigation strategies.
Finally - routine, screening testing (aka, asymptomatic testing). It is critical that we stay vigilant and run routine asymptomatic COVID-19 testing in schools this year. The Feds (CDC) gave EVERY state (like all of them, including my not-yet-a-state DC) money to set up school testing programs, so USE THAT MONEY! Will you see positive cases? Sure, every school that’s opening is seeing them, as we all transition from spending time in our communities to spending time in a more controlled environment with lots of mitigation strategies -- school. You’ll quickly do your contact tracing, and quarantine groups of students, staff or even classrooms, but don’t get discouraged.
Your hard work is paying off, and you’re protecting your school community by testing and sending folks home. Testing is one of the proven ways to stop an outbreak before it starts. It also protects those students at school who are too young to get vaccinated or are unable to. Furthermore, there are now tests that don’t require a technician to touch your brain through your nose to get results. In DC, most schools are testing unvaccinated students and staff weekly, using a saliva-based test that even the little PK kids can do themselves (note photo of yours truly, gracefully drooling her saliva into the tube -- easy, peasy).
Back to school is an incredibly exciting and stressful time. It is one of my favorites times of the year, and this year is no exception. I recently trained a school’s staff on COVID protocols, and I asked them what they were most excited about this year. Nearly all of them said being with the students in person. That’s right! We all will be together this year, in person. Will it be a challenge? Yes! But every school year comes with unique challenges and I’m confident that we are ready. You’ve got this!