As Hawaii’s 257 public schools press on with the plan to return to full in- person learning today amid the unprecedented omicron surge, the question for many is, Will it be safe?
The answer varies, some experts say, depending on the student’s health and vaccination status, and the classroom conditions.
Dr. Scott Miscovich says he thinks students and teachers who are fully vaccinated generally can return to school feeling relatively safe, especially if they have received a booster shot and are properly masked.
But if a student is unvaccinated or has medical conditions, including obesity, that put them at risk for complications and hospitalization from COVID, he said, “I would not be sending my child back right now.” He voiced the same caution for teachers and staff.
In addition, cloth masks and gaiters are inadequate, due to omicron’s high transmissibility and greater tendency to adhere in the upper airways, said Miscovich, who is president, CEO and founder of Premier Medical Group Hawaii.
He recommended the thicker N95 or KN95 masks and stressed that the mask should be sealed tight all around the sides so that the person is breathing through it, not around it. Surgical-style masks are a second choice.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Tim Brown of the East-West Center also has called for the use of N95 or KN95 masks in schools, and said the state should have made a plan to use federal funds to purchase and provide them for students and teachers. The DOE currently does not mandate a specific type of mask.
Brown and Miscovich in separate remarks also said that the schools’ use of 3 feet as a standard for distancing is no longer adequate with omicron. Miscovich added that he feels it’s crucial that the DOE complete and make public a thorough professional assessment of the air ventilation quality for every classroom.
Miscovich said he hopes parents will advise their children to speak up if they don’t feel classroom distancing and ventilation are safe or if they notice anyone not properly masked.
In-person learning
The state Department of Education has maintained that resuming in-person learning on schedule is crucial for students’ social development and academic achievement.
Interim schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi sent a letter to parents statewide Monday emphasizing that the DOE has worked closely with the state Department of Health to monitor effects of the omicron variant.
“We anticipate a rise in case counts because schools are a reflection of their communities; however, data shows the safety measures practiced in schools are effective,” Hayashi said. “We are also fortunate to now have additional resources, including vaccinations for students 5 years and older — meaning nearly everyone on our campuses is eligible to be vaccinated. Booster shots and opportunities for testing within the community or at school are also available.”
Hayashi has said the DOE’s emphasis on getting vaccinated, masking, social distancing and hand-washing “have helped keep our positivity rates lower than the broader community, as well as our counterparts on the mainland.”
When asked whether the state will implement a “test to stay” policy to allow students who test negative to remain in the classroom, a DOE spokesperson said the department is expanding school-based testing efforts in partnership with DOH via the federally funded programs Operation Expanded Testing, and Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity. The latter will expand to Oahu this week with CVS, she said, and about 20 schools have signed up to begin offering testing this week.
Planning criticized
Still, Brown and Miscovich, along with the head of Hawaii’s teachers union, decry what they feel is a lack of aggressive planning and transparency at the DOE on how it plans to address the new challenges specific to the omicron surge. Hawaii State Teachers Association President Osa Tui Jr. calls it “a recipe for disaster.”
Just as other agencies locally and nationally have reported omicron-related absences causing interruptions in services, Tui said, he expects eventual large numbers of teacher absences due to omicron to worsen Hawaii’s preexisting shortage of teachers and substitutes.
“I’m sure we are going to have some schools where there’s insufficient staffing,” Tui said. “And it’s going to require, just like last year, superintendents and other state-level employees who are having to go out and help with cafeteria monitoring and things like that.”
Teachers were scheduled to return to classrooms Monday. A DOE spokesperson said approximately 600 teachers called out sick for just that first day, which was on par with December’s numbers, when a typical day might see 650 absences.
Miscovich, whose Premier Medical Group USA provides COVID-19 testing and vaccination services to about 2,000 school districts on the mainland, said many school districts are delaying their returns by a week or two, to try to avoid the peak of the omicron surge expected in a couple of weeks. He also criticized the DOE for failing to push forward a comprehensive “test to stay” policy that could minimize disruptions to in-person learning.
New York City, home of the nation’s largest public school system, reopened classrooms to roughly 1 million students with a stock of take-home COVID-19 test kits and plans to double the number of random tests done in schools.
Hospitalizations of children nationwide are rising. An average of 378 children were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 each day over the week that ended Dec. 28, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was a 66% increase from the previous week.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
