13 August, CNN

Over 2,000 people are quarantined as US schools reopen

From CNN's Faith Karimi and Steve Almasy

Coronavirus continues to spread at high rates across the South, Midwest and West — even as the total number of new cases has declined following a summer surge.

Nationally, over the past seven days, the United States is averaging about 53,000 new cases per day, down 11% from the week prior. As educators and parents clash over starting in-person classes, some schools that have reopened have seen new cases.

More than 2,000 students, teachers and staff have been placed under quarantine in the few reopened districts in several states, a CNN tally of reported cases show. Of those, at least 230 positive coronavirus cases have been reported among the school districts reopened for in-person learning.

Here are some of the impacted areas:

• In Georgia, just outside Atlanta, more than 1,100 students, teachers and staff in the Cherokee County School District are under quarantine due to dozens of Covid-19 positive cases or exposure. Schools reopened 10 days ago.
• In Florida, a day after the Martin County School District reopened for in-person teaching, an entire elementary class and one bus route were placed under quarantine after a student showed coronavirus symptoms, spokeswoman Jennifer DeShazo said Wednesday.
• Several states including Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Indiana reported cases of teachers, students and sports players testing positive for coronavirus. At Oklahoma's Broken Arrow Public Schools District, 33 employees tested positive last week, Superintendent Janet Vinson said.

The White House released new recommendations for schools. They are primarily basic hygiene tips and don't outline what schools should do if they find coronavirus cases in their halls. The recommendations also encourage the use of masks, but do not require students, teachers or staff to wear them.

President Trump said the federal government will provide up to 125 million masks to school districts nationwide.

It is still not safe, the safety of staff and students is of paramount importance, i think in many parts in the world, the safety issues are not met.

Think so dear Haider Abdulhameed Alqaraghuli and safety first always.

14 August, CNN

Teachers face Covid-19 fears as US school districts decide whether to reopen in person

On Tuesday night, Aaron Fortner, a high school English teacher in Missoula, Montana, sat at his computer for nearly four hours watching a virtual meeting of Missoula County Public Schools' board of trustees. Leaders listened as citizens weighed in against starting the school year in person.

"Out of 50 or 60 public comments, only one person supported in-person learning," he said. "I was hopeful."

Fortner hoped on behalf of the rattled teachers he advocated for as a member of the local teacher's union. Those educators were afraid of coronavirus spreading rampantly in schools teeming with crowds of ebullient young people. Without tenure, many teachers didn't feel confident about speaking out, he said. Nonetheless, the community appeared on their side, arguing for virtual classes.

But then the board voted overwhelmingly to support a hybrid model of both online and in-person learning, to be implemented when students return on August 26. His heart sank.

"I was just blown away," he said. "It was a jaw-dropping moment after three and a half hours of public comment. It was an avalanche moment for our community."

14 August 2020, CNN

Georgia parent says Covid-19 outbreak in school was her "worst fears" come true

In Georgia's Cherokee County School District, more than 1,000 students, teachers and staff members are under quarantine after Covid-19 cases were reported.

Hilary Porterfield, a parent of a high school student in the district, was told her daughter may have been exposed to the virus — six days after the potential exposure.

“It was terrifying. It was my worst fears…come true,” she said on CNN’s “New Day.”

15 August, CNN

More than 96% of schools in California to begin the academic year online

More than 96% of California students will start the school year with distance learning, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a news conference.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to bear down on the west coast, schooling remains a top concern for students, teachers, and parents. 

“We don’t just want people to take lectures and just videotape them and put them online,” Newsom said. “This has to be a much more interactive process where we want students brought into the screen, truly engaged peer-to-peer and not just with the interaction of the teacher.”

How remote learning will work: Only 71% of districts are confident that students will have the technology needed for online learning. As such, California has partnered with many tech and office supply companies to ensure each student has a laptop or tablet and access to Wi-Fi.

There is a run on supplies nationwide, but many companies are prioritizing schools in providing the needed devices, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said.

“These circumstances are not ideal as students return to school,” Thurmond said, “but students continue to learn, even under these conditions.”

Educators are leaning in, State School Board President Linda Darling-Hammond, said.

“We've come a long way since spring," Darling-Hammond said.

She believes that when it is time to go back to the classroom, students and teachers will return more technologically proficient.

As a parent I'm concerned, what is better having my child safe with me at home or risking losing my child to the dreaded COVID 19?

As a teacher in Africa, I'm concerned about the large class sizes. The overcrowded classrooms are definitely a risk to both the teacher and the learner. Until the government is able to do something to decongest the classroom, going back to school is not feasible at the moment.

Thanks for nice sharing dear Mary Waiganjo and yes, it's more problematic for third world countries.

CoVID- -19 is not a disease to joke with. It has affected both the rich and poor. The disease is traumatizing and expensive. The schools can only be open if the government and manager of schools have installed the health measure. Schools can go on after Covid-19 but the people who have died cannot go on.

Think so dear Njoki Milcah

Providing students with a good education is very important matter. But i think a safety for all of people including teachers and strudents is a top priority for now.

So we don't need to hurry.

Think so dear Soo Yeon Park and every life is precious.

Unfortunately, we are all aware that the spread of corona virus does not slow down. Next, somehow it is most dangerous when ignored.

I do agree dear Anton Vrdoljak .

I agree it is a balancing act, but a balance between different approaches to teaching to maximise safety and learning.

A blended approach of online and face to face lessons would be appropriate. However, i know from my own teaching that engagement from more disadvantaged students is worse online.

It really is a question of risk assessment whilst not being naive to the fact that we have no control over how people mix outside of the school.

Thanks for nice sharing dear Michael Power

Thanks for your kind sharing dear Atubi Onamrewho Favour

18 August, CNN

Hundreds of Covid-19 cases already reported as students return to college campuses

Students nationwide are returning to college campuses, and some schools are reporting pockets of positive Covid-19 cases.

Here's a look at what some schools are reporting:

• University of Notre Dame: As of Tuesday morning, 58 students have tested positive, according to the school's online health dashboard. Students returned to the university's Indiana campus on Aug. 3.
• University of Kentucky: At least 160 people have tested positive at the university since school began on Aug. 3, according to the university's Covid-19 dashboard that tracks positive cases.
• University of Western Kentucky: The University of Western Kentucky reported 19 positive cases of Covid-19 among students and staff between Aug. 7 and 13, out of the 132 tests conducted during that period.
• East Carolina University: East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, reported 29 positive Covid-19 cases last week, a 7.8% positivity rate. Since students started returning to campus on Aug. 5, the university has averaged about 30 new cases per week, according to the school's Covid-19 dashboard.
• Colorado College: At least 155 students in one dorm at Colorado College in Colorado Springs have been forced to quarantine after the college learned of a student who tested positive and did not practice proper social distancing guidelines.
• Northeast Mississippi Community College: The college in Booneville, Mississippi, shared that “around 300” students are currently in quarantine, the school's president Dr. Ricky G. Ford said on the school's official podcast.
• Oklahoma State University: An Oklahoma State University sorority house is under quarantine after 23 members tested positive for Covid-19, according to the university. 

The development of skills and cognitive abilities is difficult to achieve under the electronic system

Think so sir Yousif Yaqoob Yousif but we need to think more about safety in this global crisis.

Here's what happened when students went to school during the 1918 pandemic

19 August 2020, CNN

This isn't the first time leaders have struggled with deciding whether to keep schools open in a pandemic.

During the influenza pandemic in 1918, even though the world was a very different place, the discussion was just as heated.

That pandemic killed an estimated 5 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans, before it was all over.

While the vast majority of cities closed their schools, three opted to keep them open -- New York, Chicago and New Haven, according to historians.

The decisions of health officials in those cities was based largely on the hypothesis of public health officials that students were safer and better off at school. It was, after all, the height of the Progressive Era, with its emphasis on hygiene in schools and more nurses for each student than is thinkable now.

18 August, Nature

How schools can reopen safely during the pandemic

Masks, class sizes and hygiene are important, but low community spread is key.

At schools across South Korea, children eat their lunches in silence, facing plastic screens that separate them from their friends1. They wear masks, except when practicing social distancing in the playground. And their temperatures are checked twice every morning — first at home and again at the school gates.

This could be the new reality for the millions of children around the world. Summer holidays are drawing to an end in the Northern Hemisphere, and in places such as the United States, the United Kingdom and some European countries that closed schools during the coronavirus pandemic, governments are debating when and how to open schools. A growing number of studies show that there are ways to do this safely. The key is vigilance on hygiene and physical distancing, a swift public-health response to halt the spread of any infections and, most crucially, low levels of viral spread in the community.

“Some countries in Asia, particularly South Korea, provide a good model for how schools can provide face-to-face teaching during the pandemic,” says Zoë Hyde, an epidemiologist at the University of Western Australia in Perth.

But researchers say that if schools are opened before community transmission reaches low levels, cases will surge.

Yes, reopening of school in this Corona pandemic is a balancing work between learning and safety. If the schools reopen it will face safety issues of children. The learning will take place under the Corona virus threat and under certain precautionary safty measures.

Thanks for sharing dear Lokesh Prasad Dash

At least 41 schools in Berlin have reported that students or teachers have become infected with the coronavirus less than two weeks after schools reopened in the German capital, AP reports.

21 August, The Guardian

UNICEF

When children attend school they not only have an easier time learning — they have access to social support, handwashing facilities and nutritious meals.

Reopening schools must be a priority as COVID-19 lockdowns ease.

I think, we are need revolution education..

Thanks for sharing your idea dear Ahmad Samawi

South Korea stops in-person classes at almost 2,000 schools

24 August, CNN

Almost 2,000 schools in South Korea have suspended in-person classes due to the latest surge of coronavirus cases, according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Education on Monday.

The announcement affects 1,845 schools across the nation, the first time since May that more than 1,000 schools will be closed, said the ministry.

A total of 283 students and 79 faculty members have tested positive for novel coronavirus since May 20 when South Korea began a phased return of pupils to the classroom, according to the ministry.

Countries around the world are currently grappling with how to keep children learning during the pandemic.

The world is facing a "generational catastrophe" because of school closures during the coronavirus pandemic, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned at the beginning of August.

I ansolutely agree with the reopening of school and safety since brain is nonstop, looking for the new phenamena and thirsty to enhance input. Inactivity of brain during vacation is like getting sluggish of nothing to do in routin and definitly danjerous.

Thanks for sharing dear Zhila Ghaemi

25 August, CNN

Almost half of US states are reporting Covid-19 cases on college campuses

As students return to campuses, at least 24 states are reporting positive cases of Covid-19 at colleges and universities.

This represents more than 3,300 cases of Covid-19 among students and staff.

Remember: This is list represents cases that CNN has reported so far. There are likely many others.

25 August, CNN

Almost 4,000 students and nearly 600 teachers quarantined in Mississippi due to Covid-19 exposure 

26 August, CNN

Czech Republic aims to balance risks of school reopening by making masks mandatory again

The Czech government has announced new rules on face masks starting September 1, to coincide with the day Czech schools are set to reopen for the new academic year.

In the announcement on Monday, the country’s health ministry said the new rules -- which make face masks mandatory in health and social care facilities, public transport, public offices, such as town halls, and polling stations -- are directly related to the reopening of the schools.

The Czech Republic was one of the first in the world to make face masks compulsory when the pandemic started earlier this year. 

As the virus got under control, it started relaxing the rules and allowing people to go without face coverings in more places. However, the start of the new school year makes the return of face masks a prudent decision, the government said.

Yes, reopening of schools is a balancing act and a trade off between learning and safety. Because, learning is essential for children and ensuring learning and safety of children is the act of the government. If the Government reopens the schools, it has to take care of both the things and maintain a balance between them.

Think so dear Lokesh Prasad Dash and every life is precious.

29 August, CNN

Coronavirus outbreaks identified among several hundred students at Kansas State University

Coronavirus outbreaks have been identified among several hundred students at Kansas State University. 

The students at four sororities have been told to quarantine for 14 days from the day the outbreak was declared. Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Xi Delta have six cases each, while Chi Omega and Kappa Delta have five cases apiece, the Riley County Health Department said Friday. 

More than 60 US universities and colleges in at least 36 states have reported positive cases of Covid-19, and some have returned to remote learning to try to stem the spread. More than 8,700 infections among American college students and staff were reported through Friday, as the nation approaches 6 million confirmed cases.

We have to weigh out our priorities. My mind is with the reopening as an educator but as a parent my heart is against it. I know my kids are happy to go back to school. They wear their masks and follow the protocols.

I think, they are follow to the medical protocol and easy access to learning resources. Teacher collaborated parent educated kids enjoy to go back to school

8 September, The Telegraph

Teachers in Bosnian village build open-air classroom to protect children from Covid-19

Teachers at an elementary school in the village of Kacuni in central Bosnia have used their summer holiday to build an open-air classroom outside their school to the joy of their students and local community.

Schools are open in Serbia, too.

Kids are wearing masks and classes last 30 minutes (instead of 45 min).

Sanitation measures are taken too.

Thanks for sharing dear Jelena B Popović-Djordjević