For parents worried about their children attending school this fall and the hash non attendance will make of their child care arrangements, the situation looks bleak. The experience of schools in the southern states, which traditionally open earlier than northern, is instructive. A picture posted to social media by a student in a Georgia high school shows what in non pandemic times would be a perfectly normal between class scrum in the hallways. The only hint things are not as they should be is the 10% or so of the students wearing masks. Incidentally, the student who posted the pictures was suspended by the district.
If these scenes are repeated in NY schools, the state is liable to see a surge in coronavirus cases unless something drastic is done to make sure that Georgia school's experience is not repeated here. Meanwhile, many child care options for parents have been foreclosed by the economic chaos caused by the pandemic. Many day care operations closed in the April have since gone out of business and those that remain have waiting lists. Many who could not afford full time child care had ad hoc arrangements with parents and friends and are now loathe to put these people in danger, especially those with underlying conditions which would make a Covid 19 infection possibly life threatening.
With less than a month to go before schools are scheduled to open, there has been little or no debate as to what the effects of child care arrangements will have on parents and the economy. It is time to have those discussions, starting in Congress and extending to local districts. Hiding our heads in the sand is not an option.
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