NYC SCHOOLS AT MODERATELY HIGH RISK OF SPREADING COVID-19 ACCORDING TO A KEY CDC GUIDELINE

 This CDC chart on reopening school buildings that is on the Staten Island Advance webpage concerns me.

What is NYC's number of new cases per 100,000 in the last 14 days? The answer was in Patch Tuesday:

The average rate citywide is 76 cases per 100,000 residents over the last four weeks.

That puts NYC in the orange "Higher Risk of Tranmission in Schools" category. Judging by how the contact tracing and PPE have been spotty at best, the DOE probably won't get a grade greater than "Moderate Risk of Transmission in Schools" in the final category.

What is the safest way to educate during the pandemic? Back to the CDC on their Continuum of Risk:

Lowest risk:

Students and teachers engage in virtual-only classes, activities, and events

You don't have to accept going into buildings if you don't feel it's safe. Can we please have the guts to collectively demand some human compassion before more DOE employees, students, and families are infected? I have been watching my two kids and my wife doing remote learning and teaching from home all week. It isn't perfect nor a substitute for in-person learning but there is live teaching and learning occurring. We can keep educating children at home  from teacher homes while saving lives and quite probably helping to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 in schools.