Two educators in Florida share how the rising number of COVID-19 cases and loose enforcement of safety measures in schools has brought a new level of daily stress into their classrooms.
所有数据和统计数据均基于发布时公开可用的数据。一些信息可能已过时。访问我们的coronavirus huband follow our实时更新页面有关COVID-19-19大流行的最新信息。
大卫·伯杰（David Berger）在佛罗里达教授12年级英语。他已经完全接种了Covid-19，但他不愿意问他的学生是否是或要求他们在学校时戴口罩。
伯杰（Berger）返回秋季面对面的教育后，每天都看过越来越多的学生戴口罩。现在，他说，在任何给定时间，大约有十分之一的学生戴着口罩。
Last year, Berger’s school district in Land O’ Lakes — about a 20-minute drive from Tampa — would send out emails to staff when someone tested positive for COVID-19. “This year, they’re not doing that,” Berger told Healthline. “I know there have been cases this year, but I don’t know how many.”
佛罗里达州各地都有这种不确定性水平。
Just over half of eligible residents ages 12 and older are considered fully vaccinated in the state, even as theDelta variantcontinues to tear through primarily unvaccinated residents and visitors.
这对阳光状态的许多教育工作者来说是关注的，尤其是之后four teachers died of COVID-19在布劳沃德县的24小时内，包括劳德代尔堡等受欢迎的旅游目的地。
“在24小时内,我们有一个助理教师r pass away, a teacher at her school pass away, an elementary teacher pass away, and another teacher at a high school,” Broward Teachers Union president Anna Fusco told哥伦比亚广播公司迈阿密。
佛罗里达州和德克萨斯州一直在大流行期间坚决反对基本的预防方法，其中包括其州长发出的命令，禁止在公共场合戴口罩并努力提高疫苗接种率的命令。
取而代之的是，他们的政策更加紧密地遵循了保守的“个人自由”法令，而不是医疗专家的建议。
Meanwhile, judges have been checking those governors, telling them they don’t have authoritarian control over what local health authorities can determine is in the best interest for their communities as the Delta variant continues to spread primarily among the unvaccinated.
7月30日，佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯（Ron DeSantis）发行了executive orderbanning school districts and other entities from mandating masks in schools, citing, among other unfounded claims, that “masking children may lead to negative health and societal ramifications.”
但是上周，法官否决了that order, saying DeSantis overstepped his authority by preventing local jurisdictions from mandating masks in schools.
Texas’ Gov. Greg Abbott issued a similar ban in his state, but theTexas Supreme Courtaffirmed a judge’s ruling that allowed cities and school districts to make their own rules.
On Monday, August 30, the U.S. Department of Education宣布it was opening a civil rights investigation to see if restrictions on mask mandates in five states — Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah — are violating the civil rights of disabled students.
School districts are now facing a more infectious and effective Delta variant, as even the most stringent of districts are now welcoming students back.
Just in the last month, that sent 10,000 students in 14 states into quarantine after being exposed to someone who came in contact with the coronavirus, according to theWashington Post。
That includes Palm Beach, where 160,000 students returned to campuses without mask mandates. It took only2 daysbefore 440 students and staff had to return home to quarantine.
The district mandates masks on school property, but parents still have the option to let their children opt out, which means it’s more of a suggestion than a mandate.
While children ages 11 and younger remain ineligible for any of the vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says getting kids back into the classroom is
但是，CDC指出，应采取基本预防措施进行面对面的指导。这包括在室内戴着口罩，教室中的学生之间的3英尺身体距离，以及测试，通风，洗手和其他方法。
The CDC continues to stress that there’s one quick way to control the coronavirus on school campuses: having all eligible students and adults fully vaccinated.
“Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic,” the CDC says in its guidance. “Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.”
But not everyone is following that guidance, and it’s leading to some students — many who are still too young to get vaccinated — and staff developing COVID-19.
A
尽管当地的规定在室内戴口罩，但老师还是大声朗读了班级，而无需戴口罩。
“This outbreak of COVID-19 that originated with an unvaccinated teacher highlights the importance of vaccinating school staff members who are in close indoor contact with children ineligible for vaccination as schools reopen,” the report states.
Teaching was a stressful profession long before the pandemic began. But many don’t like the political game being played in the state capitols about what can be done on school campuses to protect educators, staff, and students.
In Berger’s classroom in Florida, he notices that students would rather work together at tables. That means social distancing is hard to maintain because there’s not enough space to go around.
伯杰说：“考虑到已经有多狭窄的学校，我很乐意在室内授权面具。”“面具会让更多的人放松。”
克雷斯蒂·史密斯（Crestie Smith）博士在海牛县的坦帕（TampaMS in Education程序。
“我的学生已经足够大，可以接种疫苗。有些有。我不知道是谁。”史密斯谈到她的中学生时说。“人们非常压力。人们非常担心。”
当地的学校董事会确实在学校需要口罩，但是像该州的其他地区一样，父母可以选择孩子opt out of the mandate。
Smith said half of the students at her middle school wear masks, partially fueled by some kids liking the option of being able to hide some usual preteen awkwardness behind it.
“Kids in middle school are weird,” she said.
Loose masking has led to students and staff being potentially exposed to the coronavirus, leading to几十个教室被关闭隔离。
That, Smith said, means kids’ daily lives are once again disrupted and their education is impacted because the school district — like many others that have taken a hard-line approach to returning to school — doesn’t allow for a mix of virtual and in-person schooling.
“A lot of kids have to stay home because they have to quarantine,” she said. “Academically, we will have to play a lot of catch-up.”