The disruptions also raise alarms about risks to students. Long stretches of remote learning over the last two years have taken a toll, leaving many kids with academic and mental health setbacks that experts are still trying to understand.
President Joe Biden, who campaigned on a promise to reopen classrooms, is pressing schools to remain open. With vaccines and regular virus testing, his administration has said there’s no reason to keep schools closed.
“Look, we have no reason to think at this point that omicron is worse for children than previous variants,” Biden told reporters on Tuesday. “We know that our kids can be safe when in school.”
But the reality for some districts is not so simple: Testing supplies have been scarce, and many districts face low vaccine uptake in their communities. In Detroit, just 44% of residents 5 and older have received a vaccine dose, compared with a statewide rate of 63%.
In a letter to parents, Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that in light of low vaccination rates among students and families, a return to the classroom would lead to “extreme levels of positive cases.”
“The only way we’re going to get to the other side of this pandemic is if we move to higher rates of vaccination,” Vitti said.
