Delta variant warrants COVID-19 testing and precautions as school opens

August 18, 2021 | By Naomi Alfini

As a Harwood Unified Union School District parent of a young child, I'm deeply concerned about the state of COVID-19 protocols with which we're starting the new school year.

I urge the district to take a more cautious approach, given the unknowns of the Delta variant. This caution may be needed until children can be fully vaccinated, hopefully in a few months. I appreciate Superintendent Brigid Nease’s letter, but I would like to see added a requirement for children to get PCR COVID tests before returning to school.

HUUSD should have the power to require a test result, same as requiring that students be vaccinated for chickenpox, etc. (by rule 16 V.S.A. Section 834, which gives districts decision making responsibility for COVID-19 school operations). Otherwise, with the current high level of community spread and asymptomatic cases, it’s certain children will be coming to school while unknowingly positive. At this moment with Delta, we can no longer presume children are negative and just have them quarantine after symptoms or known exposures – as was the successful mitigation strategy for the early part of last year, when the pandemic around us was also worse. 

I also urge the school leadership and community to prioritize:

• Fixing ventilation in all indoor spaces

• Creating appropriate outdoor environments to maximize the amount of time children can be outside during the school day

• Limiting the number of children gathering together indoors (which for a while could mean lowering class sizes and making pods again)

• Preparing hybrid plans so we’ve got more of a map in place for schools, families, and children to commonly refer to as we pivot through the next phases of this pandemic – both collectively, and personally. These hybrid plans are key to improving HUUSD board/community communication and relationships.   

A class from Brookside Primary School (formerly Thatcher Brook Primary School) meets outdoors last March. Photo by Gordon Miller

It is maddening that just as the school year begins, we find ourselves in this position with Delta and young children being unvaccinated. I know full-time in-person learning is better for most children and families. I know the schools (and parents) don't have the resources to pull off virtual learning indefinitely. I know we're all exhausted. But it's irresponsible to ignore that this may be the most dangerous phase of the pandemic for children and not consider all options, including universal testing and being prepared for hybrid learning. 

We know the majority of children will not experience severe illness, but some will if we allow widespread transmission. If we take a more lax course now, making it easier for outbreaks to occur in schools, we are setting ourselves up for unplanned closures, and we are leaving families – especially those with children with weakened immune systems – in the position where they have to choose between school and the health and safety of their young children. 

HUUSD did a good job containing the virus last year with the safety protocols then. As cases decreased, we relaxed those mandates. But now we have a surge of the Delta strain, which is much more easily transmissible and serious for children. Surges in other parts of the country (like Alabama and Georgia) are seeing increases in the numbers of children hospitalized, including in ICUs, and we’re hearing more everyday about long-haul complications, even for children who’d had mild or asymptomatic cases. 

So why are our schools not at least returning to the systems we had that worked before: fewer people in shared spaces, pods, and hybrid schedules? Why is there not more discussion about ensuring spaces are exceedingly well-ventilated and building up outdoor learning environments? Was there not federal funding for school improvements for COVID safety? What do we do to access it? I would like to hear about these things from the schools.

Naomi Alfini lives in Duxbury. She recently stepped down as coordinator of The Children's Room.