(WFSB) – Starting next week some students across the state will be heading back to the classroom.
With COVID-19 still among us, Eyewitness News is looking into how districts are planning to fight the virus this time around.
Districts like East Hartford and Glastonbury are heading back to school next Wednesday.
When it comes to COVID, school officials said they are following the CDC’s guidance, as well as the Department of Public Health.
Districts like Glastonbury said they are hoping their case counts remain low this year.
One of the prevention strategies is vaccination. Schools are hoping the community gets vaccinated, which includes everyone 6-months and older.
On top of that, the new state and federal guidance is all about increasing the time kids are inside the classroom.
Last year if you had any symptoms, you would have stayed home. Not this year.
Kids and staff with mild symptoms like a runny nose should test at home. If they are negative, then go to school and wear a mask.
Only those with a fever or if you test positive should stay home.
All communities will be monitoring their case count. Schools can still implement a mask policy if the community levels are too high. No county in the state is currently at that level.
“I want to see if kids if they show up in masks that’s great if their parents want that. But I don’t want to see the mandates and the things like that I think it was a little bit too much,” said Amy Marowka, a mother.
“Yeah I know that there are going to be kids that are going to be sick around my daughter so that makes me a little bit nervous,” said Shannen Rodriguez, a mother.
East Hartford also said masks will be optional and they will follow the new guidance.
Dominador Adao said the masks bothered him. Mom said he won’t have to wear them and she’s happy that his school will be mask optional.
Other parents are concerned for their little ones because they are immunocompromised, so Shannen’s daughter will keep her mask.
Yeah I know that there are going to be kids that are going to be sick around my daughter so that makes me a little bit nervous,” said Shannen.
Health officials are still stressing those 6 months and older get vaccinated.
The CDC no longer recommends staying 6 feet away to reduce exposure since many have been vaccinated or had a previous infection which provides some sense of immunity.
“This isn’t 2020. This isn’t 2021. We have to have the guidance reflect people’s risk acclimatization to this virus and all the tools and knowledge that we’ve accumulated since the pandemic began,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja Infectious Disease Doctor and Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The state also issued their school guidance focusing on increasing the time kids are in school.
“And for people that are immunocompromised, it does make sense for them to wear masks in high-risk situations for lower risk individuals. That may be something that they may or may not want to do, depending upon how much they’re trying to avoid what really is a ubiquitous, unavoidable virus,” said Adalja.
Some districts like Hartford say they are still working on their own guidance based on the state and CDC.
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