“We look to the CDC for policy guidance, and they should set a high bar — what evidence shows works, what’s important for equity. Unfortunately, they haven’t done this. Given this, we developed policy guidelines to help state and local leaders,” said Raifman, a Boston University professor whose previous work includes overseeing a database detailing state COVID policies.
State Rep. Rebecca Mitchell, D-Snellville, also helped write the plan. Mitchell, who is an epidemiologist, acknowledged the challenges of implementing the plan’s measures in Georgia, where such policies as mask mandates have drawn opposition from some parents.
“The political practicalities are pretty grim,” Rep. Mitchell said. She noted that school systems in some states, such as Massachusetts, offered take-home COVID tests to students. “The fact that this hasn’t happened here doesn’t make it less of a best practice,” she said.
“We need to be setting public health policy based on equity, rather than what’s popular,” Rep. Mitchell added.
Ga. State Schools Superintendent Richard Woods did not respond to requests for an interview about the plan to “understand his reaction to its components,” and instead sent an e-mail statement supporting local school districts having “the flexibility to respond to community needs.”
“We will continue to follow the recommendations of the public-health experts at the Georgia Department of Public Health,” the statement read.
Raifman observed that polls consistently show a majority of Black and Hispanic people supporting mask-wearing in schools. “We need to consider the people who are disproportionately affected” by COVID, she said. That impact has not only been seen in hospitalization rates. Another measure of the pandemic’s disproportionate affect on children of color is the loss of a parent or caregiver. One study released in late March estimates that 4,795 Black children across the state lost a parent or caregiver to COVID, the second-highest amount in the nation, after Florida.
Dr. Peter Rebeiro, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, also supported the plan. He noted that lingering cardiovascular, neurological and cognitive conditions — part of what is called “long COVID” — are not completely understood, in children or adults.
“Without knowing the long-term risks, it seems like a good idea to mitigate as much as possible,” he said.
Dr. Stella Safo, HIV physician and founder of Just Equity for Health, a nonprofit organization, said the plan’s measures would help reduce the outsized impacts of COVID to date on children with disabilities and chronic diseases, as well as Black and Latino students and their families.
“What is happening is certain portions of our populations are suffering more — they’re losing parents, missing work, perhaps suffering long-term disabilities,” she said. “If everyone’s not impacted in the same way, how can we take measures to have more equitable outcomes?”
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