Vincent Gabrielle spoke for many American parents when he wrote for New Haven Register on August 22, 2022. ‘We’re really in this wait and see moment’ he explained after CDC withdrew many of its mandates. He attended a recent Connecticut state briefing where they hardly mentioned the pandemic. Are school parents in a wait and see moment now CDC left COVID precautions largely up to them?
Is This a Wait and See Moment for School Parents?
The relaxed CDC guidelines add to the overall impression the pandemic is over. However, the number of new cases is no longer a good indicator, since American adopted unreported home testing. The start of the 2020 and 2021 school years both marked the beginning of surges. But will we have adequate warning this time, if history repeats?
Vincent Gabrielle found education officials were ‘cautiously optimistic’ when he chatted with them. They were positive about milder symptoms, although they conceded the new variant was contagious.
‘We’re really in this wait and see moment,’ Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association told him. ‘We are getting guidance that says that says this can be treated differently than past strains of COVID. But we’re in a post-pandemic framework to some extent.’
Connecticut Department of Health Relaxes Guidelines
The Connecticut Department of Health put school parents in a wait and see moment when it relaxed its own restrictions.
- Parents may send their kids to school with ‘minor cold symptoms’, provided they test negative for COVID-19.
- This is a departure from previous DPH policy that required they shelter at home. Masks continue to be optional.
‘The situation has changed in terms of how widespread vaccines and vaccinations are. And what’s going on with the variance,’ the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator said at a press conference last week. ‘There have been a lot of updates but generally we’re moving to a more normal way of living.’
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