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 | | Daily reported coronavirus cases in the United States, seven-day average.The New York Times |
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The closures are a painful step backward after months in which classrooms largely remained open, even during a fall surge of the Delta variant. Some of the announcements arrived at the last minute, as school leaders struggled to respond to a rapidly changing situation: |
But a vast majority of U.S. public schools are operating as planned this week, including the 10 largest school districts. In New York City, the nation's largest school system, Mayor Eric Adams insisted that schools would stay open despite an extraordinary surge in Omicron cases. |
"We want to be extremely clear: the safest place for our children is a school building," Adams said, arguing that remote learning had been disastrous for vulnerable children in the nation's largest school district. |
After a year of remarkably low virus transmission in New York City schools, cases soared in the week before the winter break, prompting the closures of 11 schools and over 400 classrooms. The contact tracing system for the city's schools was effectively overwhelmed; one of my colleagues was only informed that his daughter was exposed in her classroom five days after the fact. |
The calm that Adams sought to project in New York City was not shared by many parents and educators across the country, who greeted Monday morning with profound trepidation. |
Many schools do not have enough coronavirus tests, or ran into problems deploying them. Chicago handed out tens of thousands of take-home tests before winter break, but about two-thirds of them returned invalid results in the week before Christmas. Of the minority of tests that did produce valid results, 18 percent were positive. |
Principals have also reported large numbers of teachers and other employees calling in sick — either because they are infected with the virus or other illnesses, are caring for sick family members, or are fearful of the conditions within school buildings. |
For now, school closures appeared to be concentrated in regions such as the Northeast and upper Midwest, where Democratic policymakers and powerful teachers' unions have taken a more cautious approach to operating schools throughout the pandemic. |
Unions, politicians and educators now all say they want schools to remain open. But as Omicron continues to spread rapidly, that may be easier said than done. |
For those of you who may have tuned out the news these past few days, here's a look at the some of the trends as we enter 2022. |
Some encouraging signs. There is growing evidence that the Omicron variant produces less severe illness than previous variants. Some studies have found that Omicron may not spread as easily to the lungs, which may explain why its effects appear less severe. Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that hospitalizations were not rising as fast as in prior waves. |
 | | The New York Times |
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Hospitals are still under pressure. Experts warn that with so many infections, the sheer number of patients needing care will strain health systems already frayed by two years of Covid. In Australia, hospitalizations from the virus have more than doubled over the past week, to nearly 2,000. |
Cases are still rising. The world is recording a staggering 1.5 million new cases on average every day, about double versus a week ago. In the U.S., experts forecast that the Omicron wave could crest in mid-January. |
Vaccines help — especially boosters. A British study found that the risk of hospitalization was significantly lower for people who had received two or three vaccine doses, compared with unvaccinated people. Among Covid cases who developed symptoms, people who had three doses were 88 percent less likely to be hospitalized than those who had not had any shots. |
 | | The New York Times |
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Delta remains a threat. The older and more severe variant still accounts for a large share of new infections in many countries — including more than 41 percent in the U.S., according to federal data from the week ending on Christmas Day. |
Risks remain. Experts fear that poorer nations will be hit hard by Omicron. Many of the countries with the fastest rising case counts — including Ivory Coast, Ghana and Angola — are in Africa, the continent with the lowest vaccination rates. |
What else we're following |
With the exception of wearing a mask, I lead a normal life. I go out dancing, I work at two department stores wearing my mask, I shop all the time wearing my mask, and get together with friends and family and do not wear a mask. We all know that if we feel sick, we stay home, but I'd rather enjoy my life than live in fear. All I do is take care of my health, take my vitamins, take precautions. I have had my three vaccines and I need to have my life as normal as can be. Life is too short and I have to enjoy it. — Maria Rutledge, Austin, Texas |
Let us know how you're dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. |
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