We can but we view ourselves as privileged. My daughter has been in South East Asia a few times in the last 2 years living with families, touring etc
Everyone wears mask when needed. Just not an issue or after thought.
We can… If we want to. Our children can… If we teach them to.
Also in my area I am seeing more stylish masks. Like to go with outfits. Influencers are selling them. It can be a cool thing if we let it become one.
Alas, one more way in which my fashion will be uncool. 
I think we can get K - 6 back for sure.
Maybe K-8.
Not sure about HS.
@Midwest67 surely HS should be the easiest?
Most students can get used to face masks or shields but they only will if their parents are not fighting it tooth and nail. We have a new mask requirement in my state and my Facebook exploded with adults up in arms about it. Many of whom are parents with K-12 students. If masks are required for school expect parents to flip out about why their child simply cannot wear a mask or shield.
Also, it will be interesting to see if some doctors will write notes to have students exempt. As I said before my youngest is autistic and I really wonder how easy it would be to get a note. I think it would be pretty simple because his doctor is all about keeping my son as happy as can be and never wants to turn him off from school but in all honesty my son can wear a mask. He might get frustrated but that’s why we are building up his tolerance now. He is capable and I will have him wear one if his school goes back in person but I think getting an exemption would be very easy in my area. It will be interesting to watch.
As for masks in halls but not in classrooms- this assumes all students stay in their seats and that the teacher (or aids) stay in the front of the room 3-6 feet away from the students. No student leaning over to borrow a pencil, no teacher walking down rows to see that students are on track, etc. Not a likely scenario.
HS is the most dangerous, because HS students (we think) are the most infectious. Also it’s less important to get HS students back in person than younger students.
@silverpurple, If you plan to homeschool in NYS make sure you read the NYSED 100.10 homeschool regulations.
Ditto to what Cardinal Fang said.
The podcast TWIV has had a short discussion on school and kids and guesses on the safest course of action.
High school students:
A. Appear to be more likely to become infected and contagious (though their risk of bad outcomes appears quite low).
B. May have 6-8 different groups of students and 6-8 teachers that they spend 45-60 minutes per day in indoor classrooms with, if they return to normal classroom teaching. Compare to K-6 students who spend all day with one group of students and one teacher.
C. May be better able to handle distance education than K-6 students.
It is not out of the question that a school district may want to bring the K-6 students back into the classroom, but have high school students do distance education.
God I hope not. DS19 needs to go back to school if for no other reason than for some social interaction unless schools can come up with some way for students to be in contact online.
In NJ …masks will be encouraged for students, but not required. However…if students do not wear masks then it is required that they socially distance. How do you enforce social distancing in a class of 4 year olds? What about kids on the autistic spectrum, etc?
It takes a very special type of person who will risk standing directly next to kids all day who are not wearing masks. Many will not do it… and they won’t be required to because the guidelines state that kids must social distance if they are not wearing a mask. This whole thing is very unsettling and scary for everybody and I am not convinced it will work. Also…schools can tweak the guidelines to work within their own building, but …unions will be involved.
My friend sits on the committee and said that just because there is a plan in place to open…it doesn’t mean that they will. The numbers have to stay down.
This is really a huge mess.
Our D21 had zoom class for most of her classes when they were all sent home in the spring. It was fun for her to see classmates. Some of her teachers would start class a little early and anyone who wanted could join to chit chat for a while before class started. That was her favorite time.
I get that high school students might be able to do remote school. I have asked the district’s committee that is making the plans if they could at least get the kids back to school for after school ECs. Yearbook, science olympiad, mock trial, community service groups, that sort of stuff. The clubs aren’t so so big and could easily social distance. If D21 has to take class at home during the day, I would want her to be able to go to school for those types of things. Not sure about sports. I imagine that will be a state wide decision.
I know little kids who love wearing masks, and do so for quite some time, because it’s like dressing up! I wish there were a major national (or even local) campaign that made mask wearing cool. Maybe even contests for the most creative masks?
@twogirls I thought that masks were required in order to enter shops in NJ, or has that been relaxed? If that’s still the case, I don’t see why masks (or shields, if there are medical or special ed considerations for some students) could not be required in schools as well, especially in the older grades.
I live in NY but work in NJ. I do believe masks are required for shopping in NJ. Personally, I don’t understand why masks are not required for students…only encouraged. In many ways I think it’s easier to wear a mask or face shield than it is to stay socially distanced all day.
I see kids in my neighborhood wearing masks. We were in the city last week and many young kids (3-5) had on masks.
Schools will truly be the big test.
@Midwest67 , which TWIV episode? I have listened to plenty. I would like to listen to that one in particular.
@austinmshauri , i am going to have to get familiar with that NYSED homeschooling regulations. From the little i read just now it seems the school year is July to June. When do I need to submit my request for my son to be homeschooled? I want to first see how my school plans to reopen.
The school regulation in NJ is that students who socially distance (6 ft) don’t have to wear masks, but those who can’t/won’t do this will be required to wear masks. School hallways have to be unidirectional (I don’t know how some schools will do this). School bus drivers have the authority to mandate mask usage on the buses if students can’t stay 6 feet apart. Realistically, students will be wearing masks. I wish they just said it. Too many conditions/exceptions lead to confusion and lack of compliance. Just tell people they need to wear masks indoors no matter how they feel about it.
I’m a professor and I’m dreading the inevitable confrontation with some cocky kid who thinks the virus is no threat, who rolls into my classroom without a mask. People around here generally don’t believe the virus is “a hoax” because too many people have actually had it for that myth to gain traction, and everyone knows someone who has been ill. However, people will get lax.
For me personally this is one of the saddest things about the pandemic. Hymn singing is very important to me and a major part of why I chose my church. Now we cannot do it.
@silverpurple, NYS homeschoolers can submit the Letter of Intent to homeschool after the beginning of the school year. I think it has to be postmarked within 14 days of when you start homeschooling, but double check the regs to verify that. It may be 10 days.
Families from other states who decide to homeschool should check their state regs too. Some states are very specific about what subjects have to be taught, how many hours you have to do for each grade, what paperwork is required, and when it’s due, etc.
I hope all the states get the k-12 education figured out soon. Those of us who can afford to homeschool have an advantage over the many families who can’t.
I don’t have a clue how to find the episode again.
It wasn’t “recent”. And I don’t recall if they were discussing a paper — maybe one of the European studies??? — or if they were answering listener emails.
I’m sorry I cannot be of more help! I attempted a search at microbe.tv without success.
Boo!
I did find this June article at STAT News.
"…Davies is the lead author of a study published this week that suggested children are less susceptible to the virus than adults. Published in Nature Medicine, it used data from China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Canada, and South Korea to model whether children contract the virus at the same rate as adults. He and his co-authors concluded the risk of catching Covid-19 for children and teens (under age 20) was half that of people older than 20. They wrote their article in March, based on data collected in the first couple of months of the pandemic.
Davies said there are confusing differences seen across countries that muddle the picture. A large national serology survey in Spain found that children were less likely to have been infected than adults — but the same was not true in Britain.
Disparities continue. Denmark reopened schools in mid-April, without serious disruptions. But when classes resumed in Israel in May, infections among children and teachers flared. In China, where a cluster of cases in Beijing has everyone on edge, authorities moved quickly this week to preemptively close schools.
…"