JUMP TO DISCUSSION TOPICS
7:24 - How to build trust among students and families as we try to return students to the classroom
12:11 - Vaccine safety and addressing vaccine hesitancy
17:03 - Using testing to increase safety within schools
24:06 - How to bring testing and vaccination into schools & how to build confidence in safety procedures among school staff
29:23 - Impacts of COVID-19 and the vaccine on pregnant women and newborns
34:26 - How schools can prepare for vaccine distribution among staff
37:36 - How the vaccine might be rolled out to children and whether children will be required to be vaccinated before returning to school in the fall
40:02 - Ideal distancing & what mitigation efforts can be used to bring higher proportions of students back to the classroom
47:05 - How we can assure communities, especially communities of color, that schools are safe
50:23 - How to provide effective outreach to communities of color (especially around vaccination)
53:13 - How members of minority populations can encourage other community members to get vaccinated by being open about their own hesitancy
55:00 - Day care, early education & how to guide families of young children back to normal life
56:23 - Encouraging patients that are pregnant to get vaccinated based on their exposure level
58:50 - The relationship between early childhood program and school and how to maintain functional school days
1:02:04 - Will the vaccine will continue to work and the impact of variant strains?
1:05:18 - How schools should be thinking about the next couple of months in terms of getting kids back to school
1:09:03 - How tests can be used in schools & how antigen tests can be used to tell whether someone is currently infectious
1:12:02 - Will testing in schools will incentivize parents to send sick children to school?
1:14:26 - How to reopen high schools
1:18:11 - Limiting transmission in school sports
1:24:17 - Strategies for testing in schools
As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to surge across the U.S., many are feeling apprehensive about sending more of our teachers and youth back into the classroom. Yet, as school testing protocols become more widely available and public health departments and schools prepare for teachers and staff to get the vaccine, there is a greater opportunity to use these tools to get as many students as safely possible back in the classroom this school year. While we have learned there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach for school operations during this pandemic, with support from public health departments, health care institutions, and other community partners, there are preparations and investments all schools can be making now to build confidence in our ability to safely offer in-school education. This will inevitably require establishing trust among teachers and families and addressing the concerns of families and communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Panelists:
-Barbara Bungy, MPH, MBA, MCHES, deputy director of Education Plus Health
-Susan Coffin, MD, MPH, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and attending physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
-Angélica Infante-Green, Rhode Island commissioner of elementary and secondary education
-Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at CHOP and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
- Sindhu Srinivas, MD, MSCE, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and the director of obstetrical services at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
-David Rubin, MD, MSCE, director of PolicyLab (moderator)
