Somerville mayor Joseph Curtatone is looking for more than a map to guide him on reopening the city’s schools.
In an opinion piece published in Commonwealth Magazine Thursday, Curtatone said while he appreciates the bind Gov. Charlie Baker is in regarding reopening schools, providing municipalities with a color-coded map describing which school districts can return for in-person learning is not a plan.
“The map is a snapshot of what happened weeks ago,” Curtatone said. “That’s when those people registering as new cases were catching this virus. It took all of two days for the number of extremely high risk communities in our state to jump from four to 11. We need to be looking at a mix of metrics to understand the direction the disease is taking.”
Returning students to school requires support from the state in more forms than data, Curtatone said. The mayor said tools are needed to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Somerville, he said, needs support to implement surveillance testing, robust contact tracing and advanced ventilation systems in schools.
“Much of what we need to develop a sustainable reopening plan relies upon federal funding and support, and that’s a black hole from which no help is likely to emerge,” Curtatone said. “However, a map is not a plan.”
Curtatone has kept Somerville in Phase 2 of Massachusetts’ reopening plan while the rest of the state is in Phase 3.
Curtatone criticized the state saying it provided detailed plans for reopening gyms, restaurants and stores, but remain vague for schools.
“We are not on top of this disease,” Curtatone wrote. “That’s the big picture. We are nowhere near being able to operate schools, businesses, or life in general in a way that passes as normal. We are groping for order in the midst of chaos.”
Curtatone called for proactive steps such as saliva tests and statewide digital contact tracing to gain a better grasp on the virus.
While Somerville is listed as a low risk community but it neighbors both Everett and Chelsea, which are higher risk with more than eight cases per 100,000 residents, according to data released by the state this week.
“What happens in Everett and Chelsea happens in Somerville. Coronavirus doesn’t recognize city lines,” Curtatone said. “If we’ve got an outbreak on our doorstep, then we need to respond like we’ve got an outbreak.”
On Thursday, Baker said Massachusetts health officials plan to deploy mobile response teams to roll out a rapid response testing program to schools that meet certain criteria.
While the criteria isn’t out yet, Baker and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders went on to outline some hypotheticals that could lead to the response teams going out to a school.
Two or more students in a classroom becoming infected, two or more students on a bus contracting the virus, more than 3% of a school population testing positive — any of those scenarios in a two-week period could make a school eligible for the rapid response testing.
On Friday, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced that the city’s public schools will begin the new academic year with remote learning as part of a phased-in approach.
Springfield and Worcester are also starting the new year with online learning.
Related Content:
"plan" - Google News
August 22, 2020 at 12:47AM
https://ift.tt/34mZyEI
‘A map is not a plan;‘ Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone criticizes Massachusetts’ strategy for reopening sch - MassLive.com
"plan" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2un5VYV
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "‘A map is not a plan;‘ Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone criticizes Massachusetts’ strategy for reopening sch - MassLive.com"
Post a Comment