{"id":1184392,"date":"2022-01-03T17:34:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T22:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1184392"},"modified":"2022-01-03T17:34:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T22:34:51","slug":"2700-plus-schools-closed-for-omicron-despite-low-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/2700-plus-schools-closed-for-omicron-despite-low-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"2,700-Plus Schools Closed for Omicron Despite Low Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F2700-plus-schools-closed-for-omicron-despite-low-risk%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1184392&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/empty-classroom-chairs-up-getty-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Over 2,700 schools <a href=\"https:\/\/cai.burbio.com\/school-opening-tracker\/\">will<\/a> be closed or condemned to remote learning this week as officials fear the low-risk omicron variant of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>School districts across the country are grappling with how to move forward with coronavirus protocols as it appears clear that new variants will continue to come and virtual learning and mask mandates are extremely detrimental to the education, social development, and mental health of children.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/back-to-school-omicron-edition-672f3c0c-c449-4185-aff6-d72eaf5d29cb.html?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosvitals&amp;stream=top\">said<\/a> that he believes \u201cvery firmly and very passionately\u201d that \u201cstudents belong in the classroom and that we can do it safely,\u201d and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News that increased vaccination rates and testing make it \u201csafe enough to get those kids back to school, balanced against the deleterious effects of keeping them out.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Schools should be approaching Omicron with caution \u2013 but NOT fear. Just like we teach in the classroom, we can learn from past experiences, trust the science, and use tools like test-to-stay &amp; vaccination to keep schools safe &amp; open.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecCardona\/status\/1475998761654566919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 29, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Despite this, many large school districts like Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland, have decided to extend winter break to implement widescale testing before returning to school, as well as closures or remote learning.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Biden administration has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/test-to-stay-biden-schools-covid-students-a475effd-ff53-4789-a69d-d50c8ca84bc9.html\">rolled<\/a> out a \u201ctest-to-stay\u201d strategy that aims at keeping children in school during \u201ca large wave\u201d of cases. Complicating testing matters, the FDA recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/medical-devices\/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices\/sars-cov-2-viral-mutations-impact-covid-19-tests\">announced<\/a> that rapid response tests are less effective at detecting omicron.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">While we must remain vigilant, we&#8217;ve learned that mitigation strategies like vaccinations, masking, and test-to-stay work \u2013 and American Rescue Plan funds can pay for them.  <\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s keep kids in classrooms and beat this virus together. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3bsdM8df0b\">pic.twitter.com\/3bsdM8df0b<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecCardona\/status\/1475588559683866637?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 27, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Biden administration and school districts are focusing on case numbers, and despite the fact that White House coronavirus response coordinator warned Americans about a \u201cwinter of severe illness and death,\u201d many reports indicate that omicron is a relatively mild form of the virus and has been compared to a cold.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">White House COVID Response Coordinator tells unvaccinated Americans to be prepared to die: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou&#8217;re looking at a winter of severe illness and death.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HU5d7WJ9YH\">pic.twitter.com\/HU5d7WJ9YH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Breaking911\/status\/1472776500453728256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 20, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The mildness of omicron has not slowed leftists trying to delay schools from opening to in-person learning.&nbsp;Center for Vaccine Development director Dr. Peter Hotez <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/clips\/2021\/12\/31\/dr-peter-hotez-calls-for-delaying-opening-schools-for-a-couple-of-weeks\/\">told<\/a> CNN recently that schools should delay opening \u201cfor a couple weeks,\u201d despite admitting that keeping children out of class is detrimental to their development and health.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Similarly, Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/12\/30\/d-c-s-democrat-mayor-expect-virtual-learning-throughout-the-semester\/\">announced<\/a> on Twitter last week that while \u201cworking together to keep classrooms open,\u201d students and families can \u201cexpect \u2026 situational virtual learning throughout the semester, especially in the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Breitbart News has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/education\/2022\/01\/03\/2022-public-schools-continue-to-shed-students-as-homeschooling-surges\/\">reported<\/a>, many parents are seeking alternatives to public schooling and enrollment continues to decline, favoring private or homeschooling. While leftist organizations call the change \u201ctroubling,\u201d advocates for school choice deem it a welcome phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, according to Free to Learn, one school has decided to \u201crevert[] to our pre-COVID health policy\u201d in which cases \u201cwill be treated as equivalent to all other illnesses for the purposes of school attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is the way forward, keep the schools open.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W0N3tHazLr\">pic.twitter.com\/W0N3tHazLr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Free to Learn (@ftlcoalition) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ftlcoalition\/status\/1478070404119945221?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 3, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Breccan F. Thies<\/em>&nbsp;<em>is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreccanFThies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BreccanFThies<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 2,700 schools will be closed or condemned to remote learning this week as officials fear the low-risk omicron variant of the coronavirus. School districts across the country are grappling &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1184392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}