An Oct. 29 Cronkite News story mischaracterized the Arizona Department of Health Services policy on in-person versus virtual schooling during COVID-19. The policy sets recommended guidelines for local schools, which have the ultimate authority on how to proceed.
WASHINGTON – The Ducey administration defended its decision Thursday to make it harder for Arizona schools to revert to virtual education, from in-person or hybrid schooling, in the face of surging COVID-19 cases.
Gov. Doug Ducey said the decision to require that three different criteria are met – the old standard was just one of the three – before schools consider returning to online teaching was made with input from “the superintendent of public instruction and education leaders.”
But in a statement Thursday, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Education said that the department “was not part of the decision-making process” on the change.
The back and forth comes as new COVID-19 cases are surging in the state, with more than 5,700 new cases reported this week alone and 49 deaths attributed to the disease.
As of Thursday, the state had confirmed 242,480 cases of COVID-19 since the virus was first discovered in Arizona in January, and had recorded 5,918 deaths from the disease, according to Arizona Department of Health Services data.
Ducey’s comments came as he and AZDHS Director Dr. Cara Christ toured St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix, after he announced $1.6 million in funding toward food banks across the state.
They expressed optimism that mitigation strategies – mask-wearing, social distancing and flu vaccinations, among others – would be able to curb the current surge but said that Arizonans need to still be on guard. They also said the state is taking steps to protect vulnerable populations, including elderly and low-income residents.
That includes schoolkids, Ducey said.
“We ramped up as we’ve known more things that we can, not only to protect the most vulnerable, but try to allow us to live in the safest way possible,” Ducey said. “Part of that is getting our kids, where we can, back inside a classroom.
“So, anything that’s been done inside our schools has been done in collaboration and cooperation with public education leaders and public health officials,” he said.
The health department last week tightened the criteria schools must meet before they consider reverting from in-person or hybrid education to virtual learning. Where they previously could send kids home after meeting one of three criteria, schools now must meet all three benchmarks: more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population, a positivity rate of 10% and hospital visits with COVID-like illness higher than 10%.
“This was done with … the superintendent of public instruction and education leaders,” Ducey said.
But the Education Department spokesperson said in an email that the change in standards for moving to virtual learning was “presented in the working group as a policy update that was final. ADE was not part of the decision-making process.” As such, she said, the department “was unable to provide feedback or recommendations” on the change in policy.
Christ on Thursday reiterated the communication between her department and its “partners.” She said the change came after school officials “expressed concerns about the instability that would occur if recommendations to move back to virtual learning were based on a change in a single benchmark, especially in smaller, rural counties.”
That’s what drove the decision to recommend that “all schools meet all benchmarks before moving from in-person hybrid or virtual learning,” she said.
News reports have already cited multiple COVID-19 cases and outbreaks since Arizona schools returned to in-person instruction, prompting temporary shutdowns, students in quarantine and many messages to parents and faculty.
“We remain on high alert,” Christ said. “Now is not the time to let up.”
While he didn’t downplay the severity of the problem in Arizona, Ducey dismissed comparisons to states like Wisconsin, which reported 4,131 new cases and 57 deaths on Thursday. Arizona reported 1,315 new cases and 13 deaths Thursday.
“What we’re focused on right now is protecting the most vulnerable through the pandemic,” Ducey said.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2020.
This governor WILL NOT do anything to attract the attention or disapproval of the president, even as the very real not-a-hoax COVID-19 threatens the state and nation.
Let us not forget that the “common sense” actions Ducey suggests we follow in his latest announcement were put into place by local leaders; Although, with the positive results achieved, he has no problem claiming credit.
Now with these new requirements for schools to return to virtual learning, he is clearly gambling his political career against the lives of Arizona children.
Everyone should take note of a new phrase that has entered the Republican lexicon during the COVID-19 pandemic: “protect the most vulnerable.” When you hear them use this phrase you should interpret it to mean “those who do not matter.”
The economy is what matters. Keeping people from voting in their best interests matters. Keeping people working at underpaid jobs until they can be automated is what matters. Keeping economic and racial barriers in place is what matters. Keeping the people in fear is what matters, but the safety of children — they can’t vote and they are too young for jobs.
Ducey’s “leadership” is untenable, and he has the courage of a wet noodle. He cant be courageous and satisfy Trump and other lunatics like Gosar, Biggs, and Ward. He’s in no mans land, and cant even say what education leaders he allegedly is listening to. Arizona COVID deaths are on him.
His political career is over. Sadly, many Arizonans will die unneccessarily along with him.
Comments are blah, blah, blah: disconnected from the reality of what Ducey has accomplished. We’ve lost only 4% of our jobs while states such as Michigan have lost 10% of their jobs, more than double and a half of our losses.
For Michigan, that loss of jobs is almost a decade’s worth of jobs. For Arizona, that loss of jobs is one year’s worth.
Everyone knows how to keep themselves safe: do it. Wear a masks, not any mask, don’t be an idiot, wear an N95 mask. A mask that works to keep you safe. Socially distance when you are indoors. When you are at the doctors office, don’t wait indoors, wait outside. Don’t go to bars. Avoid indoor congregation, it’s a killer.
The people getting sick are those being careless. Or, are people forced to be exposed to large numbers of other people wearing stylish but ineffective masks.
Check on what type of air conditioning filters at your child’s school. MERV13 is the standard. Check on what level of fresh air your child’s school is bringing in. Should be replacing the classroom air every thirty minutes or less.
And, if you are obese, be especially on alert. Of the 222 people in intensive care today, 148 are obese. If they weren’t obese, likely only 49 of them would be in the hospital. Your risk is three times as high for obesity. Covid-19 is built to attach to the ACE receptors in fat. The higher death rate of the U.S. is likely almost completely due to our huge 40% obesity rate and our even larger overweight percentage.
Fat-shaming . . . That’s your argument — fat-shaming?
What about over-hydrating? You didn’t put that on your COVID-19 To-Do List? You were all about over-hydrating back in March or April.
The bottom line is people around the world were unhealthy before, whether it was poor diet, social-economic causes, lack of medical care, war and on and on.
This pandemic has struck during a perfect storm of rising nationalism, ecological disasters, and a highly-effective and totally-unmanageable worldwide web that allows for the spread of misinformation and fear faster than any disease known to mankind.
Ignorance is the real disease. COVID-19 is just taking advantage.