As school leaders face decisions in the days and weeks ahead to scale back COVID-19 mitigation strategies, Drs. Danny Benjamin and Kanecia Zimmerman from the ABC Science Collaborative hosted a special open forum entitled “Considerations for Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic in Schools: Spring 2022” on Monday, Feb. 14 from 2 to 3 p.m. ET. During this forum, Drs. Benjamin and Zimmerman shared key considerations to enable school leaders to make informed decisions about their path forward.

Learn more about the “Considerations for Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic in Schools: Spring 2022” and the path forward for schools in 2022.

When children returned to the classroom, school communities and families undertook heroic efforts to ensure that schools remained healthy spaces for students to learn and grow. There is now reason for optimism in 2022, equipped with our learnings from throughout the pandemic and new vaccine and treatments options for K-12 students and staff. These developments have enabled us to focus on the future.

As school communities begin to plan the pathway forward, we anticipate that each path will be unique based on local context, including the social and political climate. Decisions to unwind mitigation strategies – including transitioning away from universal masking – can and should consider the school community’s unique circumstances. To help school leaders make informed decisions, the ABC Science Collaborative has outlined key considerations, benefits, and risks, backed in research gleaned from throughout the pandemic. Considerations include:

1. What are the potential, quantified implications of this decision on within-school transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and transmission from the school to the community at large?
2. Do all members of the community (e.g., K-12^th grade) have access to safe and effective vaccines?
3. Do vaccines and medications prevent severe disease from the current pathogen/variant (e.g., Omicron variant) such that illness and death are historically similar to influenza (i.e., years 2010-2019)?
4. Is the rate of community transmission and anticipated increase in community transmission such that critical institutions (hospitals and schools) can function with normal services and staffing?
5. It is important to recognize that regardless of how a child feels about changes in the safety strategies (excited, scared, uncertain), change is often unsettling for children and requires diligent and thoughtful preparation, particularly in the context of the underlying mental health crisis in pediatrics. Has the school community been prepared for change and has the social emotional curriculum adapted to support children and families?
6. Is there a plan and ability to adapt and reinstate safety strategies to preserve in-person education if the pandemic changes again?

To access materials shared during the forum, visit the Spring 2022 Considerations webpage.