Although many schools have resumed in-person instruction since Christmas break, this decision has proven not to be the wisest. In many districts throughout New Jersey, nearly 20% of the faculty and students are out due to COVID. 

  The United States just passed one million cases per day on January 3, breaking the world record, with the current surge in cases driven by the omicron variant. Although this variant is less deadly than the previous strains, it is up to 105% more transmissible than the Delta variant. 

  Many hospitals are buckling under tremendous pressure with record hospitalizations in many states. This year for the first time ever, New Jersey passed 5000 COVID hospitalizations. Pediatric hospitalization is also at its highest since the start of this pandemic with 17.4% of new COVID cases coming from children.

  Many districts’ decisions to remain open can have deadly consequences to students’ and teachers’ families. Although students may not fall in the high-risk category, many have immunocompromised relatives living with them. With the highly transmissible omicron variant, if a student tests positive at school, it will almost be inevitable to pass it on to his or her family members.

  Many schools cannot enforce safety measures while reopening because crowded hallways and poor ventilation have been consistent problems. Some schools have temporarily eliminated lunch and after-school activities to curb the spread of Omicron. Many schools such as Eastern Regional High School have temporarily adopted a half day schedule in order to minimize contact between students in school.

  Even though many medical experts had warned communities about reopening schools immediately after Christmas break, many districts still chose to resume 100% in-person instruction. There may be a political aspect to why many district’s decisions don’t fully follow what some medical experts recommended of keeping schools temporarily remote or atleast offering a remote option for students who can. 

  Even medical experts have conflicting views of whether it is safe to resume in-person instruction. The district’s decision is attributed to the vocal group of parents who want their kids back in school fully in-person. It’s usually this group that shows up to board meetings. This has also pinned parents against the teachers union which advocates shifting to remote learning due to high risks of in school Covid transmission.

  The New Jersey Department of Education instructed the state’s school districts to either go entirely in-person or fully remote in the event of a COVID outbreak this school year. Unlike last year, students and their families can no longer choose whether or not to send their children in person. 

  New Jersey’s governor Phil Murphy has been somewhat quiet and indecisive about shifting schools fully remote during the Omicron wave. His decision has been driven by the fact that he narrowly won re-election last year; shutting down schools might upset some of his more conservative constituents. Murphy has vowed to keep schools in person back in August 2021, but he also said that masks will continue to be enforced in New Jersey schools for the foreseeable future. 

  As of January 2022, Phil Murphy chose to let local districts decide whether to keep schools in person or remote. This surge of Omicron cases will continue throughout the coming weeks, and there is still a lot of uncertainty to the safety of reopening schools. Although there is yet to be strong evidence of school-linked COVID spread, it is inevitable that this will happen if schools don’t take stronger safety measures due to the sheer size of new positive cases everyday and the positivity rate being the highest since the beginning of this pandemic.