To the Editor:
The current COVID-19 pandemic and reopening of schools in the area is cause for some serious thought.
I am not a medical professional. I did work as an educator for nearly 30 years as a teacher and administrator.
During my own education, I saw the schools seriously affected by measles, mumps, polio, influenza and other illnesses before immunization was available. I also saw the positive effects on our schools when our population was no longer threatened by these diseases, thanks to medical and scientific advances.
While younger children appear to be somewhat less susceptible to the worst of COVID-19, numbers are increasingly worrisome. Teachers, administrators and support staff as well as students have been affected and deaths have been recorded. Our state officials, who are under considerable political and economic pressures, are issuing daily warnings about family holiday gatherings and recently set a guideline of no more than 10 people at indoor functions. Yet schools have been welcoming thousands of children back to classrooms.
I urge you to take a close look at the numbers and make your own carefully considered decisions. We appear to be only a few months away from vaccinations that could have a major positive impact on the future of the pandemic and its victims.
We are all exhausted with 2020. Let’s not let that exhaustion lead us to make an ill-timed decision on when to return to the classroom.
Edward F. Pryor
Pittsboro