It\u2019s a tricky moment in the pandemic for parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mere weeks ago \u2014 though it may feel like a lifetime \u2014 K-12 operations seemed to be moving toward something of a pandemic equilibrium. Studies had confirmed that COVID spread less in classrooms<\/a> than the surrounding community, children as young as 5 had gained access to vaccinations and, according to the White House, 99 percent<\/a> of schools were open for in-person learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. <\/em>Sign up for The 74 Newsletter<\/strong><\/a><\/p> Then came the Omicron variant, sweeping over the country like a tsunami and plunging nearly all aspects of everyday life back into deep uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the weeks since, daily reported COVID cases in the U.S. have exploded, breaking pandemic records<\/a>. More children are being hospitalized<\/a> with the virus than ever before. And positivity rates among school communities have reached levels that were previously unheard of: 18 percent<\/a> in Chicago, 25 percent<\/a> in Yonkers, 36 percent<\/a> in Detroit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While most districts reopened as planned after the holidays, nearly 4,800 schools<\/a> closed their buildings for all or part of the first week of January, according to the data service Burbio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even where classrooms did reopen, many parents chose not to return their children. In New York City, for example, nearly a third of students did not show up on the first day back from break and on Friday when parents were also dealing with a morning snowfall, attendance plummeted to 44.5 percent.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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