As Arizona grapples with a new swell of COVID cases, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has stepped up to provide clarity on how schools should address the situation. Horne, leaning on guidance from health authorities, advises schools in Arizona to continue with normal operations, detailing that the risk posed by COVID, particularly to school-age children, is now seen as extremely minimal—aligning with the national and state public health agencies’ view of COVID-19 as a conventional respiratory virus.
In a recent update, Horne articulated, “I have been asked about how schools should address a recent surge in COVID cases in Arizona. My unequivocal answer, based on guidance from national and state public health agencies, is that schools absolutely need to operate normally because the threat of COVID, especially among school-age children is extremely minimal,” as reported by the Arizona Department of Education. This position takes stock of the broader educational disruptions experienced during the early stages of the pandemic, which manifested in notably lower test scores and an educational toll on millions of children that, by many accounts, could be felt for years to come.
Following suit, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has downgraded its alarm on COVID-19 to place it on par with familiar respiratory illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or influenza. This classification aligns with remarks by former Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble who mentioned in a past news article that COVID is “working its way into becoming a common cold.”
