“The world is in a new and dangerous phase. The virus is still spreading fast, it is still deadly, and most people are still susceptible.” –World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus 6.20.20  

We are in the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic. Half a million people are dead worldwide as confirmed cases of COVID-19 top 10 million. The true number is far greater. More than a quarter of all known deaths have been in the United States.

There is no way to make schools safe as the virus rages, uncontrolled. Any return to school sites puts the lives of our students, teachers, and entire communities at risk. We must protect our children and communities and refuse to reopen schools. 

The number of confirmed infections is vastly underestimated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the actual figures in many regions are probably 10 times higher than reported. Limited testing availability has often made it difficult to confirm that the virus was the cause of death.

Elected leaders and public health officials in the US have failed to take the measures necessary to contain COVID-19’s path of sickness, hospitalization, and death. Every country that has had success in containing the pandemic has done it through a massive and coordinated national program of free mass testing for all, together with contact-tracing and quarantine. The virus will not compromise; we must deal with it in a scientific, serious and unwavering way. Human life must be prioritized over corporate profit.

The policies of Trump and Pence are in complete opposition to science, and have meant that the United States – the richest, most technologically advanced country in the world –is utterly failing to protect its own citizens from the scourge of COVID-19. Trump’s racism and willful ignorance – spreading dangerous misinformation, obstructing mass testing and basic care, naked appeals to anti-Chinese racism, compelling workers, mainly Latina/o, black, and poor, to continue working in “essential industries” without mass testing, adequate PPE, and safety measures  — have been key drivers in the rapid and continued spread of the disease. Until Trump and Pence are removed or forced to resign, there will be no progress in defeating the pandemic in the United States.

Every public health official knows what measures need to be taken, but these policies are not being implemented. Trump, his far-right base, and the corporations are putting maintenance of the private health care system and corporate profit above human life. The Democratic governors and state and county public health departments, in pushing to “reopen the economy” prematurely, have allowed these pressures to also dictate their real policy, albeit in a less open and idiotic way. Seventeenth century London adopted more consistent and thoroughgoing policies to fight the Bubonic Plague than Trump has against the Coronavirus. 

Many Americans are already infected, but because widespread testing isn’t yet available, it’s impossible to know who they are. In South Korea, where diagnostic testing has been widespread and available to people with no symptoms, nearly 27% of confirmed cases are people in their 20s, by far the age group with the most infections. The U.S. is seeing a similar trend.

As Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Secretary General of the WHO said in mid-March “you cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected.” Opening schools without knowing who is infected invites another massive explosion of infection and death.

Schools are a perfect vector for the rapid spread of COVID-19. None of the safety measures that are being suggested – small groups, social-distancing, rotating students, mandatory masks, cleaning hands – are sufficient to stop the virus in an institutional setting, much less one with young children who do not have the capacity to make adult judgments about taking personal precautions.

Fighting this pandemic is a civil rights struggle. In particular, black and Latina/o patients are developing higher infection rates and much higher death rates due to the myriad of inequities that result from the deep and persistent institutional racism of our society. Many Special Education students have disabilities and health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to an infection becoming deadly. Already the San Lorenzo Unified School District in CA has announced they will not reopen until mid-October at the earliest. Teachers in Fairfax, VA have made completely clear that they refuse to return to physical campuses in the Fall. 

The new civil rights movement must take leadership. In less than a month, born out of Minneapolis and the struggle for justice for George Floyd this movement spread to every city and small town across the nation. This mass movement for civil rights and social justice has changed more history for the better in the United States than all the speechifying and maneuvers of the politicians in the last 50 years. This movement has the power to force through the implementation of the policies that can contain the coronavirus pandemic. This movement has the power to take-on the pandemic and establish a scientific response that prioritizes preserving human life. We will not allow our children and communities to be sacrificed.

Therefore, we the undersigned demand:

·      No re-opening of school sites in the Fall. Protect our children.

·      Free universal and regularly scheduled mass testing for all to identify COVID-19 infections and spread. Vastly expand testing and tracing programs. Massive Federal funding to fight the pandemic. Universal free healthcare for all.

·      Defend quality public education. No cuts to public school funding. 

·      Build the movement to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.