Hundreds of students leave school because of Omicron’s concerns

Hundreds of students in Boston, Chicago and other US school districts held walkouts on Friday, demanding increased health precautions or a return to remote instruction as schools Omicron compounds continue to spike, Reuters report.

This news comes after an unusual week low attendance rate in districts across the country.

“It’s like: ‘This person has COVID. That person has COVID. Another person has COVID,” said Zoe Cantor, one of the students organizing a walkout in Montgomery County, Maryland. washington articles.

Cantor writes on Change.org: “Amid the recent surge in domestic COVID cases, particularly the omicron variant, it would not be safe to keep students in schools where social distancing is not mandatory and Masks are allowed to be removed. petition currently signed by nearly 18,000 people.

Many students protested that schools needed to do more to facilitate social distancing and provide students with high-quality COVID tests and face masks. Others insist that face-to-face learning should be suspended altogether.

Some educators, however, remain skeptical, arguing that many students who sign the petition and attend the walkouts have nothing more than a desire to stay home from school. Megan Struder, who teaches English in Stafford County, Virginia, says Week Fourth, some students are “looking to take advantage of the virtual setup”, which “complicates things further for those who really need it.”

Based on data provided by New York Times, Omicron continues to generate a record number of new cases but without a commensurate increase in deaths.