Now is the time to future-proof our schools against outbreaks

By Andrew and Mario

Covid-19 is not the first, the second, or even the third emerging infectious disease of the 21st century. And it is unlikely to be the last. The Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which includes $123 billion in new, flexible funding for schools, and the potential of additional dollars to upgrade school facilities as part of the Administration’s forthcoming infrastructure package, provides an opportunity to protect our schools well into the future. Now is the time to ensure the next outbreak does not destabilize our education system as Covid-19 did.

Since 1985, 35 new infectious diseases have emerged across the globe. In the last twenty years alone, we have experienced six significant threats: SARS-CoV, MERS, Ebola, bird influenza, H1N1, and SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). These six outbreaks have accounted for over 3 million global deaths. 

The trends fueling the arrival of these infectious diseases will only intensify. 

For instance, a 2020 UNESCO Report demonstrated that pandemics are becoming more frequent because ecological disruption is altering how people, domesticated animals, and wild animals interact. These changes significantly increase the risk that outbreaks of zoonotic diseases—those that originate in animals—escalate into epidemics or pandemics. According to the Ecohealth Alliance, zoonotic diseases make up a significant majority of diseases currently circulating. 

Changes in global travel patterns, human food consumption habits, and environmental factors including climate change, have all influenced new zoonotic infectious disease trajectories; once people return to “normal” pre-pandemic behavior patterns, new diseases are likely to surge.

The consensus among infectious disease experts is clear: outbreaks are here to stay.

Given the well-documented impact of Covid-19 on school-aged children our default cannot be to use the same reactive playbook that has failed so many of them, particularly those from low-income, segregated communities. And let's be clear, it isn't just children who have suffered. Adults in schools, principally teachers and school staff, have borne the brunt of the challenging, trauma-filled last year.

A debate about how best to allocate federal recovery dollars is underway. Of those funds, 99.9% should be used to help schools build and implement comprehensive student recovery plans. These plans should be evidence-based, equity-driven, and informed by the needs of the community.  One-tenth of one percent should be spent on learning from the past year and preparing for the next infectious disease that will disrupt the ways we teach and learn. 

Every governor, state department of education, and school district should consider taking the following actions to future-proof schools against outbreaks:

1. Assemble a team of educators and public health officials to undertake a qualitative and quantitative review of decisions made and actions taken during each phase of response to Covid-19. This review should provide a means of identifying and documenting accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned.  

2. Share the findings publicly with stakeholders to ensure they capture their lived experiences. These findings should be specific and directive, encouraging action-oriented steps for improvement.

3. Immediately address functional challenges—such as technology, procurement, communications, human capital—that surfaced during the response to Covid-19; ensuring that organizational infrastructure is better constructed to respond to future outbreaks. 

4. Update pandemic response plans based on what worked well, what worked less well, and the reasons why.

5. Pressure test the updated pandemic response plan based on multiple public health scenarios while soliciting community input; setting future expectations now.

6. Engage the community in a conversation around the pros and cons of investments that will support long-term preparedness. For example, investing in a school-based health surveillance system that alerts public health officials to a classroom outbreak might come at the expense of a short-term need. 

These conversations and the decisions that follow will not be easy, but the cost of ignoring this work now will come at the expense of our collective ability to teach and learn in the future. It is our responsibility to get this right for our kids and grandkids.