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 The stalemate, idling some 340,000 students, came after the
teachers' union voted to reinstate virtual instruction and pushed
for more rigorous safety protocols, including wider testing, citing
the rapid spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant in recent
weeks.
While most U.S. public school districts have reopened their campuses
for the new year, education systems in some major cities, including
Atlanta, Milwaukee and Detroit, have opted for online learning or
delayed back-to-classroom plans due to staff shortages and Omicron
concerns.
The United States as a whole reported nearly 700,000 new COVID-19
infections on Wednesday, the third-highest total yet recorded, just
two days after Monday's record tally of almost 1 million cases.
In addition to disrupting schools, the surge has affected air
travel, live entertainment and courts and other workplaces, while
severely straining healthcare systems around the country.
Experts say Omicron, while more highly contagious, appears less
likely to cause severe illness and death than previous variants. But
the sheer volume of new cases has driven COVID-19 hospitalizations
sharply higher even as more medical workers are being sidelined by
the illness.
The number of new U.S. coronavirus hospitalizations reported on
Thursday stood at 119,000 patients, over 10 times the daily figures
from about a week ago and nearing the record 132,0000 from January
2021, data collected by Reuters showed.
SCHOOL SAFETY QUESTIONED
The Chicago Teachers Union urged its 27,000 members to stay out of
the classroom and work remotely through Jan. 18, unless the
coronavirus surge subsides or the union and district come to terms
on new in-person learning protocols before then.
After 73% of rank-and-file union members voted in favor of working
remotely starting Wednesday, the school district said classes would
be canceled while the two sides continued negotiations aimed at
ending their impasse.
Instruction was canceled again on Thursday, but the district said
some classrooms may reopen on a school-by-school basis on Friday,
depending on available staff. According to the district, one in 10
teachers showed up for work on Wednesday and one out of every eight
did so on Thursday, despite the dispute.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the district have branded the walkout an
illegal work stoppage for which teachers' pay will be docked. The
union has accused the mayor and school officials of "locking out"
teachers by freezing their online instruction platforms, preventing
a return to remote learning while the conflict is unresolved.
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 District Chief Executive
Officer Pedro Martinez has said the school
system is not authorized under state law to
institute district-wide remote learning.
The mayor, district officials and the city's
public health commissioner contend the schools
are safe and that risks have been minimized to
acceptable levels by masking, social distancing,
improved ventilation and on-site testing.
The White House appeared to side with the district, with press
secretary Jen Psaki saying on Wednesday and Thursday that it would
continue to make the case for public schools to be kept open,
including in Chicago.
The union asserts that the conditions for any return to classrooms
during a pandemic should be subject to collective bargaining and
that safeguards in place do not go far enough.
In particular, teachers criticized the district's policy of only
testing students whose parents register for the screening program,
rather than making testing mandatory for all students, except those
who meet narrow criteria to opt out.
The union has cited data showing that vaccination rates are
especially low among minority students. The district counters that
remote learning has proven to be a fraught experience that "ends up
hurting our students of color the most."
The two sides traded unfair labor practices complaints on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday evening, according to the Chicago Tribune, about
9,000 district students and a record 2,300 staff members were in
isolation because they had tested positive for COVID-19 or came in
close contact with someone who had.
The latest wave of Omicron-driven COVID-19 infections and
hospitalizations has interfered with plans by public school systems
throughout the country to welcome students back from winter
vacation.
The coronavirus surge has prompted postponement of in-person
learning at more than 5,200 schools nationwide during the week
beginning Jan. 2, according to the online education tracking service
Burbio, which shows the disruptions concentrated mainly in the
mid-Atlantic states and Midwest.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by
Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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