Lori Torres was nervous about returning to teaching in-person this week in Chicago. Torres, 47, teaches Spanish to all grades at her preK-8 school and has a medical condition that puts her at increased risk for COVID-19, but her request to continue to teach from home hadn t been approved.
Her short-term concern was addressed when the Chicago Teachers Union voted to stay remote while union and city leaders haggled over the safety of working conditions in buildings.
But Torres long-term concern – getting a vaccine before she returns to Monroe Elementary School – is unresolved.
Chicago Public Schools vaccination schedule for teachers won t start until mid-February – and the district wants staff and students back before that. Some teachers in Chicago s suburbs, meanwhile, already have received vaccinations.
New U.S cases of the coronavirus have fallen 35% from their Jan. 11 peak, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. The average number of daily cases has fallen to about 162,000, from 249,000.
And there are positive signs for hospitalization: The COVID Tracking Project said Wednesday that the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is decreasing in every major US region. About 107,000 Americans were hospitalized because of the virus Tuesday, down from a peak of more than 130,000 three weeks ago.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said this week that the improvement in numbers appears to be the result of “natural peaking and then plateauing” after a holiday surge, rather than an effect of the rollout of vaccines that began in mid-December.