To the Editor:
Sema K. Sgaier outlines the four different “personas” of vaccine-hesitant Americans, arguing that to address reluctance, “we need to go county by county and ZIP code by ZIP code, offering specific, localized solutions.”
Schools can help. As trusted community-based institutions, schools are filled with teachers, special educators, social workers and office staff who are well equipped to listen empathetically and address delicate matters like misinformation, complacency, fear and distrust of science that feed vaccine hesitancy.
At our school in Brooklyn, we have created a campaign to understand and address hesitancy. Through town halls and outreach, we are creating safe spaces to hear about concerns. Our teachers and students are digging into the science, data and history of the pandemic and vaccine development. We’re using social media and newsletters to provide easy-to-understand information, translated into multiple languages. We are preparing to set up v
Mount Sinai Seeks to Expand School Virus Testing Program
The health system, which is preparing to open a new laboratory that could process 100,000 tests a day, wants to take its program to public schools this fall.
Students at KIPP Infinity Middle School in West Harlem with tubes for collecting saliva, part of a coronavirus testing pilot program. “It’s way better than just sticking a stick up your nose,” one student said.Credit.Mount Sinai Health System
By Emily Anthes
Every week,
students at KIPP Infinity Middle School, in West Harlem, file into a large auditorium and take their places on the designated floor markings, making sure to stand six feet apart. Then they pull down their masks and fill sterile tubes with their spit.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that all students would resume in-person classes in the new academic year, a major step toward fully reopening the largest school system in the U.S.