RICHMOND, Va. -- As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Virginia, the Virginia Education Association is calling for all public schools to go all-virtual through at least mid-January.
The announcement comes as Virginia’s 7-day moving average of the percent-positivity has risen to 11%, up from a low of 4.7% in early October.
"No one wants Virginia students to be taught inside the schools more than Virginia’s educators. But over the past week, Virginia has averaged 3,521 COVID-19 cases per day, an increase of 41 percent from the average two weeks earlier," said VEA President Dr. James J. Fedderman in a statement.
"The numbers don’t lie, and the human toll behind each of those numbers demand that we pause in-person learning until the situation rights itself."
Fedderman says he is calling on Governor Ralph Northam, superintendents and school boards to immediately order all-virtual instruction in public schools until at least mid-January 2021, when the numbers can be re-evaluated.
"This week’s rising number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths afflicting our Commonwealth, and the nation, reflect the all-too-human desire to be with loved ones for the Thanksgiving holiday," Fedderman continued. "There cannot be any doubt that during and following the December holiday season we will, tragically, see more cases and more deaths attributable to increased social contact. Those governing our public schools owe it to the students, their families and communities, and our hard-working teachers and support professionals to minimize the exposures, not compound them."
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