The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center (REMS) has released a new COVID-19 Key Preparedness and Response Considerations Fact Sheet addressing the risk of COVID-19 in school settings.
According to REMS, “Federal partners have created a variety of resources and tools to help organizations, including schools and school districts, understand mitigation strategies they can consider implementing to protect students, staff, faculty, and visitors from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Providing face masks and PPE is one important workplace control, as noted in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19, that can be used to protect the whole school community.
Requirements for the types of PPE to be used in the school and campus setting may vary by state. However, it is important for education agency leaders to sit down with safety planning teams and partners to think through which of their school community’s staff and faculty (e.g., teachers, aides, school nurses, bus drivers) have the highest frequency of contact with students and which personnel (e.g., administrators and office staff) may have the highest frequency of contact with families, visitors, and other school personnel.
The REMS TA Center is pleased to announce the release of a new fact sheet that offers six implementation tips to support the use of face masks and PPE in the K-12 learning setting.”
Additional information can be found at REMS TA Center Website (ed.gov).