Our Response To Erie County Dept. of Health

On March 15, Dr. Gale Burstein wrote a letter to WNY Students First on behalf of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and the Erie County Department of Health. Please click HERE to read this letter. Below is our response.



Dr. Gale R. Burstein
Commissioner of Health
Erie County Department of Health
95 Franklin Street
Buffalo, NY 14202
 
Dr. Burstein,
 
Thank you for your response dated March 15, 2021. In the interest of promoting more transparency on the issue of school reopenings, we are attaching your letter to WNY Students First to this press release to make sure that the residents of Erie County have access to the information in it.
 
While we are pleased that you have finally responded to the members in our group, we are extremely disappointed that you have chosen to largely ignore the mental health issues facing many children and that you continue to mislead the public about the safety of schools and the role of the ECDOH in setting school reopening guidelines.
 
We expect more from our public health experts.
 
WNY Students First would like to make the following points in response to your letter:

• While some ECDOH efforts have been successful in reducing transmission of Covid-19, the ECDOH guidelines on school reopenings are causing more harm than good.
• Transmission rates in schools are extremely low and more than 99% of all community transmission has occurred outside of schools. Closing schools takes kids out of the safest possible environment for them and increases the odds that they do contract and then spread Covid-19.
• In setting its school reopening guidelines, the ECDOH is not taking into consideration the devastating impact that remote/hybrid learning is having on the mental health of children, despite warnings from pediatricians, parents, teachers, and students.
• The ECDOH is not providing transparency on transmission rates in schools. Instead, it is equating cases in schools with transmission in schools, thereby creating more fear and confusion. In addition, the ECDOH is not providing transparency into how it is monitoring the health consequences of prolonged school closures on children.
• The ECDOH school reopening guidance runs counter to the NYSDOH guidelines, which allow schools to reopen fully at less than six feet of distancing between students if masks and barriers are used. Schools districts in Erie County are operating under more restrictive guidelines than schools in other counties in New York State, which is unfairly impacting students in Erie County.
• By not allowing schools to reopen at less than six feet of social distancing with the use of masks and barriers, the ECDOH is preventing school districts from providing the essential service of education. The ECDOH is denying our youngest citizens this fundamental human right.
• The ECDOH is not fulfilling its mission to protect the health and well-being of its residents. The ECDOH guidelines are arbitrarily preventing schools from reopening, run counter to the latest scientific research regarding in-school transmission, contradict the NYSDOH guidance, and are negatively impacting the health of our children – all while doing very little to reduce community transmission of Covid-19.

 
WNY Students First will continue to advocate for students on this issue, and we hope that you and your staff will finally engage directly with all stakeholders, including families, to help return our children to the safest place possible – the classroom.
 
WNY Students First
 
cc:            Mark C. Poloncarz
                  Erie County Superintendents
                  Erie County Legislature