Are Schools Ready for the Next Big Surge?

Districts say they don’t want to close classrooms again. But the latest wave in Covid-19 cases could challenge the rickety infrastructure that has kept schools running this year.

The dread was familiar.

As news spread of the latest coronavirus surge, fueled by the Omicron variant, parents faced a return to the drudgery of school through a screen, child care crises and restless young bodies, penned inside for the winter.

In Manhattan, Olivia Strong received an email from her son’s public middle school on Monday, informing her that his cohort of eighth graders would transition to remote learning because of multiple positive virus cases.