PHOENIX — As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country and here in Arizona, the struggle to keep students and teachers in the classroom is also ramping up.
State leaders are not the only ones concerned; local groups are also taking action to keep schools safe.
“The downstream effects of a large number of cases in a short amount of time are just enormous,” said Megan Jehn, who leads ASU’s COVID-19 Case Investigation Community Response Team.
Her team works closely with schools across the state, but she is also a mom of two and spent a portion of their winter break building and testing DIY air filters to provide added protection for local classrooms.
“If we have massive numbers of teachers out sick, schools may be forced to go remote temporarily just to deal with all those absences, and nobody wants to see that,” Jehn said.
Her team already has dozens of requests from Valley teachers, and plans are available online for those wanting to make their own.
“As a community, if we want to prioritize keeping kids in school, then we need to do all the other things that we can do, as adults, to make that happen,” said Jehn.
Anyone interested can email ASUPublicHealth@gmail.com.
