DETROIT – If your child has not gone back to school yet Tuesday is likely the day. This year school districts will face new challenges as they try to keep students safe and in the classroom.
Local 4 News was live from Detroit Lions Academy on the city’s east side Monday.
Masks will be required for students at least here in Wayne County.
The latest jump in cases that is impacting children much more than last fall could not have come at a worse time.
Read: Detroit teachers raise concerns after COVID outbreak in football team
As Detroit’s 53,000 students head back to school the pandemic is in full swing.
According to the district there were at least 20 cases reported in the last week, more than half from face-to-face learning in schools.
Those cases mean 55 students and staff have already been forced into quarantine. Most notably an outbreak on the Renaissance High School football team where a dozen players have tested positive.
Several teachers saying they weren’t informed by the district.
Read: Detroit schools strengthen COVID protocols ahead of fall semester
In a statement a district spokesperson said, “Players were tested and quarantined before staff reported to work this week. Effective Tuesday, any and all positive cases and/or outbreaks will be communicated to all staff and families at any individual school. This was our communication protocol last year.”
But Detroit has been working to strengthen COVID precautions upgrading and repairing ventilation systems in older buildings to meet CDC requirements since the end of last school year and received a record amount of funding from both the state and federal government getting more than $1 billion in COVID relief. That is more than any major district in the country.
Cases now across the state are nearly 10 times higher than they were when schools let out for the summer.
Around the state several counties have enforced mask mandates in K-12 schools for hundreds of thousands of students as cases have been on the rise.
Get Caught Up: A look at Michigan school mask mandates for 2021-22 academic year
Read more: Education headlines from across Michigan