Sen. José Menéndez | Facebook
Education is one in of the most intriguing battlegrounds in the fight against COVID-19 as students that are less susceptible to the virus mix with teachers and support staff that put their lives at risk.
Texas Sen. José Menéndez is seeking to provide relief to teachers and recently sent a letter to the Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath addressing the challenges presented by COVID-19, Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT) reported. Menéndez is seeking flexibility for school districts to allow personnel work from home. Working among kids has made educators, particularly the older men and women, along with support staff particularly vulnerable to catching the coronavirus. With new strands on the horizon and the delay in widespread vaccination, the in-person classroom setting could become a hotspot.
Menéndez highlighted the importance of school personnel to the education system and state as they place themselves in harm’s way. Offering them a priority would have a valuable impact in the state’s effort to return to some semblance of normal. He has found an ally in Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick who sent his own letter to the individual in charge of the vaccination allocation in the state, seeking to reconfigure the state’s subgroups for vaccine prioritization.
Patrick would like to see educators added to a subgroup, giving them a higher priority and providing a clearer estimate of when the vaccine will be available to them. Patrick is particularly focused on the older teachers and support staff in the 65-and-older age category. In his letter, Patrick noted education professionals in that age grouping should be given a higher priority than other citizens in the same age grouping.
In the most recent numbers posted on the state dashboard Jan. 28, Texas reported a total of 14,445 new cases and 471 new fatalities. Of the positive cases, there are 12,380 cases hospitalization cases leaving a total of 699 available ICU beds.
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