In some areas where school has already started, a rash of COVID-19 cases has led to a chaotic start to the new academic year. While infections continue to rise in large parts of the country, reopening schools with in-person learning may foreshadow dire results.

There are already reports of teachers and students bringing the virus to school with them in the South and the Midwest, triggering quarantines. More cases like these will result in delayed openings and further shutdowns.

The Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FCAAP) is raising concerns about reopening schools. It released its recommendations on a return to school. The letter recommends school districts with test positivity rates over 5% delay their start dates till the numbers go down.

The threshold from the U.S. Attorney General to keep schools closed is 10%. The Florida Department of Health dashboard shows that number is over 13% for the state. The Florida Senate Democratic Caucus, like the FCAAP, also recommends that school dates are pushed back, among other restrictions, and schools should be allowed to decide when to open depending on the infection rates in each district.

Despite expert warnings and high case counts, there seem to be protests from parents to open schools with in-person learning. A case of example is Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, which has alarming rates of confirmed community spread. Yet, parents are demanding that children be allowed to return to in-person learning. The protests happened despite official reports that 260 employees in the school district have tested positive for COVID-19 or have been exposed and are barred from work.

According to Georgia's Department of Public Health, Gwinnett County has the second-highest total of COVID-19 cases in Georgia, with 17,781 confirmed cases. The district wants parents to understand the high risk and announced that employees won't return to school just yet. Other districts across the country continue to adjust their back-to-school plans to prevent the spread of the virus.

It is easy to blame school districts for their decisions, but the reality is they are, at times, overwhelmed by families that want their kids to return to school.

Everyone expected the quarantine to end, and the virus to be controlled by fall, but that hasn't happened. School districts are also under tremendous pressure from President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who have threatened to pull federal funds for school districts that don't reopen.

The CDC, which has been guiding the American populace with science-based arguments and counseled caution at all stages, has itself fallen to intense political pressure. It had no choice but to issue a new set of "resources and tools" for school reopening, despite educators' professional advice and the best scientific evidence stating otherwise.

There are also widespread global reports of coronavirus cases exploding after school re-openings. Following those are reports of schools closing down and shifting to the virtual mode. The U.S., which is reeling with COVID-19 cases, should opt for caution.

Students indeed learn better in a classroom setting, and school closures have been particularly hard on working families. Children suffer psychologically from social isolation. But none of these are insurmountable problems. What is unthinkable is risking the health of our children by deliberately putting them in high-risk environments.