Should COVID-19 remote learning rules extend to religious schools?

When Kentucky made the decision to temporarily halt in-person learning at all of its schools—impacting kindergarteners through high school seniors—state officials based the move on sound scientific considerations, the AMA tells the U.S. Supreme Court.

The AMA joined the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health & Wellness in filing an amicus brief in Danville Christian Academy Inc. v. Beshear to support Kentucky Gov. Andrew Beshear, who issued the public health order amid rising COVID-19 infections and deaths in the state.

The governor’s order closed all public and private schools Nov. 23. It calls for middle and high schools to continue remote instruction until Jan. 4, 2021. Elementary schools were allowed to reopen Dec. 7 if they were not in a county designated a “red zone” and if school administrators followed state guidance on operating safely during the pandemic.

Danville Christian Academy, a private school south of Lexington, and state Attorney General Daniel Cameron sued the governor in late November, arguing that the order should not apply to religious schools.

“While this emergency application raises questions of religious liberty, those questions come in the context of a public health crisis,” the AMA brief tells the nation’s highest court. And while the public response to the pandemic cannot be “by science alone,” the brief says, the court should have an accurate understanding of the science, which indicates that “temporary school closures in grades K–12 for in-person learning, including closure of religiously oriented schools, may be necessary public health measures.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an emergency application to hear the case after the 6th U.S.  Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the order. That decision reversed a lower-court decision from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Frankfort that said Kentucky could not stop in-person classes at a private school.

Kentucky Department of Health Commissioner Steven J. Stack, MD, a former AMA president and trustee, gave a detailed scientific explanation for the temporary in-person closures that was based on “solid medical reasoning,”the AMA brief explains.

Dr. Stack’s declaration also explained why Kentucky needed to make an exception to a statement that Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield, MD, made that schools should stay open during the pandemic and reasoned why other Kentucky institutions may face fewer restrictions than schools.

“One size does not fit all regarding K–12 school closures,” the brief says. “Dr. Stack’s recommendation, based on a high level of expertise and a close study of specific health issues, comes well within acceptable epidemiological practice.”

Read more about Dr. Stack’s experience taking Kentucky’s top public health position shortly before the pandemic began this year.

Beyond the science Dr. Stack cited in his declaration, other experts advise that in-person learning for K–12 children should be suspended in certain circumstances, the AMA brief tells the court. For example:

• The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report “Reopening K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity and Communities,” advises that “weighing all of the relevant factors to arrive at a decision about reopening and staying open involves simultaneously considering the public health risks, the educational risks and other potential risks to the community.”
• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “strongly advocates for in-person learning” according to its “AAP COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Guidance for School Re-entry,” but “the current widespread circulation of the virus will not permit in-person learning to be safely accomplished in many jurisdictions” and “ultimately, the decision to re-open schools to in-person learning should be based on the guidance of local and state public health authorities and school administrators.”
• The CDC’s considerations for operating schools during the pandemic advises “implementation should be guided by what is feasible, practical, acceptable, and tailored to the needs of each community” and that “it is also critically important to develop strategies that can be revised and adapted depending on the level of viral transmission in the school and throughout the community.”

Learn about AMA judicial advocacy that takes place through the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies. You can also discover cases in which the AMA Litigation Center is providing assistance and learn about the Litigation Center’s case-selection criteria