[ti:Teachers Could Stay in School if Exposed to COVID-19] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]President Donald Trump's administration declared this week [00:04.64]that teachers in the United States are "critical infrastructure workers." [00:11.40]The declaration means that school officials could send teachers back to the classroom [00:17.92]even if they were in contact with people infected with COVID-19. [00:24.52]On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said for the first time [00:30.36]that teachers should be on its list of critical infrastructure workers. [00:37.16]The list also includes healthcare workers, [00:40.84]police officers and people working in meat processing centers. [00:47.04]The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that such workers [00:52.76]are not required to quarantine for 14 days following COVID-19 exposure. [01:01.00]It said they can keep working if they show no sign of the disease and take safety measures. [01:09.56]Among the first areas to name teachers as critical infrastructure workers [01:15.12]was Greene County in the state of Tennessee. [01:19.80]Greene County School System officials approved the move on July 13. [01:27.00]"It essentially means if we are exposed and we know we might potentially be positive, [01:32.88]we still have to come to school and we might at that point [01:37.04]be carriers and spreaders," said Hillary Buckner. [01:41.96]She teaches Spanish at the high-school in Afton, Tennessee. [01:48.36]Only kindergarten and prekindergarten students [01:51.72]currently attend class face-to-face in Greene County. [01:57.32]But school officials could expand in-person classes [02:01.32]to every one of the area's 7,500 students, Buckner said. [02:08.88]In the state of Georgia, Forsyth County Schools also recognized teachers [02:14.60]as critical infrastructure workers. [02:18.08]Spokesperson Jennifer Caracciolo said [02:20.56]that means they could be told to return to classrooms. [02:25.64]She noted that the 50,000-student school district [02:29.88]has yet to rule on the issue and plans to decide on a case-by-case basis. [02:37.68]A spokesperson for Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said his administration [02:42.88]is studying the new Homeland Security directive. [02:47.64]But if it is accepted, the directive could influence other school districts [02:53.00]to follow Forsyth County's example. [02:57.24]Craig Harper is director of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. [03:04.08]He said the directive "starkly contradicts the newest Georgia Department of [03:09.44]Public Health guidance intended to protect student [03:13.08]and educator health and curb spread of the virus." [03:18.52]Lily Eskelsen Garcia heads the National Education Association. [03:25.08]She said the directive was an attempt "to give President Trump and those governors [03:30.76]who are disregarding the advice and guidance from public health experts [03:35.48]an excuse to force educators into unsafe schools." [03:41.36]American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten added [03:46.08]"the Trump administration will always try to change the rules to threaten, bully and coerce." [03:55.20]"If the president really saw us as essential, he'd act like it," Weingarten said. [04:02.44]"Teachers are and always have been essential workers [04:07.08]— but not essential enough, it seems, for the Trump administration [04:11.52]to commit the resources necessary to keep them safe in the classroom." [04:18.00]The Associated Press reports that the coronavirus is spreading in Georgia, [04:23.36]as a percentage of population, faster than any other state. [04:29.40]Tennessee has the seventh-fastest spread. [04:33.60]A few schools that reopened for in-person classes in both states [04:39.52]have already closed after infections were reported among teachers and students. [04:47.36]It is unclear whether the virus was spread at the schools, however. [04:53.32]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM