Dear WMS Community,

As we begin to edge out of our pandemic related isolation and limited engagement with others, an interesting article in the NYT, “When do we get back to normal? Maybe now.” written by David Leonhardt on November 13, 2021, can provide some guidance.

Essentially, his notion is that “the virus is unlikely to go away, ever. Like most viruses, it will probably keep circulating, with cases rising sometimes and falling other times.” However, Leonhardt reasonably argues, “We have the tools—vaccines, along with an emerging group of treatments—to turn it into a manageable virus, similar to the seasonal flu.”

Given this reality, depending on one’s tolerance for risk, if one is vaccinated, returning to more normal activities like eating in a restaurant rather than in the gutter, going to the movies or a show or a musical performance, can make sense. None of these activities should now be considered foolhardy as might have been the case pre vaccine availability. We are learning again to take pleasure in being together.

But, for our WMS children, the overwhelming majority of whom are too young to be vaccinated, how do we move forward? The good news is that “Covid tends to be mild for them. For young children, Covid looks like a normal flu, if not a mild one.” In fact, using U.S. hospitalization rates for newborns to 4-year-olds as a significant measure, the rate for Covid of 72.4 per 100,000 is significantly lower than the ten-year average for the flu (97.7 per 100,000).

This does not mean we are ready to relax our school protocols at this time, but we continue to monitor them to make sure they are as reasonable as possible, not too draconian, not too lax. We have recently sent a letter about opening up our Studio Classes so all but chess (our superb teacher/actor John has moved to Florida so we must continue to live-stream him) will be taught in person, in the way that early childhood teaching does best.

We are planning to be with you outside in the spring for a celebration of the Children’s work in the Arts as well as resurrecting our terrific Street Fair AND we are planning for an inside Gala at the beginning of June.

Thank you for trusting us as we continue to navigate the pandemic together,

Ronnie