A crisis looms over school reentry. Chronic underinvestment threatens to make it that much worse.

The spike in Covid-19 cases in the United States, driven largely by the Delta variant, is on a collision course with back-to-school season, which will see children—who are more affected by the variant—returning to in-person instruction en masse, often without masks, vaccinations, regular testing, or better ventilation.

Experts are worried that the results will be disastrous. And they fear that the worst of the crisis will hit the communities that have already been devastated by the pandemic, and have the fewest resources to make schools safer for children.

“I’m not optimistic at all,” said Dr. Amy Falk, a pediatrician in rural Wisconsin. “I’m just really worried about the school year.” Read more at The Nation.