Experts make a sobering point about virus prevention in our schools...
Former FDA chief & Harvard professor: Take smart steps to slow spread of the coronavirusSmall steps like hand-washing and covering coughs can not only reduce our risks of infection but also have a big impact on the scope of an epidemic.
Scott Gottlieb and Marc Lipsitch
March 6, 2020
Link to article: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/03/06/former-fda-chief-gottlieb-actions-needed-fight-coronavirus-covid-19-column/4967137002/
(snip)
These small steps can reduce your individual risk of becoming infected, but practiced on a wide scale, they can have a big impact on the scope of an outbreak or epidemic. We can make all of these measures easier for ourselves and others through our actions at the workplace and in schools. Every workplace, school, and other public areas should have adequate facilities for hand-washing, including hot water and soap, as well as alcohol-based sanitizer. In our personal experience, schools in particular often have cold water only in the bathrooms, and no soap. This has long been a problem, but COVID-19 raises it to a critical public health issue.
Should parents be pressing schools to provide at least some bar soap or perhaps foaming liquid soap, along with training for the kids?
KY.........
= new reply since forum marked as read
I have been teaching for 23 years. I have never seen a school without soap. Where are they getting the idea that soap is not provided? 
and will let you know if either responds. Because both are quite prestigious in their fields, I like to think they were speaking truth. They didn't say "all" schools and my suspicion is they're referring to poorly funded inner-city and/or rural schools.
After posting this, I spoke with my daughter who is a local 5th grade public school teacher here in the metro Louisville school system. She said they provide soap and have shown all students a video on disease spread prevention. That was encouraging.
KY...........
This is a very powerful article from Harvard that one of the authors (Marc Lipsitch) referenced and evidently contains the basis for their statement:
To Prepare for Coronavirus, Simple Measures Are Often Most Effective
Public health experts and educators emphasize clear benefits of handwashing habits and well-stocked restrooms in schools
By: Emily Boudreau
Posted: March 8, 2020
Link: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/20/03/prepare-coronavirus-simple-measures-are-often-most-effective
(snip)
And yet well-stocked school restrooms and healthy handwashing habits are not always the norm. A recent investigation by the Boston Globe revealed that public health inspectors had found problems in 89 of 111 Boston Public Schools bathrooms. In Detroit, students filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Education noting nonworking sinks and lack of basic supplies such as toilet paper. The issues extend beyond infrastructure. “New York City teachers have described elementary schools that refuse to allow students to use bathroom sinks because washing hands ‘wastes time’ and ‘causes incidents (such as water fights),’” says Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Meira Levinson. “This is a good time to turn these approaches around. By investing in bathroom maintenance and improvements and by changing the culture around handwashing, schools have an opportunity to show students both that their health and wellbeing are critically important and that they can be part of a public health solution that will help others.”
That one is powerful and authoritative enough I'm thinking of posting in GD later this morning for all parents to read, and I'm forwarding it to my daughter the teacher.
KY..............