Good morning. Welcome to Exias today. It's Wednesday, September 6. I'm Malibu.

Today on the show, women are closing the labor force gap with men. Plus, the fallout continues

from Spanish soccer's Me Too moment. But first, schools grapple with COVID safety as cases

rise. That's today's one big thing.

It's been a rocky start to the school year when it comes to COVID. A late summer surge

has already led to class cancellations and places like Kentucky in Texas.

Exias's Adrenal Battleheim is here to help us dig deeper on how schools are dealing

with COVID this year. Adrenal, how is this back to school different than it's been over

the past couple of years when it comes to COVID?

Well, I mean, first of all, the waves of disease aren't resulting in nearly as many hospitalizations

and deaths. And obviously, we're at that point post pandemic where widespread closings

or mask mandates are almost out of the question. But there are steps that some districts

are taking to reinstate safety measures, particularly in areas where respiratory diseases

including, but not exclusively, COVID are really getting out of hand.

How are schools trying to deal with this right now, then?

Well, as you mentioned, the district in Kentucky and Texas have basically canceled classes

and extracurricular activities. Philadelphia schools have imposed a safety plan that says,

if you tested positive, you have to isolate for five days and then wear masks for at least

another five days. When you come back, there were some school districts in Alabama that are

bringing back masking as well. They're not calling them mandates. They're just saying

they're recommendations. But it's kind of a very local response where the districts,

the administrators are consulting with local health officials very much like it was

...