Fall is coming, and with its impending arrival decisions are being made all over the country on how best to reopen the nation’s schools.
The Los Angeles and San Diego public school districts — the two largest public school districts in the nation’s largest state — announced last week they would administer classes online instead of in person; but in Orange County, nestled in between Los Angelesand San Diego, the school board voted the same day to do exactly the opposite — reopen school in the fall without either a mask or a social-distancing mandate. Who’s got it right?
Based on the science, the data and the public health considerations — Orange County school board members got it right, while those in Los Angeles and San Diego failed their students.
The simple fact is, not allowing schools to reopen for in-person instruction in the fall is a greater danger to the students than keeping the schools closed.
Don’t just take our word for it. The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees with us.
“I’m of the point of view as a public health leader in this nation, that having the schools actually closed is a greater public health threat to the children than having the schools reopen,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield last week.
“I think really people underestimate the public health consequences of having the schools closed on the kids … I’m confident we can open these schools safely, work in partnership with the local jurisdictions,” Dr. Redfield continued. “I don’t think we should go overboard in trying to develop a system that doesn’t recognize the reality that this virus is relatively benign to those of us that are under the age of 20.”
“Relatively benign” to those under the age of 20? That’s an understatement. As of July 8, official CDC statistics show that of the roughly 134,000 U.S. deaths attributed to COVID-19 since February, precisely 30 of them — 0.022388 percent — were patients under the age of 15.
And if we add in those between the ages of 15 and 24 who died from the virus during the same time frame, we’re adding another 149 deaths. That’s a total of 179 deaths from people who were under the age of 25. To put that in context, deaths from the seasonal influenza among those under the age of 18 in the 2017-2018 flu season amounted to 643, more than three times as much. “Relatively benign?” Indeed.
But for some, it’s not enough to say that the virus is not particularly dangerous to children. What about concerns that the children could act as “super spreaders,” taking the virus home with them and spreading it to other generations of their families?
We have seen no evidence that children act as super spreaders — or even spreaders, for that matter. A study by the Health Information and Quality Authority in Ireland showed such concerns were misplaced. The executive director of the organization said “there was nothing to indicate children transmit the virus at a substantially higher level compared to other age categories,” reported The Irish Times.
And in Canada, similar research shows the same results: “Children are neither highly susceptible to COVID-19 nor the super-spreaders people feared they might be, according to mounting research,” reported The Ottawa Citizen. A study released Monday from Germany demonstrated that, in the words of professor Reinhard Berner, head of pediatric medicine at Dresden University Hospital, “Children act more as a brake on infection. Not every infection that reaches them is passed on,” reported The Telegraph.
On the other hand, there is significantly increased danger in keeping children out of school. Without a return to in-person instruction, not only will their schooling suffer — remote learning isn’t nearly as good as in-person instruction, and we all know that (why else would we have built all those school buildings in the first place?) — but so will their general education and socialization.
As school boards, superintendents, administrators, principals, parents and students consider how best to reopen schools, they should put children’s health concerns right at the top of the considerations — and, based on those concerns, they should move to reopen the schools for in-person instruction as soon as possible.
