Here are the basic reasons why I support the reopening of schools (in most situations in the United States, specifically in situations where a county or state’s hospitals are not overwhelmed) with good social distancing, masking, and hygiene procedures.
1. Children are among the least vulnerable to this virus. Most importantly in the sense of an extremely low mortality rate (significantly lower than overall annual mortality rate). Specifically, school aged children have an estimated infection fatality rate that is less than 0.002%. https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/06/23/coronavirus-covid-deaths-us-age-race-14863 . On the other hand, in a typical year, the annual mortality rate for school aged children is approximately 0.01 to 0.03%. Therefore, the typical annual fatality rate is at least 5 times higher than the estimated infection fatality rate for school aged children. https://www.statista.com/statistics/241572/death-rate-by-age-and-sex-in-the-us/
2. Children seem to be a less likely vector of transmission than adults. https://www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news/kids-rarely-transmit-covid-19-say-uvm-docs-top-journal
3. In person instruction is extremely important with academic, social, and health benefits (see American Academy of Pediatrics statement with support from American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA) and the The School Superintendents’ Association).
4. The “flatten the curve” logic given when we had lockdowns in March and April indicated that the goal was to avoid hospital overwhelm not to eliminate all infections. https://www.webmd.com/lung/qa/what-is-flattening-the-curve
5. The vaccine is not coming soon. Moreover, we do not know when and it’s possible we won’t get it at all. Waiting to educate our children for an event with an indeterminate date (possibly never) doesn’t make sense. https://www.webmd.com/lung/covid-19-vaccine#1
6. Working parents need the child care given by the school system in order to do their jobs and live their lives. As of 2018, somewhere around 34 million working Americans needed child care in order to go to work. https://www.brookings.edu/research/working-parents-are-key-to-covid-19-recovery/
7. If appropriate precautions are taken, then the risk from the virus for teachers does not seem to be significantly more than health care workers or other essential workers. Education is just as essential as health care, construction or other industries.
