packgrad said:
The CDC recommends kids be back in school.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/reopening-schools.html
" Schools are an important part of the infrastructure of our communities, as they provide safe, supportive learning environments for students, employ teachers and other staff, and enable parents, guardians, and caregivers to work. Schools also provide critical services that help meet the needs of children and families, especially those who are disadvantaged, through supporting the development of social and emotional skills, creating a safe environment for learning, identifying and addressing neglect and abuse, fulfilling nutritional needs, and facilitating physical activity. School closure disrupts the delivery of in-person instruction and critical services to children and families, which has negative individual and societal ramifications. The best available evidence from countries that have opened schools indicates that COVID-19 poses low risks to school-aged children, at least in areas with low community transmission, and suggests that children are unlikely to be major drivers of the spread of the virus. Reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being, and future of one of America's greatest assetsour childrenwhile taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families."
So the CDC produces a much different document initially, then Trump demands that the agency alter its recommendations for opening school, and then they come out with this.
Not exactly the bastion of independent scientific thought.
Regardless, their qualitative reasons for supporting school reopening are exactly right and mirror almost exactly Wake County's statement months ago when first indicating that they were going to keep schools open. Then, Wake County reversed course due to the quickly increasing prevalence of the disease.
The CDC is going to have a hard time getting full buy-in though with mealy-mouthed endorsements like "The best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms. Death rates among school-aged children are much lower than among adults."
and "No studies are conclusive, but the available evidence provides reason to believe that in-person schooling is in the best interest of students"
In other words, "We can't say this conclusively but your kid probably won't get really sick, but if they do, they probably won't die."
That may work when making a macro decision but when it's your kid, parents are going to need more assurance than that.
The document says "Scientific studies suggest that COVID-19 transmission among children in schools may be low. International studies that have assessed how readily COVID-19 spreads in schools also reveal low rates of transmission when community transmission is low."
Key words being "reveal low rates of transmission when community transmission is low."
Many areas of the US are experiencing high community transmission.
The most glaring miss in this document is clearly regarding the risks to teachers of returning. There are over 4 million public K-12 teachers in this country, and many are older or have underlying health conditions. The CDC's document focuses exclusively on student impacts and health with the exception of one sentence.
"Based on current data, the rate of infection among younger school children, and from students to teachers, has been low, especially if proper precautions are followed."
Key words: "...younger children...especially if proper precautions are followed."
The clear implication is that data shows something much different for older children. The break point seems to be around the age of 10, above which children carry, shed, and infect at rates similar to adults. Also, good luck maintaining consistent "proper precautions" with a bunch of kids. Most kids can't keep a mask on their face for 30 minutes much less 7 hours.
I think we should figure out a way to get special needs, pre-K, and at-risk students back in classrooms as soon as possible. Much less clear how and when to return everyone else.
