It is time to let science rather than superstition govern our decisions on the coronavirus.
In other words, it is time to reopen schools, and swiftly.
The sustained and widespread closure of schools has been a devastating public policy blunder. Virtual learning, in the slipshod form available nearly everywhere, is a disaster. It has been destructive to the physical and mental health of students. It has caused depression, hindered social and emotional development, and exacerbated the achievement gap between children with resources and those who are less fortunate. It has put a crushing burden on working parents, who have to struggle to keep their jobs while caring for and educating their children.
From the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been at extremely low risk of getting seriously ill from the disease. So, it was always questionable whether it made sense to deprive them of schooling and keep them cooped up inside. Now, the data are in, and there is no evidence that opening schools even poses a risk to older staff members or to the broader community.
Schools began to reopen around the world last spring and have managed to operate for months safely with few stories of large outbreaks. They have now been open in some parts of the United States for months, without creating problems.
New York City, driven by fear and held hostage by its teachers union, delayed the reopening of schools multiple times before finally allowing in-person instruction. But, the New York Times reports, “nearly three weeks into the in-person school year, early data from the city’s first effort at targeted testing has shown the opposite: a surprisingly small number of positive cases.” Out of 10,676 students and staffers tested randomly, there were only 18 positive cases.
Texas, where all schools reopened in August, has seen 3,000 positive results over the most recent week of school — out of nearly 3,000,000 students and staff.
Brown University researchers, who have been compiling data from school reopenings nationwide, have found cases are at about 34 per 100,000 students or staff.
As the lead researcher, health economist Emily Oster, has pointed out, the number of infections in schools tends to be either in line with or lower than the rates of infection within a given community. This suggests that schools are not spreading the virus. “So, for example, in our data, we can see that, actually, the staff COVID rates are very similar, maybe even a bit higher, in schools where the students are not in person and the staff are to the schools where the students are in person,” Oster told NPR, “which does really suggest this is just reflecting the community rate the same way, you know, if you looked at infections in any other setting, you’d see kind of rates similar to the overall population.”
Back in March, when everyone was just trying to get a grip on the coronavirus and use any means necessary to buy some time, the decision to close schools for a few weeks made sense. Traditionally, schools have been vectors for spreading other infectious diseases.
Yet, as we learned more about this virus, finding that it not only posed a small risk to children but also that children do not appear to be superspreaders, it became less justifiable. As evidence of successful reopenings poured in from overseas, there was absolutely no excuse for not holding in-person classes this fall.
Now that we have data from all over the country, where millions of children have returned to school either in private schools or certain public districts, there is simply no science to support isolating children and keeping them attached to screens all day. At this point, it is simply cruel.
We urge federal, state, and local leaders to stare down the teachers unions and act swiftly to reopen the schools. To do otherwise would be to ignore the science.
