This can't be stressed enough. The reason there is debate about whether it is safe to reopen our schools at this stage is that the pandemic has been so appallingly handled in the UK. https://twitter.com/anjahuja/status/1262660668194422785

And it's the same with the economy: as Joshua Gans shows in his new book, it was never "lives vs the economy": an early lockdown was always economically wisest, as it would have allowed the economy to be restarted sooner. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01487-2