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The White House hosted an event called National Dialogue on Safely Reopening Schools. Many there talking about importance of schools in US but no one talking details about how to deal w risks or reopen safely, or what it will cost.1/x
Schools are extraordinarily important and we should work to open them safely in the fall. But mtg today had no one expressing concerns of so many parents+teachers. And no one talking about what is known /not known about the science related to schools and COVID spread.2/x
Children are at far lower risk of serious illness than adults in terms of COVID19. But we still don’t have enough evidence about how frequently children spread COVID to other children. Or how frequently children spread the disease to adults in school or adults in their homes.3/x
That research should have been completed by now. https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/publications/filling-in-the-blanks-national-research-needs-to-guide-decisions-about-reopening-schools-in-the-united-states But it hasnt, so we need to look at other indicators, which paint uncertain picture.4/x
Various models have concluded the opposite – some say that schools will accelerate COVID outbreaks, others conclude they won’t. 5/x
There have been some schools opened in other parts of world which have had minimal or no reported outbreaks, which is reassuring (though some of those schools are operating in very low COVID prevalence settings – the opposite of situation in many places in the US right now.)6/x
There have also been some outbreaks internationally. https://www.timesofisrael.com/over-20-more-schools-closed-as-israel-sees-largest-daily-virus-rise-in-a-month/ 7/x
Here is an example of a US school outbreak that occurred following a school graduation event https://www.theledger.com/news/20200703/covid-19-outbreak-at-kathleen-high-school 8/x
Here is another US school outbreak https://www.azfamily.com/news/continuing_coverage/coronavirus_coverage/staff-member-speaks-out-after-covid-19-outbreak-at-queen-creek-boarding-school/article_5ed028c8-bcd7-11ea-828e-0f6b670af99a.html 9/x
