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Thread: I spent the morning reading the @NASEM report and other studies on Covid-19 & school reopening. Here's what I took away:
1. NASEM rightly calls out CDC & states for producing “guidance” that doesn’t guide. They endorsed tons of different measures with little guidance about how schools—which can’t possibly do them all—should prioritize among them. Terrible burden on schools to navigate.
2. Key, evidence-based measures for schools include (1) surgical masks for staff, (2) some kind of mask wearing for all (as much as possible given students’ age); (3) diligent hand hygiene, (4) restricting adult visitors, (5) no big gatherings, ...
(6) physical distancing of 3-6 feet, and (7) get outdoors as much as possible. Cohorting kids is “promising” but not as evidence based.
3. It’s not straightforward to apply evidence about transmissibility derived from adults to kids & the school setting. Lots we don’t know yet.
4. While risks of reopening are unclear, benefits to kids—educationally and beyond—are completely clear. “Districts should prioritize reopening,” especially for elementary schools. Staying closed has huge equity implications.
5. Taiwan, China, Ireland, and Australia all reopened schools with these preventive measures; all report that cases of in-school transmission have been extremely rare. Student-to-teacher transmission almost nil. Cases usually linked to community, not in-school, contacts.
6. Schools need to be making decisions in partnership with public health experts—but many can’t access that expertise from busy public health departments. (Academics: please step forward!)
7. UPSHOT: Reopening with some in-person learning is clearly the right call, with the key preventive measures. ...
Schools are driving themselves crazy with details (How many days on, how many off? How many kids per classroom? How many classes per teacher?) that we have no evidence concerning; should focus on the above considerations!
Correct callout for NASEM: @theNASEM - apologies! Report is here: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25858/reopening-k-12-schools-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-prioritizing (click "Download Free PDF")
