I will die on this hill: the only way to control community spread of covid, especially its variants, is to close schools.

Not because there’s a bunch of transmission in them, but because schools open sends the message that all is normal and people don’t feel things are bad.

As soon as you close schools, the message is “things are really bad and you must alter your behaviour” and because the world knows that schools are important places to be open, their closure is a wake up call. Socializing between households slows down, birthday parties decrease.

Keeping schools open - where people gather in close quarters for hours a day in large groups - tells the public, probably even subconsciously, that gathering in groups where hygiene theatre is performed, is safe.

Why can’t we have a family dinner of 15 people? Your kids sit in a room with 30 people for hours.

You trust that the students haven’t come to school sick, just like you trust your family members aren’t sick.

As soon as schools close, you hear, “gathering in groups isn’t safe.”

Closing schools is awful. There will be students who are stuck in terrible homes any time schools are closed. Learning is undeniably impacted. Teachers hate it, students hate it, parents hate it.

Humans are fantastic at justifying behaviour & open schools makes it too easy.

And that is my hill that I will die on.

Psychology is weird and humans aren’t logical or rational most of the time. Our decision making is complex and driven by strange things but I am certain that closing schools is the (terrible) thing we need to do.