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Hot off the @FREOPP presses: our major new paper on reopening America’s schools & colleges during #COVID19. Co-authored by @LanheeChen, @PrestonCooper93, @BobKocher, @DanLips, & me: https://freopp.org/reopening-americas-schools-and-colleges-during-covid-19-bdb35e3e32c4?source=social.tw
The case for reopening schools is compelling. We know that for children, the risk of dying of #COVID19 is lower than that of dying of influenza in normal years. And we have a lot of European experience at this point that schools can be reopened without damaging public health.
That doesn't mean we go back to pre-pandemic normalcy. We'll have to protect teachers and staff from infecting each other, just as in any other workplace, and provide virtual and microschool opportunities to students who can't attend traditional schools. https://freopp.org/reopening-americas-schools-and-colleges-during-covid-19-bdb35e3e32c4
One new opportunity that @DanLips has highlighted is to fund Education Savings Accounts, that thanks to the recent SCOTUS decision in Espinoza v. Montana, have a lot more utility in helping parents supplement their children's educational options. https://freopp.org/the-supreme-courts-espinoza-decision-will-expand-education-opportunities-d9693d8d96f4
As to colleges: @PrestonCooper93, our postsecondary ed scholar, has emphasized, you can't have a one-size-fits-all approach, because private and public colleges and community colleges & for-profit colleges are all different, especially in terms of how their students are housed.
It's going to work best in the fall, we @FREOPP believe, to keep off-campus college students studying virtually, and on-campus students remaining on-campus, in order to limit community spread. The recent experience with spread linked to 20somethings in bars was on our minds here.
We need to understand concepts like relative risks and tradeoffs. School closures have affected 80 million children and young adults, not to mention their parents. And yet, Americans under 25 represent 0.15% of #COVID19 deaths. https://freopp.org/reopening-americas-schools-and-colleges-during-covid-19-bdb35e3e32c4
Some people in Congress are considering sending additional funding to schools to deal with #COVID19. In targeted cases, this may be warranted. But it's worth noting, as @DanLips does in our paper, that only $83 *million* of the $17 billion of CARES Act ed funding has been spent.
There's lots more in the @FREOPP paper. Let us know what you think. Thanks again to @BobKocher, @LanheeChen, @DanLips, and @PrestonCooper93 for producing this comprehensive and detailed proposal. https://freopp.org/reopening-americas-schools-and-colleges-during-covid-19-bdb35e3e32c4
A number of people asking me: but what about getting teachers & staff infected? We address this in detail. Children do not appear to be a significant source of transmission of this #coronavirus.
A new paper in Pediatrics from University of Vermont researchers: "Children infrequently transmit Covid-19 to each other or to adults...schools...can and should reopen in the fall." https://www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news/kids-rarely-transmit-covid-19-say-uvm-docs-top-journal
"Accumulating evidence and collective experience argue that...school-aged children are far less important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than adults....serious consideration should be paid toward [allowing] schools to remain open, even during periods of #COVID19 spread."
!["Accumulating evidence and collective experience argue that...school-aged children are far less important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than adults....serious consideration should be paid toward [allowing] schools to remain open, even during periods of #COVID19 spread."](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdJ59IwXkAAAsuN.png "\"Accumulating evidence and collective experience argue that...school-aged children are far less important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than adults....serious consideration should be paid toward [allowing] schools to remain open, even during periods of #COVID19 spread.\"")
