Updated UK analysis on importance of kids and schools in COVID-19 transmission. Full report available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948617/s0998-tfc-update-to-4-november-2020-paper-on-children-schools-transmission.pdf

I continue to think that the gap between PCR-based estimates of susceptibility, and serological estimates, reflects shorter duration of shedding in young kids as has been demonstrated by @paulchenz in forthcoming work.

As noted by others, school opening in the fall in the UK, in the face of lockdown of the rest of society, allowed new variant B117 to emerge with R > 1 in schools/kids, even as societal R < 1.

No doubt this will be interpreted as advocacy for ongoing school closure. It's not. Schools are important; as I was saying last spring, "they're the one large gathering that's hard to close". But needs to be done in a way that acknowledges risk, and maximizes community safety.