People who are misguided on k12 COVID-19 cases and ask "Is it safe to open schools yet?" are asking the wrong question.

One of many right questions is:
"What is this administration able and willing to do to MAKE schools safe to reopen?"

A thread...

Not all schools are created equal.

Squeezing 18 or more kids into a 500-sq. ft classroom with poor ventilation & archaic HVAC system for 8 hours or more 5 days a week will assuredly result in the spread of #COVID19. We've seen (& tracked) this since July at @thecovidmonitor

Those claiming to suddenly care about equity in the American education system by emphasizing the important social role of school in under-served populations are too privileged to know that students in those groups likely don't go to the same types of schools that their kids go to

Most of those school buildings are old, often decrepit, with minimal space and supplies. They're not the clean and shiny schools white, affluent kids go to. And surveys recently published show that's exactly who's driving the push to reopen schools - white, affluent parents.

We know schools accelerate community spread. Like any large, indoor gatherings lasting eight hours or more, the risk of exposure is typically high, but also relative to the risk of exposure in the community. So until community spread is under control, schools shouldn't open...

@thecovidmonitor has tracked ~600,000 K12 student and staff #COVID19 cases since last July - and that's without states like California, Pennsylvania, Georgia reporting any official data at all. Updates are being processed this week, and the data shows major spikes in the USA

We also know that kids aren't the only ones in school buildings - #COVID19 k-12 staff rates (including teachers, admins, janitorial, transportation and other support staff) are much higher than community rates for the same population groups.

And just because many children may be asymptomatic, does not mean they cannot transmit the virus, or that they won't have any long-term health issues resulting from infection. Especially with B117 out there and rapidly rising case numbers in schools, this must be considered.