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Schools and covid. A 
. Europe reopened its schools this spring, some as early as April. Is it safe to send kids to school during the pandemic? The answer has profound consequences. Denmark reopened primary schools in mid-April. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/austria-coronavirus-lockdown-end/2020/04/06/b4dedd8e-7805-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html
. Europe reopened its schools this spring, some as early as April. Is it safe to send kids to school during the pandemic? The answer has profound consequences. Denmark reopened primary schools in mid-April. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/austria-coronavirus-lockdown-end/2020/04/06/b4dedd8e-7805-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html
As early as June, I started to hear from Europeans wondering whether school closures were a mistake. Maybe kids weren't major drivers of infections. @camisto, Norway's Fauci, told me “we should all have 2nd thoughts about whether it was really necessary." https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/06/05/coronavirus-infections-havent-spiked-since-europe-loosened-lockdowns-there-are-many-theories-about-why/
By July, some European schools had been back in session for months. When they took safety precautions, they did not seem to be having outbreaks. I kept asking epidemiologists if they had sent their own kids back to school. The answer, unanimously, was yes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/schools-reopening-coronavirus/2020/07/10/865fb3e6-c122-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html
But a big difference started to open between Europe and the United States: Trump. Dismissing science, he pushed for a broad reopening of the U.S. economy. Schools were included. It became very political. My colleague @laurameckler covered it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/white-house-schools-fall-coronavirus/2020/07/07/e2b1a16e-c059-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html
Trump's push to reopen schools didn't exactly have a lot of nuance. And it spooked U.S. parents and teachers. As my colleague @pbump noted, threatening to cut off funding to schools that don't reopen isn't the greatest way to discuss a complicated issue. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/08/trump-apparently-cant-help-make-reopening-schools-into-his-new-partisan-cause/
Europe didn't have the same polarization around school reopenings. Scientists said it was manageable. Politicians said it was a societal priority. When I talked to teachers' unions here, they wanted schools reopened, unlike many of their U.S. counterparts at the time.
Parts of Germany came back from summer break in early August, on a more ambitious schedule than before. My colleague @LovedayM looked at them after a month. There were cases showing up in classrooms, but they mostly came from outside the school walls. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/covid-schools-germany/2020/09/10/309648a4-eedf-11ea-bd08-1b10132b458f_story.html
By late September, we could look across Europe. Outbreaks in schools remained rare. In Finland, @ohelve told me that 2,700 people quarantined in a month after exposure to covid cases in schools. But only 10 of them tested positive after exposure. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-outbreaks-schools-europe/2020/09/27/0dd19bf6-ff48-11ea-b0e4-350e4e60cc91_story.html
Every time we wrote these articles, I got a flood of responses from U.S. readers. "Schools might be safe in Europe, but the U.S. is different!" was the gist. There was no trust in the U.S. pandemic response. The U.S. case count was higher, so schools couldn't be safe, they said.
But then something strange happened: in October, the pandemic flared up in Europe again. It got worse than the United States. European schools stayed open, even though I still heard a now-outdated argument from the U.S. that they were different. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/covid-europe-records/2020/10/15/0126c256-0ee7-11eb-b404-8d1e675ec701_story.html
Belgium's 2nd wave was one of the worst in the world. Doctors sick with covid were being asked to keep working, demands were so great. Schools stayed open. But it was truly hard: we talked to one school where half the teachers were sick or quarantining. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/belgium-covid-hospitals-schools/2020/10/23/85358010-14a9-11eb-a258-614acf2b906d_story.html
But Belgian policymakers told me they still felt schools were a reflection of the virus in society as a whole, but not a driver of the pandemic. One key measure: cases measured in schools never exceeded those of Belgium as a whole. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-schools-covid-open/2020/12/01/4480a5c8-2e61-11eb-9dd6-2d0179981719_story.html
Spain and France also had major spikes in cases in Oct. and Nov. The U.S. talked about testing positivity rate as a key measure for when school reopenings would be safe. NYC said 3 percent. Spain was >10%. Schools stayed open. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-schools-covid-open/2020/12/01/4480a5c8-2e61-11eb-9dd6-2d0179981719_story.html
Schools seemed safe. “There were legitimate concerns that perhaps we were fueling the epidemic,” a 
epidemiologist told me. “To the surprise of many... applying all these measures in a strict way controlled transmission, and there were no big outbreaks.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-schools-covid-open/2020/12/01/4480a5c8-2e61-11eb-9dd6-2d0179981719_story.html
epidemiologist told me. “To the surprise of many... applying all these measures in a strict way controlled transmission, and there were no big outbreaks.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-schools-covid-open/2020/12/01/4480a5c8-2e61-11eb-9dd6-2d0179981719_story.html
Put another way: “It is still difficult for me to understand why schools are closed in the United States,” Finnish epidemiologist @OHelve told me. “Schools are not driving the epidemic.”
But something big switched in the last few weeks in Europe: some countries that had been most adamant about keeping schools open are now closing them. Few think the fundamental science changed. But the more contagious covid strain makes everything riskier. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-schools-uk-variant-europe/2021/01/29/c4e73d78-5f2e-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html
Remember Denmark? The first country to reopen its schools? Well, now their schools are closed -- even though overall cases in 
are relatively low. They see the U.K. variant exploding underneath the surface. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-variant-covid-denmark/2021/01/22/ddfaf420-5453-11eb-acc5-92d2819a1ccb_story.html
are relatively low. They see the U.K. variant exploding underneath the surface. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-variant-covid-denmark/2021/01/22/ddfaf420-5453-11eb-acc5-92d2819a1ccb_story.html
The more contagious variant will also become predominant in the U.S. in March, @CDCgov says. Many European countries expect the same. My colleague @JoelAchenbach wrote about the risks: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/coronavirus-variant-dominant-us/2021/01/15/4420d814-5738-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html
In a twist of fate, the U.K. variant has arrived at the same time @JoeBiden is finally pushing to reopen U.S. schools, this time with a more concrete plan than Trump's. @CDCgov also weighed in, this time with recommendations that look far more European. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/cdc-school-virus-spread/2021/01/26/bf949222-5fe6-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html
Denmark, Netherlands, Portugal, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and others have closed schools for now. Some hope to reopen soon. Others are shooting for Easter. Other countries like 
are still open, but there are increasing ?s whether some will close. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-schools-uk-variant-europe/2021/01/29/c4e73d78-5f2e-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html
are still open, but there are increasing ?s whether some will close. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-schools-uk-variant-europe/2021/01/29/c4e73d78-5f2e-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html
Last year, when I wrote about the relative safety of EU schools, I got frustrated U.S. responses in favor of keeping schools closed. Now, after writing how some EU schools are closing, I'm getting frustrated U.S. responses in favor of opening them. https://twitter.com/alexanderrusso/status/1355893996351057920?s=20
