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SvennoJ on 28 February 2020
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Ka-pi96 said:
John2290 said:

No offence to your work but closing schools os the best bet at saving lives and slowing the spread at this point without fucking our economies. You should be paid of course for leave but if not, it's better than your student body dying. The kids are most at risk and the old of course but they also are walking germ factories, more lives than just the kids could be saved by the school closure. Hope you get bqck paid at least. 

Oh yeah, I get why they're closing and I'm not going to complain about getting some extra time off. The issue is pay, I just moved house and am kind of broke because of that, so if this affects my pay I could have some problems.

And kids actually might be the least at risk. I actually saw an article the other day suggesting they're more resistant to the disease. There have been less kids affected by it and the symptoms seem to be less severe in kids too. Of course that could be partially due to people being more careful around kids, so as not to spread the disease, but still maybe kids are just more resistant to this one.

The question is, can they carry the disease and infect others. That's still unknown.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/27/coronavirus-kids-what-role-transmission/

Though the evidence to date suggests this virus doesn’t inflict severe disease on children, there’s reason to think kids may be helping to amplify transmission. It’s a role they play to devastating effect during flu season, becoming ill and passing flu viruses on to their parents, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers.

While the new virus is from a different viral family, its behavior is more like influenza than its coronavirus cousins, SARS and MERS, making experts wonder if it is doing the same.

“Flu is clearly driven in part by schools. And we don’t understand what goes on with coronaviruses and kids — especially this coronavirus,”


There are also still many unknowns on how to protect yourself

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/unmasked-experts-explain-necessary-respiratory-protection-covid-19

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, which publishes CIDRAP News, says, "The very unsettling data regarding the number of infected healthcare workers in the Wuhan area and the infection of a Japanese doctor working with those quarantined on the cruise ship and who used standard PPE [personal protective equipment]—except for a surgical mask instead of an N95 respirator—should be a real wake-up call to all of us about how do we really protect against this critical occupational risk."


Surgical masks will certainly help, but safety is not guaranteed.