Should schools reopen?

[gergroy]

NightlyPoe said:

JRPGfan said:

Yep... however you cant just ignore reality.

I'm not ignoring reality.  I'm dealing with the situation as it exists.  If kids were becoming sick or spreading the disease at a high rate, that would be one thing.  But the spread among young children is very low.  That's been the single lucky break we've gotten from this disease.

As it stands, the dangers of not educating a whole generation of children outweigh the benefits of keeping them home.  Those consequences are permanent as well and will become greater and greater as the time out of school extends outward.

While it has been shown that elementary aged kids are less likely to get it or spread it, those studies also don’t account for a school setting.  The fact is, the points of contact and spread are exponentially higher in a school setting then what kids are currently exposed to.  Even elementary kids will get it and spread it, just like other viruses.  

middle and high school kids are really the main concern here though. They are just as susceptible as adults.  They will be moving around schools in compact hallways with hundreds of kids at a time, having classes with multiple groups of different kids, eating and interacting without masks in full cafeterias.  Basically, all the ingredients to super spread the disease....