Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Adults

Good info. Thanks for sharing!

Yes reopening schools at this point in time is not the right decision.

Our infection rate here in the county I live in is 0.0% Yup....with >500 people tested daily. Our schools should open with caution. We were told to FLATTEN the curve and NYS did just that. Our cases have NOT increased even with the graduation parties, 4th of July, protests, and weddings of less than 100 people. People are wearing masks when out.

My feeling - as speculated in the article - is that young children don’t seem to transmit as much because of their height. They’re not exhaling the virus at a level where it reaches other people’s breathing space. Teachers, however, spend a lot of time getting down on kids’ level to work with them.

I think this is borne out by the fact that there have been dozens of cases in daycares and camps, where workers are likely more at face level with young kids than is the average adult walking around.

The sad fact is that American kids and teachers will be used as guinea pigs in people’s rush to reopen schools. Some people will die as a result.

The study was done in a school setting - although perhaps teaches in South Korean don't teach like American teachers. I still cannot fathom why America seems to think their teachers and children are unlike any in the rest of the world. The guinea pigs are the dozens of countries around the world who already opened. But I guess as this science isn't popular with American teachers, they choose to disregard it. And yes there are areas where the virus is not well controlled and schools shouldn't open - but that is NOT The case in many areas. The lack of acknowledgement of the vast damage being done to millions of children who will suffer because they are not in school has also gotten quite old. 

I've seen different mortality rates for infants, but haven't seen a study on transmission - most studies are looking at child age children as they're specifically looking at how reopening schools will affect the community as whole. 

My husband and I were just talking about this. Kids are not in school in a bubble. For about every 10 kids there is at least one adult.

Why are teachers nervous? Because we know we have been underfunded for years.

There are not enough custodians to clean adequately. There is no money to hire any more (as stated by the school board). So nothing extra will be able to be done during a pandemic.

There are no good cleaning agents teachers are allowed to use on a regular basis. We can’t use Lysol, Clorox, or bleach. Not diluted and not full strength. We know kids get sick over and over because our classrooms are breeding grounds.

There is no money for PPE for staff or students. One local school district told teachers there is no “pot of gold” for extra funding for safety measures.

There are people who will send their children sick to school. There are groups here that already have decided that kids won’t spread it so when a family member tests positive they will send their students anyway.

There is no money to help with ventilation systems. My classroom has windows that are 8” big. My classroom registered 86 degrees on more than one occasion. That is a lot of stagnant air sitting around.

There are not enough buses and bus drivers to split the kids up.

There are big classes. Class sizes in this country are large so even half the class won’t help with keeping kids 6’ apart.

From what I have read, our country is one of the few worldwide that is doing a horrible job with mask wearing and trying to keep numbers down. The anti-maskers have kids-and those kids and families are going about their lives in some cases to prove that it is a “hoax.” I don’t think worldwide that is as common as here.


So let’s stop blaming the teachers and start looking at the real reasons schools should not open.

The school district where my parents live (PG County Maryland) will do online for the first semester. They will go back late Jan. or early Feb.

You're conveniently overlooking the fact that many states are dealing with a different and more contagious strain of the virus than was seen in Europe or elsewhere. You're also overlooking the fact that the sort of school conditions that existed where schools safely reopened in Europe does not exist in any public school in the US to my knowledge, and the fact that other countries have far better rates of compliance with virus prevention measures than the US does. As far as I know, there have been zero in-school studies done around the version of the virus we have in the southern states, in the more crowded school environments we endure, and with the relatively low rates of compliance we have. All these differences = new set of guinea pigs.

What we do know is that there have been hundreds of cases of transmission among children in southern states in day cares and camps, even with mask requirements and distancing measure in place. I guess that information isn't popular with the reopen-schools-now crowd.

I'm actually not overlooking anything - I've stated multiple times we need to actually look at community transmission rates as well as success/failure in other countries to see where and how to open schools with emphasis on meeting the needs of our our most vulnerable populations. All I'm hearing over and over again from these threads is - it's not safe - people care more about the economy than me and teachers and children will die. 

Where exactly is the lie? We can speculate all day about people's motivations (except that some GOP members have literally come out and said that the economy is more important than people's lives), but the fact is, based on what we know right now, reopening in many areas will cause teachers and children to die. If that's not the case in your area, have that fight with your local teachers, not me. Houston is a shitshow and there's no doubt in my mind that re-opening here right now would be a disaster. I don't have time to worry about the fancy parts of Denver.

It's actually a perfect comparison to some areas of the US - and yes in those areas they should go back to school. Houston? Certainly not all students - but can we find a way to bring back special needs students?  ESL students or those without the resources to be successful at home. Use the lower numbers to allow distancing. I've never said just bring everyone back. 

In my district, 75% of students are economically disadvantaged and 30% are ELL (obviously there is some if not complete overlap between those groups). About 8% are officially designated special ed because the state requires us to keep numbers below a certain cap, but the number of kids who require unofficial intervention is significantly higher. Another subset are the children of medical workers or other truly essential workers, who will expect their kids to be included if anyone is. And then there are the kids of the teachers themselves, who have to go somewhere if mom is expected to be at school. 

I don't think you're grasping the enormity of what you're asking in a district like mine. You'd be bringing almost everyone back. The same would be true in some of the suburban "ring" districts, and of course lots of other urban and rural districts in the state. The smaller towns in the RGV - almost all impoverished, high rate of ELL among the students - are very hard hit right now.

You are fortunate that Colorado is not a red zone state and I hope it remains that way. Please feel free to fight for whatever policy in your state and locality makes sense. For the 18 states designated "red zones" at this time, re-opening in person does not make sense (and note that some of these, like Washington, were early victors in flattening the curve, so your state may not remain so lucky).

I'm surprised and glad that Texas' leadership came reluctantly to the conclusion that it must allow local districts to do what is best for them based on current trends in their area, rather than mandating that everyone go back in person. They're even using CARES money to purchase additional technology for students in districts with high poverty rates. Doing this without a big fight is so uncharacteristic of Texas leadership that many of us are wondering if it's a trap or setup of some kind.

Where you see a lack of concern about educational loss and potential suffering at home, teachers see two things. One is that Maslow has to come before Bloom's. Sick and dead kids don't learn. Kids who are traumatized by the illness and death of their friends and teachers don't learn. Kids who don't feel safe don't learn. The second is that the public schools absolutely cannot be the answer to all of society's problems. This hurts us. We work with kids because we love kids. We listen to them, feed them, find clothes for them, counsel them, write CPS reports and psych referrals, and do everything we can to keep them safe and learning. But we've hit a wall here. It breaks my heart that there are kids who are unsafe in their own homes. It is not currently in the schools' power, however, to fix this. We all need to be turning our eyes to federal and local governments, and demanding better social services, affordable housing, and a living wage for everyone who works, along with a universal basic income in emergency scenarios. Much of what our students suffer is the direct result of poverty, and poverty is perpetuated by an unfair economic system put in place by our government and its voters.

It's in our power as a society to fix that. But teachers and public schools cannot continue to be the lone bandaid on this. If you want kids to stop suffering, stop voting for people who hide behind the mask of "fiscal conservatism" in order to vote against things like a living wage, healthcare for all, and fully funded schools and social services.