Did he name these consequences?
I couldn’t spot that in the article. Did someone find that or does anyone have a quote from elsewhere?
Preferably no speculation; a direct quote or a summary of his statement would be ideal.
> Since May, the C.D.C. website [link to 1] has cautioned that full reopening would be “highest risk,”
And from that site, we can see that it's not the highest risk among all possible ways of spreading COVID-19, it's simply the scenario with the highest risk of COVID-19 spread among 3 scenarios for schools: full reopening, virtual-only instruction, or:
> Small, in-person classes, activities, and events. Groups of students stay together and with the same teacher throughout/across school days and groups do not mix. Students remain at least 6 feet apart and do not share objects
I believe the CDC director is recommending something like that middle risk plan, and saying that the risk of spreading coronavirus under this plan is outweighed by the risks of having schools closed.
1: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-...
Hahaha. Have you seen kids? Who's going to remind each kid six times a minute to maintain distance and not share?!
Source: I've spent 100s of hours in K-4 classrooms
As a parent, with enough privilege, my kid is doing remote next year.
> The American Academy of Pediatrics' guidance "strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school."
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/0...
> The American Academy of Pediatrics once again plunged into the growing debate over school reopening with a strong new statement Friday, making clear that while in-person school provides crucial benefits to children, "Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics." The statement also said that "science and community circumstances must guide decision-making."
> The AAP is changing tone from the guidance it issued just over two weeks ago. Then, the organization made a national splash by recommending that education leaders and policymakers "should start with a goal of having students physically present in school."
My brother, a teacher, was telling me about socialization and brain development in adolescents. There is a definite impact that we have very little understanding of.
In my earlier comment I asked about his reasoning.
As far as I'm concerned the intellectually honest debate is whether the unknown negative consequences of opening schools trumps the very well known and very broadly observed negative consequences of closing the schools.
Big picture, neglect and associated psychological harms.
It’s interesting that data show the flu to be about 100x worse for young children than COVID.
But, as is usual through history, the value of children pale in comparison to the value of adults.
Just because it might be lower risk to children still means that they bring it back home which gives you a near ideal vector to reinfect a large portion of the population.
"Almost 6 months into the pandemic, accumulating evidence and collective experience argue that children, particularly school-aged children, are far less important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than adults. Therefore, serious consideration should be paid toward strategies that allow schools to remain open, even during periods of COVID-19 spread. In doing so, we could minimize the potentially profound adverse social, developmental, and health costs that our children will continue to suffer until an effective treatment or vaccine can be developed and distributed or, failing that, until we reach herd immunity."
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/07...
Dr. Dimitri Christakis, who directs the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Hospital, and is the editor-in-chief of JAMA Pediatrics, shared concerns about abuse and about children's mental health:
> Mental health and social-emotional development, Christakis argues, have been less discussed: "The social-emotional needs of children to connect with other children in real time and space, whether it's for physical activity, unstructured play or structured play, this is immensely important for young children in particular." A new study in JAMA Pediatrics, he says, documents elevated depression and anxiety among children under lockdown in China.
> A third major risk, says Christakis, is child abuse. With schools closed and activities canceled, adults who are mandatory reporters, such as teachers, are less likely to catch wind of abuse or neglect. Hospitals around the country are reporting a rise in admissions for severe child abuse injuries and even deaths — a rise that coincides with lockdown orders. And a sex-abuse hotline operated by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network reported that half its calls in March came from minors, for the first time in its history.
https://www.npr.org/2020/05/14/855641420/with-school-buildin...
And in another article, a former Secretary of Education also shared his concern that not all homes are safe:
> I'm heartbroken about the kids for whom school is the place that provides structure and support and a sense of security that don't have that. I mean, for me, as a kid, after my mom passed when I was 8, I lived with my dad. My dad had an undiagnosed Alzheimer's, and so home was this place that was scary and unpredictable and unsafe. But school is the place that was reliable and consistent, where I had positive relationships with adults and peers. And I wouldn't be alive today without those school experiences.
> And I worry about the kids who are in homes where there is abuse, where there is addiction, where family members - as you say - have lost jobs, where family members are sick or passed away.
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/24/844562989/the-long-term-effec...