A new study found that hospitalization rates of people diagnosed with COVID-19 did not rise in most – but not all – counties in the U.S. when schools reopened, suggesting it may be safe for more K-12 schools to return to personal learning.
For the study, the researchers focused on hospitalization rates from January to the end of October 2020 (before the new, more contagious COVID-19 strain was identified in the US) rather than on positivity rates, which it considers to be a more reliable indicator of adverse health outcomes. . In provinces where the total number of new hospitalization rates COVID-19 was lower than 36 to 44 hospitalizations per 100,000 people per week before schools reopened, the authors of the study wrote that they had ‘no effect of reopening the school on COVID -19 survey not found. tariffs. ”
In provinces with whore rates of COVD-19 hospitalizations (more than 36 to 44 hospitalizations per 100,000 people per week) before schools reopen, the researchers found that there are discrepancies – some data show higher COVD-19 hospitalizations after schools reopen, while others data found the opposite – and considered it “unconvincing”.
According to the authors of the study, there is a compromise with the opening of schools in these areas with a high COVID-19 – namely that it can spread the virus, but they note that ‘children of school-going age are less likely to transmit’ or ‘die’. ”From the virus.
They also emphasize that returning to a personal school can ‘improve other health outcomes for students and their families in other ways’, including mental health and physical abuse (it is more likely that teachers are child abuse).
While the study authors call the closure of physical schools a ‘reasonable response to an uncertain and fluid pandemic’, they write that the decision links the ‘social and economic crisis in the short and long term’. They point out that distance education “has forced many parents to leave the workforce or work from home, while also supporting their children’s learning.”
“There are academic consequences that we are now well aware of, but also health consequences,” Douglas Harris, lead author of the study and professor and chair of the Department of Economics at Tulane University, told Yahoo Life. “Children suffer more from mental illness, abuse and malnutrition. These health consequences of closing schools must be weighed against the consequences of possible spread of COVID if schools are personally open. ”
The study authors also make a distinction between K-12 schools and colleges. They state that colleges ‘tend to spread viruses, especially in residential colleges where students come from a distance and live in dormitories or other group housing’.
They add that ‘students are likely to bring the virus with them to campus, to spread the virus in dormitories and social environments and then bring the virus back during breaks and holidays. Several studies have shown increased COVID-19 positivity in university adults and in the general population living near colleges. ‘
Harris tells Yahoo Life that it is most likely safer to reopen personal K-12 schools compared to residential colleges where students live on campus. ‘
“Young people in schools seem less susceptible to the virus, and they go home to their individual homes and apartments at the end of the day,” Harris adds. ‘But university students live in dormitories, where the spread of viruses is hard to stop. The indirect consequences of running schools are also worse – young adults at university can learn more than young children can learn, and distance learning does not require parents to reduce their working hours as with K-12 schools. ”
Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and former director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said EdWeek in November 2020 that some school districts are “too cautious” in closing the school. ‘I have no doubt that schools need to be braver than they are. There is a huge cost to mental health for children. And we know that this will significantly widen the achievement gap between richer / white students and poorer / students of color. The effect will be felt for a very long time to come. ”
Jha adds: “You always have to weigh those very large costs against the costs of going back to personal training. Obviously, going back to personal training would lead to a lot of infections and deaths, you would say: OK, this is a cost we can not bear. But districts that are too cautious cause enormous damage to children and families in their communities. ”
Dr. Grace Lee, a professor of pediatrics who specializes in infectious diseases at Stanford Medicine, tells Yahoo Life that schools can be safely reopened with certain precautions to protect students and teachers. “It’s all about risk mitigation,” says Lee. “We need several layers of protection. No one is perfect, but if we put it together, we can ensure the safety of children and teachers. This means vaccines, masking, social distance, cohortation / bubbles, environmental / engineering controls, hand hygiene, testing, contact detection, etc. The problem is that most of these interventions depend on behavior and that they are constantly needed to comply. difficult to do. The beauty of vaccines is that they have two doses and a protection of 95 percent. It is therefore a layer of protection that can be more easily achieved. ”
Harris tells Yahoo Life that the study “provides important new evidence on the health consequences of reopening schools,” showing that it is still safe in most countries, but not in others. Harris hopes the report ‘helps our leaders see the compromises more clearly’, adding: ‘There are no’ risk-free ‘or perfect options, and we must do our best in these difficult circumstances. “
For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over the age of 60 and those with an immune system are at greatest risk. If you have any questions, please refer to the CDCse en WIE’s resource guides.
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