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Keeping the schools closed has a high cost, and it is likely to exacerbate many problems for weaker students, or students that don't have an ideal situation at

Keeping the schools closed has a high cost, and it is likely to exacerbate many problems for weaker students, or students that don't have an ideal situation at home with strong support from their parents and easy access to all the stuff you need for remote learning. But there isn't really a choice in many parts in the US unless you're willing to let the pandemic run its course and kill as many people as it takes to get to herd immunity. The only way to safely reopen schools is to suppress the virus enough that you can contain it with contact tracing. If you can't do that, there's no way to safely reopen schools in full. You can try alternatives like e.g. teaching outside, using masks, but they're not entirely safe, difficult to do and can't really work at 100% capacity.

nradov 6y ago
Safety is not a binary condition. The risk will be higher than it was last year no matter what we do. Keeping schools closed indefinitely is obviously untenable. Since they have to reopen eventually, there's nothing to be gained by waiting.
- craftinator 6y ago
  Untenable? How? Between open source academics and some basic homeschooling, we can completely meet (or exceed) the average statewide curriculum requirements.
  - Uw7yTcf36gTc 6y ago
    Who is performing this home schooling?
- xref 6y ago
  I don’t think anyone is advocating keeping schools closed until the heat death of the universe, and there is a lot to be gained by waiting when you’re somewhere in the middle of a pandemic. Hence the ongoing conversation about striking the right balance which is very much going to be regional and fluid.
  - nradov 6y ago
    How will we know when we're in the middle, and how long will that take?
    - xref 6y ago
      Welcome to the ongoing conversation!
- Balgair 6y ago
  Schools do not have to reopen eventually. There are no physical laws that state so. Don't get me wrong here, I'm all for schools reopening and getting kids back to learning in such an environment. But this virus is a Big Deal. Assumptions we'd have before covid-19 are not the ones we can have now. Assuming that schools reopen for the 2020-21 school year is, I'm afraid, one of those assumptions.
  - nradov 6y ago
    Schools do have to reopen eventually. Education is essential for a functioning society. Distance learning and home schooling aren't adequate for the majority of primary school students. Without education, everything will eventually collapse in a manner far worse than losing 0.3% of the population to COVID-19. The reality is we have no good options so we have to pick the least bad one.
    - Balgair 6y ago
      I still disagree. Covid-19 is particularly deadly for a flu. It may yet evolve into a more form. I also may evolve into a less deadly form. We just do not know. Still, either case is unlikely, I admit. If it became more deadly, then, well, no, we're not going back to schools until it is over. No one is going to send their kids to die. Even as deadly as it is, we're unlikely to keep schools open if an outbreak occurs within the student body. I agree that it's not good to keep the kids from learning, but keeping them and their families from dying is much more important. The key to getting kids back to school is to get rid of covid-19. Everything other plan keeps the virus going and prolongs the pain.
      - nradov 6y ago
        You haven't proposed a realistic alternative. Our incompetent federal and state politicians lack the will to take the steps necessary to get rid of COVID-19. Even the development of a vaccine won't change that reality. So unfortunately we're just going to have to live with it. Keeping schools closed at this point causes more harm than benefit.
bsder 6y ago
> kill as many people as it takes to get to herd immunity Evidence continues to mount that immunity to Covid-19 is time limited. There will be no herd immunity. Of course, it's not like we have ever achieved herd immunity to any disease before vaccines. Evidence also continues to mount that systemic damage occurs even in people who are weakly symptomatic. I suspect that this is true for viruses, in general, but Covid is basically allowing us to collect data that would be unethical to collect from an experiment. > The only way to safely reopen schools is to suppress the virus enough that you can contain it with contact tracing. If you can't do that, there's no way to safely reopen schools in full. New York will be the exemplar. They seem to have it contained and have 100% contact tracing. They should be able to reopen--we'll see how it goes.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  > Of course, it's not like we have ever achieved herd immunity to any disease before vaccines. Sure we have. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus There are only seven known strains of coronavirus that infect humans, all discovered in recent decades. It's likely we've gotten and fought off many others in our millions of years of evolutionary history.

nradov 6y ago

Safety is not a binary condition. The risk will be higher than it was last year no matter what we do. Keeping schools closed indefinitely is obviously untenable. Since they have to reopen eventually, there's nothing to be gained by waiting.

craftinator 6y ago
Untenable? How? Between open source academics and some basic homeschooling, we can completely meet (or exceed) the average statewide curriculum requirements.
- Uw7yTcf36gTc 6y ago
  Who is performing this home schooling?
xref 6y ago
I don’t think anyone is advocating keeping schools closed until the heat death of the universe, and there is a lot to be gained by waiting when you’re somewhere in the middle of a pandemic. Hence the ongoing conversation about striking the right balance which is very much going to be regional and fluid.
- nradov 6y ago
  How will we know when we're in the middle, and how long will that take?
  - xref 6y ago
    Welcome to the ongoing conversation!
Balgair 6y ago
Schools do not have to reopen eventually. There are no physical laws that state so. Don't get me wrong here, I'm all for schools reopening and getting kids back to learning in such an environment. But this virus is a Big Deal. Assumptions we'd have before covid-19 are not the ones we can have now. Assuming that schools reopen for the 2020-21 school year is, I'm afraid, one of those assumptions.
- nradov 6y ago
  Schools do have to reopen eventually. Education is essential for a functioning society. Distance learning and home schooling aren't adequate for the majority of primary school students. Without education, everything will eventually collapse in a manner far worse than losing 0.3% of the population to COVID-19. The reality is we have no good options so we have to pick the least bad one.
  - Balgair 6y ago
    I still disagree. Covid-19 is particularly deadly for a flu. It may yet evolve into a more form. I also may evolve into a less deadly form. We just do not know. Still, either case is unlikely, I admit. If it became more deadly, then, well, no, we're not going back to schools until it is over. No one is going to send their kids to die. Even as deadly as it is, we're unlikely to keep schools open if an outbreak occurs within the student body. I agree that it's not good to keep the kids from learning, but keeping them and their families from dying is much more important. The key to getting kids back to school is to get rid of covid-19. Everything other plan keeps the virus going and prolongs the pain.
    - nradov 6y ago
      You haven't proposed a realistic alternative. Our incompetent federal and state politicians lack the will to take the steps necessary to get rid of COVID-19. Even the development of a vaccine won't change that reality. So unfortunately we're just going to have to live with it. Keeping schools closed at this point causes more harm than benefit.

bsder 6y ago

> kill as many people as it takes to get to herd immunity Evidence continues to mount that immunity to Covid-19 is time limited. There will be no herd immunity. Of course, it's not like we have ever achieved herd immunity to any disease before vaccines. Evidence also continues to mount that systemic damage occurs even in people who are weakly symptomatic. I suspect that this is true for viruses, in general, but Covid is basically allowing us to collect data that would be unethical to collect from an experiment. > The only way to safely reopen schools is to suppress the virus enough that you can contain it with contact tracing. If you can't do that, there's no way to safely reopen schools in full. New York will be the exemplar. They seem to have it contained and have 100% contact tracing. They should be able to reopen--we'll see how it goes.

ceejayoz 6y ago
> Of course, it's not like we have ever achieved herd immunity to any disease before vaccines. Sure we have. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus There are only seven known strains of coronavirus that infect humans, all discovered in recent decades. It's likely we've gotten and fought off many others in our millions of years of evolutionary history.