The White House hosted an event called National Dialogue on Safely Reopening Schools. Many there talking about importance of schools in US but no one talking details about how to deal w risks or reopen safely, or what it will cost.1/x
Schools are extraordinarily important and we should work to open them safely in the fall. But mtg today had no one expressing concerns of so many parents+teachers. And no one talking about what is known /not known about the science related to schools and COVID spread.2/x
Children are at far lower risk of serious illness than adults in terms of COVID19. But we still don’t have enough evidence about how frequently children spread COVID to other children. Or how frequently children spread the disease to adults in school or adults in their homes.3/x
That research should have been completed by now. centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/publi… But it hasnt, so we need to look at other indicators, which paint uncertain picture.4/x
Various models have concluded the opposite – some say that schools will accelerate COVID outbreaks, others conclude they won’t. 5/x
There have been some schools opened in other parts of world which have had minimal or no reported outbreaks, which is reassuring (though some of those schools are operating in very low COVID prevalence settings – the opposite of situation in many places in the US right now.)6/x
There have also been some outbreaks internationally. timesofisrael.com/over-20-more-s… 7/x
Here is an example of a US school outbreak that occurred following a school graduation event theledger.com/news/20200703/… 8/x
Here is another US school outbreak azfamily.com/news/continuin… 9/x
Discussion at White House meeting today was about how schools are valuable. I bet everyone agrees, so not clear why all of mtg spent on that. Unfortunately there was very little discussion on how to reopen schools safely, other than high level principles of spacing and masks.9/x
In some ways, messages today echoed communications in May when many governors talked about how they were going to reopen their economies “safely”, including their churches, bars, casinos, indoor entertainment. We have seen things were not so safe.10/x
It would be valuable for political leaders to spend a day in some of the terribly difficult planning sessions that are going on in school districts around the country to see first hand about the challenges around opening schools.11/x
CDC guidance on schools says if there is “moderate to substantial community transmission” going on in a district, there may be a need for extended school dismissal for > 2 weeks. In many states, we have substantial community transmission happening now.12/x
As top priority, shouldn't governors be using all available approaches to get transmission down in order to create conditions for more safely reopening schools there? 13/x
FL has one of the most serious rise in cases and hospitalizations in the country, w/ > 60,000 cases this week. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… 14/x
Ordering every school in FL to open in one month (which the FL gov ordered today) before any of the school reopening plans are finished, approved, or judged to be safe is high risk and not a responsible approach.15/x
CDC gives detailed guidance about how to open and diminish risks of schools. It's clear that following this guidance will be expensive for schools. Estimates of those costs range from $116B to $175B or more. $13.5B has been budgeted at this point. usnews.com/news/education… 16/x
Particularly discouraging to hear comment made today at White House mtg that schools “should not hide behind CDC guidance to keep them closed.”It is not hiding to be following public health based guidance of CDC. It is what schools should be doing to try to open them safely. 17/x
Avoiding any discussions or risks, as happened today, will not put many parents’ mind at ease. They need to know what is known, and what is uncertain. They need to learn about all that will be done to minimize risks. 18/x
Parents need to understand risks for children, risks for themselves, risks for teachers. Ultimately parents will have to accept at least some level of risk to send kids to school. Its not going to be possible to eliminate all risks. Important to be clear+direct about it.19/x
What would have been better at White House today would have been to invite people all around the school issue, discuss value of schools, as well as risks around reopening. And solicit best ideas on how to reopen with lowest possible risk, on how to mitigate the risks. 20/x
Would also have been right occasion to discuss costs of mitigation. And to announce commitment from the White House to do what it takes to fund mitigation work around country before school opens in fall. That will be the way to make schools as safe as possible.21/end
