UK Research Says Shutting Schools Because COVID has always been a mistake

If you’ve been living under a rock for the last seven months, you’re presumably aware that a lot of the country—in reality, the world—is still shut up in the name of battling the coronavirus.

In certain areas, this includes schools, even as observational research has long demonstrated that children are rarely badly infected by a coronavirus and do not transmit the virus quickly to adults.

Today, research from the U.K. Titled “Association between living with children and results of COVID-19: an OpenSAFELY cohort analysis of 12 million adults in England” confirms: direct interaction with children, even when school is open, is not a factor in coronavirus transmission.

In reality, according to the American Institute for Economic Science, the study found fewer coronavirus deaths among adults living with children than among adults living without children.

“[T]he results indicate that the transmission of children from school age to the community does not result in an increased probability of serious consequences for people with whom they live,” concluded the report.

“We find no proof of a risk reduction after school closing.”

This isn’t meant to be shocking, since children are essentially tiny germ factories. Children in the home are likely to have a boost to the whole household’s immune system.

The report made it perfectly clear that closing schools for fear of coronavirus was never a smart idea.

If you think it’s time for schools to be reopened?

Anecdotally, we’ve heard about this for months.

Back in July, several pediatricians decided that schools should be reopened.

The CDC director himself said that “100 percent” will like his grandchildren back to kindergarten.

However, bureaucrats and teachers’ unions struggled to keep schools closed.

Indeed, schools that had recently re-opened are now closing in the wake of rising coronavirus numbers—despite little to no evidence that school closures make any difference in infection rates.

Not to note, there are many detrimental consequences of prolonged school closures that are not offset by the comparative threats of coronavirus.

School closures have had a disproportionate effect on women who are more likely than their male colleagues to take days off their employees to stay home with young children whose schools are closing. The percentage of women employed or looking for jobs has been at the lowest level since 1988, erasing decades of job gains.

Many children may not have sufficient access to opportunities to excel in online education. In no small part owing to coronavirus policies, parental satisfaction in public schools has plunged.

The negative impacts on children’s special needs have been especially pronounced. Check out this New Jersey dad’s devastating thread on how his school system does things.

Of course, we should take coronavirus seriously and take appropriate steps to reduce its dissemination.

There are however a number of things to remember rather than basic illness and mortality rates.

This study indicates that schools should be reopened, and bureaucrats should avoid playing politics in people’s lives.