The real answer is that schools probably should not open at all. They are basically ideal breeding grounds for the virus - kids are gross and spread everything to begin with, plus you have 30 kids sitting in close proximity, communal lunch-halls, crowded hallways, overcrowded bus transportation... and in higher grades you shuffle the contact groups an additional 7x per day as people change classes. It is literally the absolute ideal environment that you would design if you wanted to breed the disease - big groups, shuffled frequently, with no social distancing and kids who probably couldn't execute social distancing anyway.

The short answer is that schools probably should not be open at all. Even with the vaccine, you are talking about a disease that (even in mild cases) is known to cause subtle long-term damage to organs, it's really not a good idea to tempt fate in a growing kid, particularly with the potential for multiple recurring infections over time from different strains.

If you did want to re-open schools safely, you would have to require vaccinations, you would also have to restructure significant parts of the school "experience" - like having classes and bus transportation be significantly smaller and more spaced out, having class groups stay fixed and having teachers move between class groups rather than vice versa, etc. And all of that would be far more expensive - we would need more teachers, more classrooms, more busses, etc.

The reality is we're just throwing kids under the bus to die, because it would be expensive and inconvenient to do it right, and we can't not reopen schools because a lot of people depend on it as daycare and because a lot of people have decided we're "back to normal" regardless of what happens with future variants. Just like people have decided that we're done with masks and they're not putting them back on ever again, regardless of what the CDC says.

Open for business baby.

Every wave in Poland happened roughly 3 weeks of opening schools (with new school year or after a lockdown).

There were just 3 waves and there wasn't a 4th one after last opening, but this might be due to vaccinations (esp of teachers) and horrible first 3 waves that might have infected most children and their families.

What an ignorant comment. Children without serious co-morbid conditions are not at risk.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-covid-19-coronavirus-vaccin...

Lack of education is a greater risk for children (and society as a whole) than any virus.

> The reality is we're just throwing kids under the bus to die

What the hell are you talking about? The CDC has said children are at less risk of death from Covid-19 than they are from influenza. Were we "throwing them under the bus to die" when we opened schools in every year before 2020 without masks and "stay apart from your biohazard friends" social distancing?

Also, "Study shows schools do not spread Covid": https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/75136706-f171-11eb-8f01-2...

> we can't not reopen schools because a lot of people depend on it as daycare and because a lot of people have decided we're "back to normal" regardless of what happens with future variants

No, it's because an education is a fundamental human right which is being denied to children, and the policy of closing schools has caused immense damage to their learning and mental health for practically zero benefit in reducing the harm caused by the virus.

Schools are no different from any other mass gathering - if you practice social distancing, it's relatively safe. On the other hand, various states are already hard at work banning schools from even requiring masks, and schools simply are not built for social distancing, and a mass return to school while maintaining social distancing would require substantial expansions of school buildings, buses, staff, etc. We don't want to spend that money so we are just going to give up on the social distancing instead.

Where people mask up, and when the area has low covid levels, students don't spread that much. Once the area takes off, the schools do indeed spread. (Which is kind of an obvious statement when you think about it, like of course kids don't magically have COVID when nobody else does, but also that they can spread it once an area starts getting a significant infection rate.)

I don't think going back to school in a state that has banned schools from masking up, during the surge of delta variant we're currently undergoing, is particularly safe at all, no.

> No, it's because an education is a fundamental human right which is being denied to children, and the policy of closing schools has caused immense damage to their learning and mental health for practically zero benefit in reducing the harm caused by the virus.

It's great that you have such strongly-held values! Then you won't mind spending the money to expand schools appropriately so a safe environment can be maintained, since the education of children is such a critical social outcome.

Like, I remember my high school and 25 kids was a small class, and hell no we weren't 6 feet apart. Explain to me how we get 2500 people 6 feet away from each other in a building that was designed to serve 2000 students that are 2 feet away from each other. That's the question that has to be answered to reopen safely.

Once schools are reopen en-masse, instead of just a limited basis (that allows spacing), we're going to have to address that capacity problem. Or more realistically, we just won't, and if the kids spread then oh well.

Just trying to imagine the thought process that leads one to conclude -- given everything we know about Covid and its (lack of) harm to children, and the widespread availability of protective vaccines to any teachers & staff who want one -- that the thing we should do is spend vast resources stretching the size of every school building, classroom, and bus to ensure people can remain 6 feet apart at all times, in perpetuity. And that we shouldn't reopen schools until we do this. It's really something!

We should scan their brains to enure there's no damage. Or we may find out with a crime wave in 20 years (like with lead) that we didn't protect our children adequately.

The idea that children can be prevented from contracting SARS-CoV-2 in perpetuity is a scientific/technological fantasy tale. We don't even have sterilizing vaccines.

We should still transform education into remote one instead of halfassing remoting till we can drop it.

That would be child abuse. A lack of socialization and proper education is a greater risk to children than a minor respiratory virus. Remote learning isn't an adequate replacement.