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Should we keep the schools open?

Should we keep the schools open?

They may not be the problem when COVID-19 spreads.

Damian Penny's avatar
Damian Penny
Nov 23, 2020
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Rigid Thinking
Rigid Thinking
Should we keep the schools open?
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Let me answer that question right away: I don’t know.

That’s pretty much my answer for everything related to the novel coronavirus, because the situation changes so frequently. At the start of the pandemic we were discouraged to wear masks. For a while, people defended Ron DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic in Florida. Later, Europeans felt very smug about how they’d beaten back the virus while Americans struggled with it.

And of course, this not only exists, but inexplicably hasn’t been recalled and pulped:

Cuomo book on NY pandemic outbreak short on state missteps

I do always err on the side of caution when it comes to COVID-19, so if you forced me to take a side, I would lean toward closing the schools when community spread shows up. Indeed, that is now the situation in my own city. But Nicholas Kristof, no laissez-faire, pro-herd-immunity Trump supporter, makes a strong case for keeping schools open even if everything else locks down - the exact opposite of the path some cities have chosen:

Some things are true even though President …

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