This is a really complex but immensely important topic. Written and shot on 25th Feb with the most up to date evidence I can find. As a parent and as a doctor treating COVID inpatients, I've been keeping close tabs on this subject for a while and it has become increasingly fractious and polarised. I have attempted to take as neutral and as evidence-based a view as possible, but there are no black and white clear answers.
Apologies for the basic nature of the video, I spent what time I had today researching and filming, meaning there was none left to make it look fancy and you are stuck with my bookshelf as a backdrop, and a zip in my washing machine as the soundtrack.
For further reading:
Closing schools is not evidence-based and it harms children, BMJ - https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n521?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=hootsuite&utm_content=sme&utm_campaign=usage
A useful review for the UK - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/12/when-should-uk-schools-reopen-safe-covid
A useful review for the USA - https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/vinay-prasad/90658
Excellent summary of evidence around COVID-19 and children - https://dontforgetthebubbles.com/evidence-summary-paediatric-covid-19-literature/
Goldacre 12 million no risk adult death - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1?ijkey=4abc16ae672d46e844687e9a2128ea018bae8b21&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
Reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: governments must balance the uncertainty and risks of reopening schools against the clear harms associated with prolonged closure (Ara Darzi's team) - https://adc.bmj.com/content/106/2/111.long
European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Executive Summary - https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/COVID-19-schools-transmission-August%202020.pdf
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control school reopening review - https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/children-and-school-settings-covid-19-transmission
Open Schools, Covid-19, and Child and Teacher Morbidity in Sweden - https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2026670?query=TOC WHO review (staff spread is more important than staff-student spread) - https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/risk-comms-updates/epi-win-update40-overview-of-the-pandemic.pdf?sfvrsn=8d355bcd_4,%20https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.29.20220426v1
Japan childhood obesity - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272720302280?dgcid=raven_sd_aip_email
German study about school reopening - https://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_22_20.pdf
I will continue to update this, I just need to go to sleep now! Worked last nightshift to cover a colleague that came down with COVID - we're still a way off being out of this.
I think it is too early to open schools. The virus is still among us and we need to take care of our children first and foremost. It is still too dangerous to send children to school, where there may be a potential virus, but still, children need to study, and parents can hire a tutor to teach children at home. They can be found simply by looking at the cvs. This is the best cv writing service uk