Follow the Science: Keep the Schools Open

’’Kids Standing Side by Side Wearing Masks’’ by Kelly Sikkema is licensed under Unsplash

The coronavirus pandemic has sparked an international debate surrounding school closures as an effective policy to mitigate COVID-19 transmission. Amid the third wave of the virus in Canada, the province of Ontario has closed schools again for an indefinite period. On the other hand, provinces like Nova Scotia, Quebec, and British Columbia, where variant cases are rising, are keeping their public schools open. Even with a new wave of relatively unknown variants surging, medical experts from across Canada are pleading with the Ontario government to keep schools open. The research available on the transmission of COVID-19 suggests that the risk of contracting COVID-19 in schools is extremely low. Closing schools is not a policy based on data, evidence, or science, but on an irrational fear of surging cases being linked to schools.

Virtual learning is not an effective substitute for in-person learning. Racialized communities, low-income households, homeless families, and students with disabilities are disproportionately negatively affected by the transition towards digital learning. Poor children often do not have access to the newest technologies or the best internet connections for a good virtual education. The evidence of online education being a poor substitute for in-person learning is overwhelming. In effect, the long-term consequences of closing schools will only accentuate social inequality.

 Risk of Transmission in Schools

A meta analysis of 32 studies compromising over 40,000 children and adolescents, and over 260,000 adults, finds children and adolescents having lower rates of COVID transmission. Once infected, they are less likely to pass the virus on to adults. As schools consist mainly of young children and adolescents, the likelihood of community transmission through schools is less likely to occur. 

Sweden was one of the few countries that decided to keep preschools and schools open during the first wave. The data from Sweden provides a reassuring picture. From March to June 2020, only 15 out of nearly 2 million children developed severe COVID-19 symptoms requiring ICU stay, four of whom had prior underlying medical issues. No children died. The children were not even mandated to wear masks. Teachers, being justifiably worried for their own safety, can also be reassured as the same data shows no significant increase for severe COVID-19 symptoms in teachers relative to the general population.

Another study from North Carolina looked at the outcomes on teachers and students when schools were open for in-person learning from August to October 2020. The virus proved very transmissible in the state: the rate of infection was 1 to 2 per 1000 residents. Children in the state were following precautions (wearing masks, using hand hygiene, and social distancing). If the virus’ transmissibility occurred in schools at the same rate as the general population, the state would have seen an increase of 800-900 cases linked to in-person learning. However, the data finds only 32 cases of COVID-19 cases linked to schools.

A German study took advantage of their staggered summer break to look at the impact of closing schools and reopening. The data in the study depicts a telling story: opening schools had no impact on the volatility of the country’s total case count. The authors even concluded their study by saying “the benefits of their closures do not outweigh the costs”. 

The Harms of School Closures

When open, schools provide societal benefits from the essential services they provide: education, child abuse reporting, hot meals, etc. Schools have served as a vehicle to lift people out of poverty and to move the working-class closer to opportunity. Closing schools will have devastating long-term consequences as wealthier families will abandon public schools and move to charter schools in pursuit of in-person learning. The educational inequality that remains will widen. According to the Center for Reinventing Public Education, students in poverty-dense districts are more likely than their wealthier counterparts to be starting school remotely. Public schools are crucially important to mitigate early-development gaps. The only way to ensure all children get an education is to open the doors.   

The negative effects on society that school closures bring have already been documented. In the United States, women, who still bear the brunt of childcare responsibilities, have seen the negative repercussions of closing schools disproportionately harm them. Women are leaving the labour force and many others have reduced their working hours. In December 2020, women accounted for all the net reported job losses, and there is strong evidence linking school closures to increased anxiety and stress among mothers.

The broader impacts, in terms of student mental and physical health, are not being taken into consideration by policymakers when closing schools. Schools not only provide education to their students but are also institutions that play a fundamental role in recognizing warning signs of child abuse and neglect (especially in poorer communities). In many parts of the United States that kept schools closed, suspected child abuse reports plummeted. Thousands of cases are going unreported, and children are isolated with their abusers. Closing schools hurts the most vulnerable children in our society. In addition, online learning has caused Japanese students to significantly increase their weight. Schools provide relatively healthier nutrition and encourage children to exercise – taking that away is having significant detrimental effects on children's mental and physical well-being. The long-term harm caused by closing schools offsets the potential short-term benefit it brings. Schooling is an essential service, especially for poorer and marginalized communities, and should be treated as such. 

Conclusion

The rhetoric is out there that public schools should not be opened until students and teachers have been vaccinated. Yet, it is not backed up by any scientific data or empirical evidence. Teachers and students are not more likely to catch or transmit the virus in schools. Opening schools is the science-backed, medical expert-endorsed, and common-sense approach to doing what is best for children. The data indicates the virus’ transmission in schools is extremely low and the unintended consequences of closures are reason enough to open schools back up again. The long-term consequences on children’s development will result in far more harm than the short-sighted school closure policies being implemented in Ontario. There are no winners in pandemics. Opening schools will result in the least amount of harm. Sometimes losing less is the best policymakers can do.