A year lost to pandemic school closures
In 2020, many education leaders opted for a slower reopening of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some leaders favored a faster reopening, and by the middle of the year, many schools in Europe had already reopened. Private schools, including Catholic schools, which often have limited resources, also reopened in the United States. In conservative parts of the country, public schools also reopened, sometimes in consultation with local teachers’ unions.
Although some people contracted COVID-19 at these schools, the overall effect on the virus’s spread was negligible. Communities with closed schools had similar levels of COVID-19 as communities with open schools, whether in the United States or Europe. This was because by mid-2020, there were many other ways for COVID-19 to spread, such as in supermarkets, bars, restaurants, workplaces, and homes where out-of-school children gathered with friends.
Despite emerging data that schools were not superspreaders, many school districts in the United States remained closed well into 2021, even after vaccines became available…
2023-04-28 05:28:13
Original from www.nytimes.com