Research, Data and Facts on COVID-19 & Schools
Dr. Anthony Fauci, ABC This Week, November 29, 2020
“If you look at the data, the spread among children and from children is not really very big at all, not like one would have suspected. The default position should be to try as best as possible…to get them back to school.”
COVID-19 Cases and Transmission in 17 K–12 Schools — Wood County, Wisconsin, August 31–November 29, 2020, Weekly/ January 29, 2021
“With masking requirements and student cohorting, transmission risk within schools appeared low, suggesting that schools might be able to safely open with appropriate mitigation efforts in place. Children might be more likely to be asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 than are adults…”
Burbio, K-12 School Opening Tracker
“Our school district is among those with little to no in-person instruction, at odds with a big part of the country. ”
Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Children and Adolescents Compared With Adults, Meta Analysis, JAMA, September 25, 2020
“The available studies suggest children and adolescents play a lesser role in transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which is in marked contrast to pandemic influenza.”
CDC, December, 2020
“Among children and adolescents aged <18 years in Mississippi, close contact with persons with COVID-19 and gatherings with persons outside the household and lack of consistent mask use in school were associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas attending school or child care was not associated with receiving positive SARS-CoV-2 test results. ”
Child care not associated with spread of COVID-19, Yale study finds, Yale News, October 16, 2020
“Yale researchers conducted the first-ever large-scale assessment of the risk of working in child care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their findings show child care programs that remained open throughout the pandemic did not contribute to the spread of the virus to providers, lending valuable insight to parents, policymakers, and providers alike.”
To Spread or Not to Spread SARS-CoV-2—Is That the Question?, JAMA, January 22, 2021
“The potential longer-term consequences of a missed year (or more) of learning are dire. ‘COVID-19 is a milder disease in children compared with adults, particularly older adults. Throughout this pandemic, many of us in the field of pediatric infectious diseases have been asked…”
Schools are 'one of the safest places' for kids during pandemic, CDC director says, WUSA9, November 20, 2020
“[F]or kids K through 12, one of the safest places they can be from our perspective is to remain in school. Today, there’s extensive data that we’ve gathered over the last two to three months to confirm that K-12 schools can operate with face-to-face learning and they can do it safely and they can do it responsibly.”
Increase In Failing Grades Seen During Virtual Start In Fairfax, Patch, November 25, 2020
“Among all middle and high school students, the percentage of students with an "F" mark in two or more classes is 11 percent in the first quarter of the current year. That's an 83 percent increase from the 6 percent of students with these marks in the 2019-2020 first quarter…”
Adverse consequences of school closures, UNESCO
“School closures carry high social and economic costs for people across communities. Their impact however is particularly severe for the most vulnerable and marginalized boys and girls and their families. The resulting disruptions exacerbate already existing disparities within the education system but also in other aspects of their lives. These include…”
The Effects of School Reopenings on COVID-19 Hospitalizations, National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice, January 4, 2021
“Our results suggest that school reopenings have not increased COVID-19 hospitalizations, especially for the 75 percent of counties that had the lowest baseline hospitalizations.…”
Opening statement by Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the Regional Director of WHO Europe, December 8, 2020
“While children are not the drivers of this pandemic, they risk being among its biggest victims. Though children are largely spared from the direct health effects of COVID-19, the measures put in place to control the pandemic are having a profound effect on their health and well-being.”
COVID-19: UNICEF warns of continued damage to learning and well-being as number of children affected by school closures soars again, UNICEF, December 7, 2020
“What we have learned about schooling during the time of COVID is clear: the benefits of keeping schools open, far outweigh the costs of closing them, and nationwide closures of schools should be avoided at all costs. Closing schools did not help in the fight against COVID-19, but simply removed a system that provides children with support, food and safety as well as learning…”
Zoom school’s mental health toll on kids, American Psychological Association, October 13, 2020
“We have taken away the context that supports their engagement in school and their overall well-being, plus they are dealing with the tremendous uncertainty about the future.”
Addressing the Consequences of School Closure Due to COVID‐19 on Children's Physical and Mental Well‐Being, World Med Health Policy, August 20, 2020
“Historically, schools have provided important nonacademic services and supports that reduce barriers to learning. The prolonged school closures due to COVID‐19 have upended life for millions of families, including the withdrawal of this critical assistance…”
COVID-19 Transmission in US Child Care Programs, American Academy of Pediatrics, January 21, 2021
“Within the context of considerable infection mitigation efforts in US child care programs, exposure to child care during the early months of the US pandemic was not associated with an elevated risk for COVID-19 transmission to providers. These findings must be interpreted only within the context of background transmission rates and the considerable infection mitigation efforts implemented in child care programs.”