When can we reasonably expect schools to reopen?

STRAIT – There could be good news on the horizon in terms of reopening schools and getting back to normal.

During a webinar at Harvard, Dr Anthony Fauci told a group that transmission in schools is lower than initially thought. Does this mean that schools can reopen?

Short answer, no. While infectious disease experts and school superintendents agree the numbers are lower than expected, that’s not enough to speed up the schedule.

“When you look at it, the number of kids benefiting from it is lower than you would expect, which is good news for keeping kids in school,” Fauci said. “It doesn’t appear that the risk to teachers is greater than the risk they would face being in the community at large.”

Dr Matthew Sims is the Director of Infectious Disease Research at Beaumont Royal Oak. He agrees with Fauci that the transmission rate is lower than expected, but he’s not sure the data points to the entire store.

“If it spreads to school, kids bring it home, parents bring it to work and spread it out there,” Sims said. “It never goes back to school then.”

Superintendents also agree the apparent risk to students is low, but Chippewa Valley Schools Superintendent Ron Roberts said the logistics of everything else was the problem.

“We have teachers who are sick, teachers quarantined from their homes and there is a shortage of substitutes,” Roberts said.

LILY: Tracking Coronavirus Cases and Outbreaks in Michigan Schools