The disproportionate impact that Covid has on the most vulnerable is a tragedy, but it neither justifies another broad shutdown nor the closing of schools.
The best medical evidence suggests that schools can reopen for in-person instruction as normal at the end of the summer. Children don’t seem to be affected by the disease much if at all. Adolescents also face an extremely low risk.
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School is vital for children’s scholastic and social development. More than half of all Florida students rely on their schools for food. Virtual schooling has been a disaster, with disproportionately bad outcomes for minorities who have less access to broadband. As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”
Read the full op-ed on The Capitolist by Lee S. Gross, MD, a practicing family physician in North Port, FL. He is also the President of Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation, a national health policy thinktank of practicing physicians, and a partner of the Job Creators Network Foundation.