# Opening schools **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [May 21, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247 "2020-05-21T15:36:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 39
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/762 "2020-07-31T18:35:16Z")
Four phrases that I have not heard Canadian politicians say: 1. Covid is a hoax. (We had the benefit of seeing what happened in Italy and China). 2. All the experts are wrong. We never need masks or distancing because freedom. (Politicians did not assume omnipotence). 3. This is just the flu. (Leads to minimizing.) 4. Covid is a conspiracy. (But wait!!) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/763 "2020-07-31T19:23:41Z")
FWIW as a child and parent in a more snowy northern clime - the decision always seemed to me to be based on whether or not teachers could make it to the school. That has generally been the main factor of closing schools for influenza- numbers of teachers and less so students out sick. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/764 "2020-07-31T20:18:11Z")
To be fair, I don’t know what rubrics school officials use when they close schools down for snow. I wouldn’t be surprised if school officials use their own idiosyncratic “best professional” judgment calls and just pray that no one complains too much. I’m only familiar with risk levels in the regulatory environmental realm. When your whole business is centered around suing individuals or entities for the harm they have cause to the environment, you’ve got to have some concept of allowable harm. It’s unreasonable to disallow any harm because there’s always going to be harm no matter what we do. But having a priori threshold of unacceptability is super helpful when you’re drafting and defending decisions. I’m worried that people are pushing for schools to reopen but they aren’t thinking about the threshold which, if exceeded, should trigger schools to be closed down again. Since testing is so god-awful right now, that threshold will have to be super conservative for it to be adequately protective. But if it’s too conservative, then schools might be shut down indefinitely. It’s a hard needle to thread, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/765 "2020-07-31T20:47:36Z")
This article discusses some alternatives and options in areas where opening is a challenge. Most articles do not. > **[There Are Other Options Besides Reopening Schools](https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/07/how-help-parents-without-fully-reopening-schools/614836/)** > > Alternative solutions to parents’ dilemma just require more time, money, and imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/766 "2020-07-31T22:08:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > One suggestion is to have half the students at school each week, so that distance can be maintained. This sounds _hellish_ for parents trying to figure out work/childcare schedules. More hellish than having the children stay at home every week? > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My district just sent out the proposed three plans: In Melbourne.Victoria.Australia, we’ve got complete school closure, offline learning, except for kids who have no supervision at home. It was specifically set up for the children of teachers and health care workers, it benefits other dual-income “necessary” workers and sick/handicapped parents, and hasn’t been widely abused: there aren’t many kids in the schools. The schools that I know of are not offering a full academic program in-school. It’s more of a day-care supervision system. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/767 "2020-07-31T22:17:22Z")
Worldwide, there are over 500 million children who do not have Internet access and need to get back to school. For them, ignorance may be a bigger danger than Covid and education perhaps the only reliable way out of poverty. A lot of progress has been made recently about lifting families out of poverty, but Covid has caused a substantial regression. ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/768 "2020-07-31T22:30:56Z")
I don’t think this has been posted here, but it seems relevant. > Overall, 44 percent of people at the camp were infected with the virus, most of whom were campers. Kids’ ages ranged from 6 to 19 years old. > > Not everyone at the camp had test results available for analysis. Since some people were not tested or their test results were not reported, the number of people infected might have been underestimated, the researchers write. [Overall, 44 percent of people at the camp were infected with the virus, most of whom were campers. Kids’ ages ranged from 6 to 19 years old. Not everyone at the camp had test results available for analysis. Since some people were not tested or their test results were not reported, the number of people infected might have been underestimated, the researchers write.] [https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid19-outbreak-georgia-summer-camp?fbclid=IwAR2GI9RCUqQLyyoRFBwHRaa1RO0i1cwo-Cqfss521CBTQAl1227DwWnJ0h0](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid19-outbreak-georgia-summer-camp?fbclid=IwAR2GI9RCUqQLyyoRFBwHRaa1RO0i1cwo-Cqfss521CBTQAl1227DwWnJ0h0) ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/769 "2020-07-31T23:10:17Z")
[Colorado has issued some rules](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WJJ8pERNH56FGSSBzLvRoy7pqxPL3Zbc/view), and has [a site](https://www.cde.state.co.us/safeschools) with additional guidance. - Schools must report outbreaks - Outbreaks will be publicly posted - A Cohort outbreak happens when two or more unrelated people in a single cohort test or are presumed positive within a 14 day period - A school outbreak happens when any of - two or more cohorts achieve an outbreak in a 14 day period - two or more people from separate households are positive in a non-cohorting schools - 5% (minimum 10 individuals) of unrelated people test positive - A cohort will go into 14 day quarantine after a single confirmed or probable case - A school will close when any of the following are met - five or more cohort outbreaks in a 14 day period - they hit the 5% outbreak rule listed above - there are too many absences of teachers, students, or staff to hold school, as determined by the district I’m very pleased by the transparency aspects. State law requires schools to report cases within four hours. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will post outbreak information. If it turns out that opening schools is the wrong decision, it should become apparent. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/770 "2020-07-31T23:16:37Z")
The district where my child attends elementary school (BVSD) intends to start school with a hybrid model. Monday: distance learning for all Tuesday & Wednesday: Cohort A is in school, B is distance learning Thursday & Friday: Cohort B is in school, A is distance learning The schools will do all of the masks, distancing, cleaning type things that one expects. Unlike last spring, distance learning will be primarily self directed, without live teacher meetings (except perhaps on Mondays, that wasn’t clear). The teachers will be available to answer questions on cohort distance days. I’m not sure exactly how that will work, other than putting a lot of demands on the teachers. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/771 "2020-07-31T23:22:22Z")
I think the risk estimate for school weather closures vary widely. In my old district in WY, the metric was whether the buses could run. Schools were closed twice in the 25 years I taught there, and snow and below-zero temps were common. Wind was a constant.The attitude seemed to be if you didn’t have four wheel drive and a good shovel, you shouldn’t be living there. Here schools close if there’s more than an inch of snow. The district here was planning on opening schools but running an every-other-day schedule until the county health officer said that was too dangerous, so now schools will be online until November, when it’ll be evaluated again. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/772 "2020-07-31T23:59:33Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Worldwide, there are over 500 million children who do not have Internet access and need to get back to school. For them, ignorance may be a bigger danger than Covid and education perhaps the only reliable way out of poverty. A lot of progress has been made recently about lifting families out of poverty, but Covid has caused a substantial regression. “Ignorance” is a socially-constructed danger. We’ve decided as a society what kids need to know at each age bracket. We can, as a society, make different deicisions, even if we keep schools closed. “Death” is a biologically-constructed danger. The virus decides who lives and who dies, based on the behaviors we choose. If we reopen schools we’ve already made the biological decision. Most of the people who are talking about how education can help end poverty–at least in NC–have a 100% shitty record of funding public education. Maybe we keep kids and families and staff _alive_ right now, and when the pandemic is done, we can revisit those commitments to the institution of public education. ---
**Author:** ![Dagobian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dagobian/32/4143_2.png) [@Dagobian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dagobian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/773 "2020-07-31T23:59:43Z")
I guess danger figures in but I always assumed snow days were based.on the feasibility of getting most people into the school. If it’s going to take the school bus an extra three hours to do it’s route or every teacher an extra hour drive, it’s not worth it. Though I get its a possibility, I never heard the decision described as “how many kids per 100,000 will die?”. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/774 "2020-08-01T00:16:55Z")
> [@Dagobian](#): > > I always assumed snow days were based.on the feasibility of getting most people into the school. Welcome, **Dagobian**. It is a nuanced decision based on can we get kids to school without them getting hypothermia walking to school or waiting at a bus stop, will there be more than customary staff/kids/parents injured because of accidents in poor road conditions, yeah if we get them there can they get home again safely if the storm continues. Far more complicated decision for a school district to make than many realize. I was married to a 20 year school board member and listened to many a complex phone conversation at 3am. **Boo** ---
**Author:** ![Dagobian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dagobian/32/4143_2.png) [@Dagobian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dagobian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/775 "2020-08-01T00:43:44Z")
That’s sort of how I imagined these decisions go! That is kind of why I questioned that “how many kids/100,000 will die if we open schools?” is how it goes down. You’d need some sort of bureaucracy for that! Lol! School boards are a different beast! ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/776 "2020-08-01T02:31:19Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > The district where my child attends elementary school (BVSD) intends to start school with a hybrid model. > > Monday: distance learning for all > Tuesday & Wednesday: Cohort A is in school, B is distance learning > Thursday & Friday: Cohort B is in school, A is distance learning > > The schools will do all of the masks, distancing, cleaning type things that one expects. > > Unlike last spring, distance learning will be primarily self directed, without live teacher meetings (except perhaps on Mondays, that wasn’t clear). The teachers will be available to answer questions on cohort distance days. I’m not sure exactly how that will work, other than putting a lot of demands on the teachers. What will the district do for holidays, teacher inservice days, or long weekends? Will one cohort simply be behind the other cohort? ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/777 "2020-08-01T02:54:54Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > What will the district do for holidays, teacher inservice days, or long weekends? Will one cohort simply be behind the other cohort? Scanning through the calendar, which the district level one has not been updated with the late start date, but the school level one has, it looks like the Tuesday/Wednesday cohort loses a “week” compared to the Thursday/Friday group, because school starts on a Wednesday (Tuesday lost) and Veterans day is on a Wednesday. Teacher workdays are all scheduled on Mondays. They may have more detailed plans, but haven’t communicated them to the parents. Or, they assume the year will be so messed up, that an extra day off here or there hardly matters. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/778 "2020-08-01T04:47:24Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > They may have more detailed plans, but haven’t communicated them to the parents. Or, they assume the year will be so messed up, that an extra day off here or there hardly matters. It’s going to be an interesting year, regardless what happens. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/779 "2020-08-01T05:19:33Z")
NHPR has reported that New Hampshire is joining Tennessee in the plan to not bother publicizing which schools suffer outbreaks. FFS. Fortunately we only have about 1% of number of cases TN does… ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/780 "2020-08-01T18:46:53Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > You are simply mistaken: pediatrics is heavily focused on the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children, on their safety, and on the social determinants of health and well being in this population, with consideration to individuals and to population health levels of analysis. This is their specialty. If the AAP’s core competency is the social, emotional and cognitive development of children, they’re doing a lousy job of articulating and enumerating the harms. For instance, I’ve seen articles that say that mental health services for children has increased lately. The AAP doesn’t articulate by how much and why. Is the increase due to school closing? But schools are closed every year at this time, so how is this different? If it’s due to the other aspects of the pandemic, those don’t go away if schools open back up. If these kinds of issues are the AAP’s charter, they should be more articulate about the effects on children of these various aspects of the pandemic and school openings. More recent articles on school reopenings. A school in Indiana reopened and closed again in . . . one day. This will be a long school year for many people. Because of the high statistical probably of infection on opening, some colleges are requiring negative tests before allowing a student to enter the campus. I don’t know if that kind of thing would work here, especially when testing is so slow in many places and might place a hardship on some parents. But school closing for two weeks repeatedly would cause hardship as well. > **[A School Reopens, and the Coronavirus Creeps In (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/us/schools-reopening-indiana-coronavirus.html)** > > As more schools abandon plans for in-person classes, one that opened in Indiana this week had to quarantine students within hours. > [@](#): > > One of the first school districts in the country to reopen its doors during the coronavirus pandemic did not even make it a day before being forced to grapple with the issue facing every system actively trying to get students into classrooms: What happens when someone comes to school infected? > > Just hours into the first day of classes on Thursday, a call from the county health department notified Greenfield Central Junior High School in Indiana that a student who had walked the halls and sat in various classrooms had tested positive for the coronavirus. > > Administrators began an emergency protocol, isolating the student and ordering everyone who had come into close contact with the person, including other students, to quarantine for 14 days. It is unclear whether the student infected anyone else. > > “We knew it was a when, not if,” said Harold E. Olin, superintendent of the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation, but were “very shocked it was on Day 1.” When the discussion on school openings started, I wondered about how voluntary it would be to both go back to school or to teach. In Sweden, it was fully coerced. Many teachers and parents complained, but they were faced with fines and punishments if they resisted. I wondered how voluntary the system would be in the US. At least in one place at this time, even quitting a teaching job due to Covid-19 comes with a fine. [Arizona teacher who resigned over COVID-19 fears faces fine](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arizona-teacher-who-resigned-over-covid-19-fears-faces-fine/ar-BB17rct7) > [@](#): > > A Phoenix-area music teacher who resigned after being told he’d have to be on campus to teach virtual classes amid the pandemic is facing a $2,000 fine. > > The Dysart Unified School District is set to charge Tavious Peterkin, a music teacher at an El Mirage school, to release him from his contract, [the Arizona Republic reported.](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/surprise-education/2020/07/30/dysart-school-district-charging-teacher-2-000-leave-over-covid/5536925002/) > > Such a fee is common in Arizona school districts. Because the state is in a long-running teacher shortage, it’s harder to find educators to fill vacant positions. Districts charge the fee to educators who suddenly quit to cover the costs of hiring someone new. > > But Peterkin’s case raises questions over whether fees are fair in a pandemic. Peterkin said he thought he would be excused from paying to leave because of COVID-19. A new study is showing that children have high viral loads, sometimes higher than adults. More study is needed to validate that these high viral loads can translate into whether the children can transmit the virus effectively. This study reinforces the German study that found high viral loads in children, but from a different methodology. [https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-nw-nyt-coronavirus-children-lurie-childrens-hospital-study-20200731-enq5fjcjxzbtvceqombbuekfka-story.html](https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-nw-nyt-coronavirus-children-lurie-childrens-hospital-study-20200731-enq5fjcjxzbtvceqombbuekfka-story.html) > [@](#): > > It has been a comforting refrain in the national conversation about reopening schools: Young children are mostly spared by the coronavirus and don’t seem to spread it to others, at least not very often. > > But Thursday, a study introduced an unwelcome wrinkle into this smooth narrative. > > Infected children have at least as much of the coronavirus in their noses and throats as infected adults, according to the research. Indeed, children younger than age 5 may host up to 100 times as much of the virus in the upper respiratory tract as adults, the authors found. > > That measurement does not necessarily prove that children are passing the virus to others. Still, the findings should influence the debate over reopening schools, several experts said. > . . . > “The school situation is so complicated. There are many nuances beyond just the scientific one,” said Dr. Taylor Heald-Sargent, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, who led the study, published in JAMA Pediatrics. “But one takeaway from this is that we can’t assume that just because kids aren’t getting sick, or very sick, that they don’t have the virus.” > . . . > “I’ve heard lots of people saying, ‘Well, kids aren’t susceptible; kids don’t get infected.’ And this clearly shows that’s not true,” said Stacey Schultz-Cherry, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “I think this is an important, really important, first step in understanding the role that kids are playing in transmission.” > . . . > “It definitely shows that kids do have levels of virus similar to and maybe even higher than adults,” Heald-Sargent said. “It wouldn’t be surprising if they were able to shed” the virus and spread it to others. > . . . > > Some experts have suggested that children may transmit less virus because of their smaller lung capacity, height or other physical aspects. > > Morrison dismissed those suggestions. The virus is shed from the upper respiratory tract, not the lungs, she noted. > > “We are going to be reopening day care and elementary schools,” she said. If these results hold up, “then, yeah, I’d be worried.” I’ve been dubious that the reason given by some studies for why there may be low levels of children transmitting the disease is because they’re lower to the ground. If there is some other reason, it would be helpful to find that out before putting people at risk. Amid all the talk of children not having as severe symptoms and dying at a lower rate, I haven’t seen much discussion about the potential long term effects of the virus on people. While long term damage can’t yet be researched since this is all so new, more research is being done on lingering effects. These are on adults, but since children do get the virus at varying levels, they might also suffer lingering effects or even long term damage. Covid-19 appears to behave in ways that are not completely consistent with viruses in the past. [From ‘brain fog’ to heart damage, COVID-19’s lingering problems alarm scientists](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/brain-fog-heart-damage-covid-19-s-lingering-problems-alarm-scientists) > [@](#): > > Survivor studies are starting to probe them. This month, researchers across the United Kingdom including Evans launched a study that will follow 10,000 survivors for 1 year to start, and up to 25 years. Ultimately, researchers hope not just to understand the disease’s long shadow, but also to predict who’s at highest risk of lingering symptoms and learn whether treatments in the acute phase of illness can head them off. > > For Götz Martin Richter, a radiologist at the Klinikum Stuttgart in Germany, what’s especially striking is that just as the illness’ acute symptoms vary unpredictably, so, too, do those that linger. Richter thinks of two patients he has treated: a middle-aged man who experienced mild pneumonia from COVID-19, and an elderly woman already suffering from chronic leukemia and arterial disease, who almost died from the virus and had to be resuscitated. Three months later, the man with the mild case “falls asleep all day long and cannot work,” Richter says. The woman has minimal lung damage and feels fine. ---
**Author:** ![Dagobian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dagobian/32/4143_2.png) [@Dagobian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dagobian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/781 "2020-08-01T21:17:23Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > Some experts have suggested that children may transmit less virus because of their smaller lung capacity, height or other physical aspects. > > Morrison dismissed those suggestions. The virus is shed from the upper respiratory tract, not the lungs, she noted. That’s kind of a weird dismissal. I thought lower lung capacity being a mitigating factor would have to do with how much breath they are exhaling not where the virus lives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247.md?page=40)