# 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:** 57
**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:** [September 22, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1122 "2020-09-22T01:05:11Z")
One that got lots of press for a house party like that was at Miami University of Ohio. That where you’re at? 7 day rolling daily average there has been steadily [dropping for three weeks.](https://miamioh.edu/healthy-together/status-updates/dashboard/) ---
**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:** [September 22, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1123 "2020-09-22T01:38:25Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Where you at? University of Colorado Boulder. Here is the campus Covid dashboard. If nothing else, the administration is being transparent. [https://www.colorado.edu/covid-19-ready-dashboard](https://www.colorado.edu/covid-19-ready-dashboard) ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1124 "2020-09-22T02:08:38Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > everybody who lives in the house had tested positive. Didn’t stop them from holding a raging kegger. This is the problem with lumping College numbers in with everything else. These communities are very different from everything else. Esp lower education. College life is all about close quarters interactions and the frequent and copious exchange of bodily fluids amongst people who just don’t give a damn. (I remember it fondly!) Their peaks and valleys have no correlation to the “real” world. It does, however, indicate that restarting college athletics couldn’t possibly make it any worse for that community! ---
**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:** [September 22, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1125 "2020-09-22T03:07:05Z")
So checking out that dashboard (thank you for the link) … three days in a row of drops in daily surveillance monitoring and _possibly_ peaked on diagnostic test positives. Maybe maybe not and complete week on week definitely up. And they just locked down what, today? yesterday? If, IF, this is the start of a drop after three weeks of rise and before any new switch to remote could have had an impact, (similar to the courses at U Wisconsin Boulder, U Illinois Champaign Urbana, and Miami of Ohio), how would you interpret it? ---
**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:** [September 22, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1126 "2020-09-22T03:43:04Z")
They grounded (my word) the students last Wednesday night, and all in person classes stop this coming Wednesday. Only a few labs and such were in person, and most lecture classes were remote anyway, so it isn’t going to be a big change for most students and faculty. Given that 3 of the highest positive test count days occurred in the last 4 reported days I would not predict this is a peak. I hope the peak is soon, but we won’t know for two or more weeks. Universities are a different environment from the general community, but I also think it will be very difficult to keep community spread low if the virus is exploding on campus. Lots of those college kids are also restaurant and retail workers, not to mention customers. At some point there will be spill over. The governor does not want to send the students home, because that will just send the infected all over. At least now they’re contained, and many are in the quarantine dorms. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1127 "2020-09-23T23:31:37Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I would not predict this is a peak. I hope the peak is soon, but we won’t know for two or more weeks. Two days later and the pattern for on-campus positive PCRs is 130, 94, 94, 53. Then last being the lowest number since 9/10. The last several days of surveillance positive numbers have been 182, 103, 83, 48, 68, 50. It minimally no longer looks like “still riding the peak up”, and it may be prudent to wait a few more days, but it begins to look like U Colorado Boulder is following the same fairly quick peak and fall that the others have, before the switch to remote could have had an impact. I am sure there will be exceptions but it does seem to be the common pattern, don’t it? I again ask: assuming that the past the peak pattern continues here as well, how do you interpret it? ---
**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:** [September 24, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1128 "2020-09-24T03:15:04Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I again ask: assuming that the past the peak pattern continues here as well, how do you interpret it? My interpretation is that in the first few weeks many of the people who are going to behave dangerously quickly get infected. After the burst of infections perhaps other people are scared straight. Perhaps as normally happens, a few weeks into school the parties reduce as people are busy with classes, so there are fewer large spreading events. Perhaps the people behaving dangerously are all too sick to continue partying. Maybe all the infections have created mini herd immunity among the house party set. Maybe the most susceptible individuals are getting infected early, and the rest have some natural resistance, reducing the spread once those are all who are left. I can come up with hypothesis all day, what _I_ don’t have is data to suggest which are more or less likely. I hope that somebody has the data, and can use that to figure out what happens that causes the peak and drop pattern. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1129 "2020-09-24T13:44:23Z")
Some very reasonable hypotheses generated. Some other interpretations I’d suggest. The tendency that many have had to point to a few university’s initial peaks and to conclude that opening colleges has clear and obvious impact and is a huge bad thing may be unfounded. It is not so clear and not so obvious. Timing of the fairly quick fall back down is such that shutting down classes and going to more remote cannot be associated with improved numbers in any cause/effect manner. Also specific to the bit that started this tangent off - the two days of very low volume testing that had 20% positivity rate in UW-Madison got lots of press (20% positivity! Oh No!), as did the rise in cases there in general. The fact that those two days numbers were a misrepresentation of their positivity rates overall did not. The fact that real positivity rates there have consistently dropped and are now consistently relatively low and that case numbers have continued to drop as well (from 385 daily peak to 23 latest) is not getting much attention. The general pattern in places that have had initial surges to have them drop quickly as well is not getting much attention. I interpret that as some ignoring that which fails to meet the conclusions they prefer but seeing anything that is consistent with what they want to believe. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1130 "2020-09-24T15:52:18Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > The tendency that many have had to point to a few university’s initial peaks and to conclude that opening colleges has clear and obvious impact and is a huge bad thing may be unfounded. It is not so clear and not so obvious. If there are colleges that aren’t open, the lesson to take is that the students can’t be trusted to behave safely. The response may be to open, but to take measures to prevent the initial peak. > [@DSeid](#): > > Timing of the fairly quick fall back down is such that shutting down classes and going to more remote cannot be associated with improved numbers in any cause/effect manner. At least here, the shutdown of classes is not intended to improve numbers. The initial peak was not due to classes, so shutting them down wouldn’t be expected to decrease spread, though it is intended to prevent it from increasing. Shutting down in-person activity is to protect those who are not infected from the people who are infected. We know many of the people attending those classes were exposed or infected, but we don’t know exactly which ones, so the whole thing closes for a few weeks. If other schools are handling it like here, the positivity numbers won’t be comparable to community positivity numbers. The students here have monitoring tests several times each week. PCR tests are then done to confirm a positive result on the monitoring result, or when somebody has symptoms. Community testing is going to include people like me. I got tested prior to a medical procedure that required a negative test, but the procedure was unrelated to any COVID symptoms, and requiring the procedure was independent of my COVID risk. For purposes of positivity I was a random control. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1131 "2020-09-24T16:15:41Z")
@MandaJo and I have had the same discussion about positivity rates and I again completely agree that campus rates are of a different bucket. Their positivity rates can only be compared to their own trends, but are meaningful there. The flip side also remains true: campus confirmed infection rates are also of a separate bucket. Comprehensive testing means fewer casesnot ever diagnosed. One should compare those to their own trends but not compare to rates outside of the campus or dump them into the same bucket without caution. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1132 "2020-09-24T16:47:52Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > campus confirmed infection rates are also of a separate bucket. That is exactly what the public school district here decided. They have set 50/100,000 as the community rate necessary for return to school. The county rate is closer to 200/100,000, though. They’ve decided that because the community rate is below 50/100,000 when excluding the university, that they will still start in-person public school. The county has also decide to ban all gatherings for people 18-22, and mandatory stay at home orders for 36 problem addresses. They do need to get the university related spread under control, because given time it will spread to the community. The [latest data](https://www.colorado.edu/covid-19-ready-dashboard) shows only 21 positive test results for 9/23. That is very low compared to the previous week. Hopefully that means the spread among students has slowed down, and now it’s a matter of waiting out the existing infections. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1133 "2020-09-25T19:53:12Z")
[Parents Knowingly Sent Kids With Coronavirus to School, Wisconsin Officials Say](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/parents-knowingly-sent-kids-with-coronavirus-to-school-wisconsin-officials-say/2634851/) > “The health department has worked with school districts since spring to make a plan to reopen,” Kirsten Johnson, Washington-Ozaukee public health director, told NBC News. “Never in a million years did we imagine or think to account for parents deliberately sending their sick or symptomatic child to school.” ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1134 "2020-09-25T20:09:29Z")
Any teacher could have told them that parents send their kids to school sick all the damn time. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1135 "2020-09-25T21:34:19Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > [Parents Knowingly Sent Kids With Coronavirus to School, Wisconsin Officials Say](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/parents-knowingly-sent-kids-with-coronavirus-to-school-wisconsin-officials-say/2634851/) > > > “The health department has worked with school districts since spring to make a plan to reopen,” Kirsten Johnson, Washington-Ozaukee public health director, told NBC News. “Never in a million years did we imagine or think to account for parents deliberately sending their sick or symptomatic child to school.” It happened all the time before the pandemic, sending sick kids to school. Why wouldn’t it happen now? ---
**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:** [September 25, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1136 "2020-09-25T23:29:23Z")
The NBC article is not very clear. [Here](https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northshore/news/2020/09/22/parents-sent-kids-who-tested-positive-coronavirus-school-washington-ozaukee-public-health-director/3493078001/) is the same information from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. There have been three identified cases in which parents sent in kids not sick but _knowing that they had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2_. Pretty abhorrent. Not just sending in a kid with a runny nose. Still across a whole state? In which nearly half will vote for someone who mocks wearing masks and any mitigation efforts? Being shocked by that is still pretty naive. Maybe shocked that it is so few. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1137 "2020-09-26T00:23:11Z")
The other bit of it, the refusing to volunteer that their child was in some way sick, or to get tested, is a different thing. How many adult workers dependent on the hours worked do you think have done the very similar - gone in with a little cough, a mild sore throat, some diarrhea the night before, or a slight fever and headache? More than a few I am sure. Given that many schools are having ANY symptom, no matter how minor and brief, equal out for ten days or negative test result, for child and sibs, there is some disincentive to being completely forthcoming. I am having to see and write notes for things like a breast-fed baby who had their every three day diaper blow out in daycare and needed testing or note or out for ten days because of “diarrhea”. FWIW many of us peds are following [this clinical guidance](http://wupaarc.wustl.edu/COVID-19-and-Children/Algorithms-for-Clinicians-and-Schools/-Clinician-Algorithm). Not everybody with any minor symptom needs a test. And everyone, universally, including the symptom-free, should be considered as potentially contagious. Very little doubt that some of the symptom-free non-exposed no-reason-to-think-sick kids and teachers are infected and potentially contagious. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1138 "2020-09-28T01:05:37Z")
A Perspective published in last weeks Science. [https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165) The whole thing is worth a read but some bits to share as a teaser. > [@](#): > > … Of the vaccines being tested in clinical trials, none have yet been administered to children, with priority instead being given, appropriately, to older age groups. The most advanced candidate, ChAdOX1-nCOV-19, is currently in phase 2 and 3 studies that include a pediatric arm for 5 to 12 year olds (NCT04400838), receiving half the full adult dose in this study. However, this study arm is not currently active and will commence enrolment only once the safety profile in adults is more complete. Given the low rates of disease in children, they are likely to be a low priority to receive a vaccine unless it is definitively shown that (i) children have an important role in the transmission of the virus and (ii) the vaccine reduces viral shedding (and hence reduces transmission). > > To what extent do children transmit SARS-CoV-2? Recent reports that young children acutely unwell with COVID-19 have concentrations of viral RNA in nasal aspirates that are similar to, or higher, than adults ([_5_](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165#ref-5)) raised concerns that their role in transmission may have been underestimated. However, one of these studies compared children within the first week of illness with adults with more than 7 days of symptoms, when viral load is expected to be reduced ([_5_](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165#ref-5)). Such studies need to be interpreted with consideration of the very low numbers of children with symptomatic COVID-19. … > > … it is inevitable that there will be students attending school while infected with SARS-CoV-2, and likely there will be some school outbreaks, with the frequency of these events reflecting levels of community transmission. Regardless, it is hard to support the opening of retail and hospitality sectors while schools remain shut, as occurred in many countries earlier this year. > > School closures and attendant loss of other protective systems for children (such as limited social care and health visiting) highlight the indirect, but very real, harms being disproportionately borne by children and teenagers as a result of measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. In the UK, it is estimated that the impact on education thus far may lead to a quarter of the national workforce having lower skills and attainment for a generation after the mid-2020s, leading to the loss of billions of dollars in national wealth ([_11_](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165#ref-11)). Additionally, there are a variety of other harms to children’s health, including the risk of reemergence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles because of disruptions to immunization programs. > > There are many other areas of potential indirect harm to children, including an increase in home injuries (accidental and nonaccidental) when children have been less visible to social protection systems because of lockdowns. In Italy, hospitalizations for accidents at home increased markedly during the COVID-19 lockdown and potentially posed a higher threat to children’s health than COVID-19 ([_13_](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165#ref-13)). UK pediatricians report that delay in presentations to hospital or disrupted services contributed to the deaths of equal numbers of children that were reported to have died with SARS-CoV-2 infection ([_14_](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165#ref-14)). Many countries are seeing evidence that mental health in young people has been adversely affected by school closures and lockdowns. For example, preliminary evidence suggests that deaths by suicide of young people under 18 years old increased during lockdown in England ([_15_](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/18/science.abd6165#ref-15)). > > The role of children in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 remains unclear; however, existing evidence points to educational settings playing only a limited role in transmission when mitigation measures are in place, in marked contrast to other respiratory viruses. … Money quote: > [@](#): > > Pandemic mitigation measures that affect children’s wellbeing should only happen if evidence exists that they help because there is plenty of evidence that they do harm. Lead author is of the Oxford Vaccine Group. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1139 "2020-09-30T06:51:47Z")
> **[COVID-19 cases rising among US children as schools reopen](https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-health-us-news-ap-top-news-ms-state-wire-901fb467cbaf5cd519be2247f0e3983c)** > > After preying heavily on the elderly in the spring, the coronavirus is increasingly infecting American children and teens in a trend authorities say appears fueled by school reopenings and the resumption of sports, playdates and other activities. > [@](#): > > After preying heavily on the elderly in the spring, the coronavirus is increasingly infecting American children and teens in a trend authorities say appears fueled by school reopenings and the resumption of sports, playdates and other activities. > > Children of all ages now make up 10% of all U.S cases, up from 2% in April, the American Academy of Pediatrics [reported](https://www.aappublications.org/cc/covid-19) Tuesday. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the incidence of COVID-19 in school-age children began rising in early September as many youngsters returned to their classrooms. > > About two times more teens were infected than younger children, the CDC [report](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6939e2.htm?s_cid=mm6939e2_w) said. Most infected children have mild cases; hospitalizations and death rates are much lower than in adults. > > Dr. Sally Goza, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the rising numbers are a big concern and underscore the importance of masks, hand-washing, social distancing and other precautions. > > “While children generally don’t get as sick with the coronavirus as adults, they are not immune and there is much to learn about how easily they can transmit it to others,” she said in a statement. College-aged people also saw a large increase in the number of infections. Increased testing likely played a part but was not the only factor attributable to the increase. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cdc-universities/covid-19-cases-among-young-adults-in-u-s-rise-55-in-august-cdc-idUSKBN26K3CN?rpc=401&](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cdc-universities/covid-19-cases-among-young-adults-in-u-s-rise-55-in-august-cdc-idUSKBN26K3CN?rpc=401&) > [@](#): > > Between Aug. 2 and Sept. 5, weekly cases of COVID-19 among people aged 18 to 22 rose 55.1%. The Northeast region recorded a 144% increase in COVID-19 cases, while Midwest cases rose 123.4%, the report said. > > The uptick in cases was not solely attributable to increased testing and could be linked to some universities resuming in-person attendance, the CDC researchers said. They also said transmission could also be among young adults not attending college. From about a week ago, > **[Feared coronavirus outbreaks in schools yet to arrive, early data shows](https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/feared-covid-outbreaks-in-schools-yet-to-arrive-early-data-shows/2020/09/23/0509bb84-fd22-11ea-b555-4d71a9254f4b_story.html)** > > Thousands of students and teachers have become sick, but there is little evidence that the virus is spreading inside school buildings. Here’s the [dashboard](https://statsiq.co1.qualtrics.com/public-dashboard/v0/dashboard/5f62eaee4451ae001535c839#/dashboard/5f62eaee4451ae001535c839?pageId=Page_1ac6a6bc-92b6-423e-9f7a-259a18648318) they used in the article. I can’t figure out how to change the date unless there’s only one two week time period in the model, and that was two weeks ago. A little earlier in the month of September. This is more of an overview of the infection rates in schools in different countries. The previous article is about US schools. > **[Research suggests school reopenings contribute to rise in COVID-19 cases](https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200908/Research-suggests-school-reopenings-contribute-to-rise-in-COVID-19-cases.aspx)** > > A study recently published on the preprint server medRxiv in September 2020 by researcher Richard Beesley at Juvenile Arthritis Research reports on the impact of school reopenings on the spread of the virus. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1140 "2020-09-30T08:31:19Z")
> **[White House pressured CDC on reopening schools, officials say](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-pressured-cdc-reopening-schools/)** > > White House officials pressured the CDC to downplay the coronavirus to encourage reopening schools, CBS News confirmed. > # White House pressured CDC on reopening schools, officials say > > By Ben Tracy, Weijia Jiang, Grace Segers > > Updated on: September 29, 2020 / 7:30 PM / CBS News > > _Washington —_ Top White House officials over the summer pressured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to downplay the risk of the [coronavirus](http://cbsnews.com/coronavirus) among young people and encourage the reopening of schools, according to two former CDC officials who were at the agency at the time. > > [The New York Times first reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/us/politics/white-house-cdc-coronavirus-schools.html) that White House officials, including aides in Vice President Mike Pence’s office and Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus task force, were involved in trying to circumvent the CDC to promote data that showed the spread of the virus was slowing. The former CDC officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CBS News that the information in the Times report was accurate. > > Olivia Troye, a former adviser to Pence who worked on the White House coronavirus task force, told the Times that she was repeatedly asked by Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, to produce more data showing a decline in cases in young people. Troye left the White House in August and has since become a [vocal critic](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/olivia-troye-pence-advisor-endorses-biden-coronavirus-task-force/) of the president and the administration’s coronavirus response. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1141 "2020-09-30T23:18:07Z")
Our province has seen a big upsurge in daily cases (700/d) but a pretty small increase in deaths and ICU admissions - with most cases now in younger people below 40. High schools are going okay with maybe a third of students remote and some schools (I think) alternating days. Universities are largely remote - at most, 25% of stuff is in class, minimal gym, no in person clubs. Our region has a very modest number of daily cases (10/d), indoor masking, people respecting social distancing. This hasn’t stopped widespread blame of the university students. Generally, they are not to blame here. They are usually following the guidelines. But it is easy to blame the students despite the inevitable increase in cases in the second wave. Opening schools was the right thing to do here. People are trying. I do not foresee Ontario hospitals being overwhelmed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247.md?page=56) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247.md?page=58)