School Closings

In my last post, I noted that we would be closing OSW for the time being in order to help everyone maintain social distancing.  While this does seem to be the gold standard for the prevention of communicable disease, there is some mixed messaging out there.  Yesterday, I received an email from one of our kids' schools which included the following:

"The Chester County Health Department (CCHD) is not currently recommending that schools or organizations preemptively close as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The reason they are not recommending school closures at this time is because:

• Children have not been shown to be a high risk group for serious illness from this virus. As much as possible, children should be allowed to carry on with their education and normal activities. 
• Closing schools may not be effective because some children may congregate anyway at other locations therefore not reducing risk. 
• Closing schools may result in children staying home with alternative caregivers, such as elders, who are more vulnerable."

I want to address this point by point, while first acknowledging that the CCHD is trying to do its best at keeping people safe, and is doing so at a time of uncertainty about how COVID-19 spreads, its case fatality rate, and how bad it could be.