by Eric Lendrum
The latest data from health experts seems to be proving that reopening schools is not nearly as dangerous as some fearmongers warned, and that newly-reopened schools are not nearly as likely to experience surges in the coronavirus, as reported by the Washington Examiner.
The data comes from the National COVID-19 School Response Data Dashboard, which is run by researchers at Brown University. Their research showed that in the period from August 31st to September 13th, there were only about 230 new coronavirus cases for every 100,000 students, and about 490 new cases for every 100,000 staff members. The study sample consisted of over 550 schools, with 300 of them featuring in-person classes.
Emily Oster, an economist at Brown and one of the researchers behind the project, said that these numbers should be “reassuring, and suggest that school openings may be less risky than they expected.” Oster also pointed out that, if anything, coronavirus rates are lower within reopened schools than in their surrounding communities.
This trend was also reflected by a study in Texas conducted by state health officials. Since schools in the state have reopened, there have been approximately 2,352 positive coronavirus tests directly linked to the schools, which is only a fraction of the overall student population of 1.1 million, accounting for just 0.21 percent.
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
