Mom Asks Pediatrician About The Idea Of Kids Going To School Again, Receives A Reality Check

As the back-to-school date in the US is slowly approaching, more and more parents are seriously doubting whether to send their kids to school. With Covid-19 infections rising in 41 states and southern hotspots already undertaking crisis measures on Thursday, many feel like reopening schools physically would be hurried and plain dangerous.

So one mom and book author from Atlanta named Aesha Saeed turned to her children’s pediatrician for advice. She found the doctor's opinion “sobering because headlines and pundits are one thing, but a doctor I’ve trusted my children’s well-being to since each were born” is another. Aesha then passed on what she learned in this 6-tweet thread that will make you seriously weigh the risks of letting your kids sit at a school desk any time soon.

Schools are coping differently with the uncertainty of letting kids come back amid the recent surge in Covid-19 cases. Los Angeles Times reports that in Southern California, the region's two main districts—Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified—said they would begin the new school year with full-time distance learning. Meanwhile, Orange County voted to let students onto campus without implying security guidelines like masks or social distancing.

But the resistance from parents is mounting in places where spread of the virus is still a daily threat that comes with President Donald Trump saying that opening schools is key to firing up the economy.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has just released an official report on reopening schools during the pandemic. The report says: “There is insufficient evidence with which to determine how easily children and youth contract the virus and how contagious they are once they do.”

In addition, such a knowledge gap “makes it extremely difficult for decision makers to gauge the health risks of physically opening schools.”