Posted by: RAHrider
I heard on the radio today that the reason they are keeping schools open here is because transmission actually goes up when the kiddies stay home.
I heard the same thing and I would like to see how/where they acquired this data.
I didn't have a cold/flu for my entire adult live until I had kids and sent them to daycare/school. My oldest is now in grade 5 and this year was actually the first year since he has been in school that he hasn't brought home a cold/flu from school - and I think that is a direct result of all the hand washing that takes place in the classroom now.
But the whole line that "transmission doesn't happen in schools" is complete and utter BS.
I have been working from home and have had 0 COVID exposures in the last year.
My wife is a teacher, and her particular school has had a few COVID exposure letters.
Based on my own personal experience with what is actually happening, there is much less risk of COVID transmission if my kids stayed home.
I am pretty sure the real reason they won't close schools is because public schools, especially elementary schools, are the biggest free daycare provider in our province. If the kids have to stay home, so will many of the parents who don't have alternative childcare arrangements.
Remember last year when they shut everything down again because we reached 50 cases in one day? We probably need to do that again to put a serious dent in our current numbers and "flatten the curve".