@hancha
I agree that lockdowns were necessary at the beginning. But it became apparent after a few months that the effects of COVID on children were not significant enough to justify the huge costs of shutting down schools. That's why the majority of the developed world re-opened schools after a few months - because they made a reasoned decisions based on balancing costs and benefits.
But part of the problem is that that early data was based on very few kids getting infected,
because schools were closed.
Transmission in schools also cause community spread. That’s why schools have had vaccine mandates for decades.
They also made those decisions based on economic needs, because most of us in North America don’t have paid sick leave, have to work or else we can’t pay rent/mortgage and feed our families, so sending kids to school/daycare was an economic necessity, and claiming (based on little evidence) that kids are unaffected or immune or don’t spread it was a convenient thing to say, because it meant that public health, employers, and governments didn’t have to do squat to protect anyone.
I’m definitely not advocating for ongoing school closures, but bring kids back and then letting covid rip through schools without better preventative measures was and is scientifically unsound and morally unjust.
Also, the CDC now has recommendations for the number of air exchanges per hour in room. It’s also proven that a classroom with more recycled air (higher CO2 levels and less fresh oxygen, and also more infected aerosols) results in students and teacher being less alert, poorer learning/cognitive ability, and increases spread of illness.
So like, if you want to advocate and support kids going to schools, you should advocate for clean air in classrooms, which most schools in North America do not have. Has Oster consistently voiced support for that sort of thing? With her platform she could make a huge difference.