The CDC Says Schools Should Remain Closed For Eight Weeks
According to the CDC, schools should stay closed for 8 or more weeks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Many schools are closing for 2 weeks, but it turns out that this may do little to make a difference in the spread of the virus.
Available modeling data indicate that early, short to medium closures do not impact the epi curve of COVID-19 or available health care measures (e.g., hospitalizations).
CDC
There may be some impact of much longer closures (8 weeks, 20 weeks) further into community spread, but that modelling also shows that other mitigation efforts (e.g., handwashing, home isolation) have more impact on both spread of disease and health care measures
CDC
In other words, wash your hands and avoid people. This will help stop the spread of the virus more than closing schools will.
The CDC acknowledges that school closures of any length may have a negative impact on students’ academic progress.
In just a few weeks, our kids will be expected to jump right back in to where they left off — and that end-of-year testing is coming up QUICKLY.
I can only imagine the stress for teachers right now. They have spent all year working on teaching our children, and now they face weeks of interrupted learning.
I know MY kids. If I just let them vegg out on TV for weeks, they are going to regress and forget what they have been learning in math, reading, science, and all their other classes.
The CDC KNOWS this, and recommends that schools come up with alternate plans for teaching the children, like possible tele-ed.
Bottom line, I wouldn’t be surprised if schools end up being closed longer than we originally expected. The CDC doesn’t play around, and if they are recommending 8 weeks of closure to stop the spread of this thing, it just may happen.
Stay tuned. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more news.
