Should Schools Be Reopening? New Study Says Yes

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• A new study finds that people’s voluntary behavioral changes, such as working from home and avoiding large gatherings, made a bigger impact during the pandemic than closing schools.
• Students are beginning to feel the effects of social isolation by showing signs of anxiety and depression.
• One expert says the fallout from the pandemic will likely last long after the virus has receded.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released guidance on how schools can reopen safely. Though initially thought to be a major spreader of disease, children are unlikely to widely spread the virus, research finds.

A new study now concludes that school closures did not have a major impact on slowing the pandemic. Instead, people’s voluntary behavioral changes made a bigger impact.

A study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatricssays that although school closures in the spring of 2020 were reasonable, they may not have played as great of a role in slowing the spread of the new coronavirus as originally thought.