Opinion | Hong Kong schools should not be closed again over Covid-19
- Keeping students out of school should be the last option as closures don’t help prevent the spread of Covid-19 but do cause serious damage to children and society. Resuming full-day, face-to-face classes should be a priority this year
The war against Covid-19 is still in its early days. Some expect that vaccinations will bring life back to normal within a year, but this is the most optimistic scenario with many assumptions. On the other hand, we now have a better understanding of Covid-19.
First, closing schools appears to have no effect. In Australia and Germany, researchers found little change in Covid-19 outbreaks before and after schools were reopened. In South Korea, only three out of 127 confirmed student cases aged 3 to 18 were infected at school after they had reopened.
Most were infected at home, in restaurants or multipurpose facilities. In rural Wisconsin, US, seven out of 191 students were infected in schools during the 13-week face-to-face school period last autumn.
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Why are school closures unhelpful? Students not going to school does not mean they stay at home. If they meet friends outside school, closure is meaningless.