May 6, 2020, 8:01 PM
(From the New York Times) Two recent studies offer compelling evidence that children can transmit the COVID-19 virus, prompting health experts to warn that schools should be kept closed for now. In one study, a team analyzed data from two cities in China and found that children were about a third as susceptible to coronavirus infection as adults were. But when schools were open, they found children had about three times as many contacts as adults. Researchers believe closing schools is not enough on its own to stop an outbreak, but can reduce a surge 40-60%.
A second study, by a group of German researchers, tested children and adults, and found that children who test positive harbor just as much virus as adults do — sometimes more — and so, presumably, are just as infectious. The team also analyzed a group of 47 infected children between ages 1 and 11. Fifteen of them had an underlying condition or were hospitalized, but the remaining were mostly free of symptoms. The children who were asymptomatic had viral loads that were just as high or higher than the symptomatic children or adults.
(From the Washington Post) In response to recent criticism and pressure from the Trump administration, several independent schools across the country have come out in defense of their decisions to accept federal loans under the CARES Act. The schools have explained that their endowments are restricted and that the schools want to keep employees on the payroll who would otherwise be furloughed.
(From ICEF Monitor) Accumulated survey data through the end of April shows some important shifts in student expectations for online learning in the next school year. Notably, students are now in a stronger position to choose how they wish to be educated, forcing institutions to become more responsive to what students want, argues Gary Hepburn, dean of the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education. Hepburn suggests schools pay attention to what students are saying on social media and use that information to drive competitive academic offerings and address any common challenges students are having.
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