what's the update on if it's safe to open schools or not?

my previous position was that it was a reasonable step to take to protect the staff of the institutions, particularly older professors. that said, i acknowledged that the early evidence suggested the virus posed little risk to children, and appreciated the midway point taken by sweden, where they allowed children under a specific age (i believe it was 16) to go to school.

i think the evidence as it has unfolded suggests that 16 may have been a little too old, if the intent was to stop the spread of the virus - that 12 might be a better age cutoff. that said, it would seem as though there is increasing evidence to be cautious even about younger kids.

it would be great if we had this early result and it withheld all kinds of scrutiny, and we could move ahead with confidence on it; that doesn't seem to be the case, here. rather, it seems as though the virus can sometimes affect children, and we're not quite sure what the reasons for it are.

you have to balance the level of risk in sending kids back to school, and this doesn't strike me as worse than a bad flu season, when it comes to young children, specifically; if anything, this seems to be far less dangerous to young kids than the flu is.

but, the virus could very well change, and what i'm getting at is that there is some indication that it might have.

so, i'd proceed with some caution.