This post is a public apology to Erica Green of the New York Times. She wrote on March 13 that the Centers for Disease Control recommended that schools should close for at least eight weeks. A trusted reader of this blog said that the CDC guidance offered several options, depending on local circumstances. I read the CDC guidance and posted a correction implying that Green had offered the worst case scenario.
Erica Green wrote me directly to complain about my “correction.”
Let me state here publicly and without equivocation that Erica Green was right.
I apologize.
Schools should close for at least eight weeks.
It appears likely, with the virus continuing to spread, that many, most, or all schools will not reopen until September.
No one knows when the disease will subside or be under control.
In the meanwhile, we must all take care of ourselves and our loved ones. Stay home to the extent possible. Wash your hands frequently. Practice social distancing. Be glad we have the telephone, the television, and the Internet to stay in touch with the world and with friends. Send love and gratitude to the healthcare workers and first responders who protect us. This is a time for kindness.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You know, it’s posts like this that make me realize why this is one of the few unequivocally reputable sources of info on the web.
So true. This site was born of an admission that our gracious host had been wrong about standardization. This is a site that pursues truth instead of profit. It exists with no greed or vanity, which is extremely rare in our society.
An eight week shutdown is going to be difficult if it happens. I have to switch to a personal note about the idea of schools staying closed until fall. It is difficult for me to accept. On the last day of school on Friday, an administrator made the decision to have me hastily doing midterm report card grades and creating two weeks of lesson plans for the shutdown. I have/had the honor and privilege of teaching some of the greatest students of all time this year. I was so busy, I didn’t really say goodbye. I thought I would see them again soon anyway.
But, like Diane, I am able to change. I will either have to post a video to the school website (as if that’s good enough) or just wait until fall to hopefully see them all again, and accept the doing of what needs be done.
One of the things that people who have never taught don’t understand is how teachers get emotionally invested in students in new ways every year.
and suddenly hearing that your students “will not be back” at all this schoolyear is a heartrending moment of reckoning
Yaaaasss!
Sad days indeed. The truth sure hurts.
From what I have been reading and learning, eight weeks will not be enough. Until there is a vaccine available in enough quantities for everyone, the schools should stay closed, and that could take a year to a year and a half.
The other choice is to return to normal and let the pandemic run its course and infect everyone so the survivors develop immunity. Is there anyone reading this comment willing to vote for this Russian Roulette of a choice? Are there any volunteers that want to gamble with the grim reaper?
I agree, Lloyd.
Publicity about the length of school closures has not been static. It has moved from a hopeful two weeks to a more sober eight weeks and is likely to be for a longer time.
If you heard today’s White House briefing you will have discerned there is real anxiety about a surge in documented cases in the next TEN DAYS.
That anxiety has been amped by new reports about children who have been seriously sickened by the virus, expanding the age-range of publicized vulnerabilities. If there is more evidence of this vulnerability in the next several weeks, then reopening schools this academic year is a really a bad idea.
Also note that Trump ended today’s briefing with an extended rant against the media, again. He does not think he should be criticised in any way, especially for his “great” handling of the pandemic.
Absolutely, Laura. With what’s already known as of today, re-opening schools before year’s-end looks like a gamble fewer & fewer would be willing to take regardless of state dictate.
There’s also the possibility that, now that the govt’s going full bore on ramping up testing, we’ll be able to count (by, say, midsummer)– that significant chunk seen in a study here & there– the asymptomatic infected [presumably including younger adults & even children]– who also need to be quarantined if there’s to be any flattening of the tsunami that overwhelms med facilities. That could put the kibosh on resumption of school session for months more.
There may be appropriate measures that fall somewhere between 8 weeks and 18 months. A long-term shutdown of schools and, more immediately, workplaces, will be economically catastrophic, with real and terrible consequences for working people.
If we all wore the appropriate masks and had easy access to the hand and face sanitizer to use repeatedly throughout the day, would that make a difference?
I know we can get infected through our eyes, too, but if everyone is wearing those masks, would our breathes and coughs reach the eyes of everyone around us.
I left my house for the first time in days for a quick trip to Home Depot to buy air filters for the HVAC system and noticed only one couple in the store wearing masks, and they were 20 something Asian-Americans. Everyone else, even the cashiers were not wearing masks. One cashier had a mask hanging around her neck. I kept my distance from everyone and got in and out as fast as I could.
We need simply to cancel school for the rest of the year. People need to get real about the seriousness of this crisis.
No, it is simply not accurate to say the CDC recommended at least 8 weeks.
Here’s what the CDC actually said, (which is anything but a clear, unequivocal recommendation😀)
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). 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. **
In other countries, those places who closed school (e.g., Hong Kong) have NOT had more success in reducing spread than those that did not (e.g., Singapore).
Got that?
There may be some impact of much longer closures (8 weeks, 20 weeks) further into community spread…but in other countries, those places who closed school (e.g., Hong Kong) have NOT had more success in reducing spread than those that did not (e.g., Singapore).
The CDC recommendation (if there indeed is one) is about as clear as mud.
Agreed. The CDC recommended some of everything.
But as time goes by, short closures of 2-6 weeks look ineffective.
The reality is that the federal government denied, denied, denied until people started dying.
Thank you, Poet. This issue is not simple. I appreciate nuance, complexity, and an abundance of humility in addressing complicated issues.
Agreed. Very informative. Thanks!
Strange they don’t mention China (schools closed 5 wks ago) or S Korea (schools closed 4 wks ago), both of which have seen a sharp drop in new cases. Nope, they’re going for a nice neat comparison between 2 city-states w/much smaller population & geog pop distrib than China – or S Korea – or the US.
https://supchina.com/2019/04/24/protesting-in-the-name-of-science-may-fourth-movement/
Was a very interesting discussion of the May 4 protest in pre-revolutionary China. Given the assertion that the Chinese were completely honest about the rise of Covid 19 above, this article, penned as a sort of explanation for why the Chinese author, now in America, joined the 2017 march of scientists on Washington DC. In another article, it talked about the re-tweeting by a Chinese official of some unfounded rumor that the Covid had been planted in Wuhan by the American military. This explains Trump’s obsession du jour. It also brings up a few important questions about the relationship between Democracy and Science.
The Generation of FDR saw free trade as an adjunct to freedom. The May 4 movement saw Freedom and Science as adjuncts. Fascinating essay.
My grand daughter will be so disappointed. While she won’t miss the classes (except art) she was looking forward to the Senior Prom and Graduation.
I feel very sad for the students who will miss the rituals of senior year. Prom.graduation. Wearing the cap and gown. Walking across the stage.
School has not been easy for my grand daughter, but she turned her life around and is doing okay. She was looking forward to throwing her cap up into the air, She had earned that small gesture,