Why are the people who are supposed to be the teachers of science keeping our schools closed when the science is clearly on the side of having schools open and children getting in-person education?
The evidence clearly establishes the children are at a very low risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. It is also clear that children are six times less likely to spread COVID than are adults who have contracted the disease. And a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics established that child care providers were no more likely to get COVID-19 if they were open and conducting child care than if they were closed. Therefore, it seems that teachers are not at undue risk if we have in-person schooling. And the early concerns that open schools might become super-spreaders has turned out to be unfounded.
Even Dr. Fauci, the director of the American National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease is now in favour of having schools open. He recently said “... the default position should be to try as best as possible within reason to keep the kids in school and to get them back in school.”
It is time for the profession who profess to be the teachers of science to apply that science to their own situation and open the schools as this is in the best interests of the children.
Cameron MacKay Senior, Sturgeon County
