With hospital beds filled and field hospitals scrambling to open, Gov. Gina Raimondo on Monday ordered Rhode Island to begin a two-week pause in an attempt to stop out-of-control coronavirus spread in her state. The governor ordered bars, gyms, movie theaters and the like closed — but she is keeping schools open.
Raimondo should be praised for recognizing what too many state and local leaders ignore: Hard data have proven, and America’s scientists have reached consensus, that students in classrooms are not significant spreaders of COVID-19.
One of the largest studies, led by Brown University economist Emily Oster PhD, analyzed in-school infection data from 47 states for two weeks at the end of September. Out of 200,000 students who returned to the classroom, just 0.13 percent tested positive for COVID-19. Positive tests for 63,000 staff clocked in at 0.24 percent. Cases nationwide have dramatically increased since then, but even in places that had low-positivity rates, schools remained closed while nonessential businesses welcomed customers — and likely contributed to community spread.
