Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

A few days ago, AP writer Lindsey Tanner reported that COVID 19 cases were increasing among school aged children:

Children of all ages now make up 10% of all U.S cases, up from 2% in April, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Tuesday. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the incidence of COVID-19 in school-age children began rising in early September as many youngsters returned to their classrooms.

About two times more teens were infected than younger children, the CDC report said. Most infected children have mild cases; hospitalizations and death rates are much lower than in adults

The increase in cases from 2% to 10% was not attributed to an increase in testing nor was it attributed to the opening of school. Rather, it was attributed to a sense of “quarantine fatigue”, whereby children are sensing that the opening of school means they can begin engaging in more playdates, more group activities, and neglecting precautionary measures like mask wearing and social distancing.

As noted in an earlier post, the entire push to reopen was orchestrated by the POTUS, who undercut the advice proffered by the medical specialists at the CDC and encouraged Governors to “liberate” their populous by dropping quarantines, mask mandates, and social distancing.

This morning we learned that the POTUS, the FLOTUS, and several White House staff members are infected with the coronavirus. Will this infection combined with the widespread infections among children and the sustained level of infection among adults make the President reconsider his push to reopen schools in an effort to “reopen the economy?” That is one of several imponderables at this point. But if I were a Governor who pushed to reopen my State based on political considerations I might be meeting this morning with my staff to reconsider… and I’d wear a mask at the meeting.