Dr. Janette Nesheiwat: COVID and our kids – under no circumstances should we close schools this year

Getting our children back to school should be our nation’s top priority this fall.

During the pandemic, we prioritized the interests and needs of adults over those of children. The virus was devastating for adults and seemed less likely to affect children. But new data show that children are just as able to become ill with COVID-19 and pass it to others. The risk of severe disease in kids is low but possible.  Closing schools for most of the year protected our children from becoming ill. But it did so at a tremendous cost.