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Scientific research: closure of childcare and schools yields little

Closing schools and childcare has little effect on the spread of the corona virus. That says a team of British scientists. Their research has been published in the renowned medical journal The Lancet.

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As in the Netherlands, childcare and schools are closed in the United Kingdom. Research from University College London now indicates that this is likely to yield very little in curbing the spread of the coronavirus. This is related to the fact that younger children have few symptoms when infected.

The scientists listed a total of 16 previously published studies. According to them, this shows that pupils’ households make little difference in the number of infections and deaths. This is different with ordinary flu, because it is there that closing childcare and schools works.

Comparison with Sars

Investigation of the Sars outbreak in 2003 points in that direction. In China, Hong Kong and Singapore, the closure of childcare and ex post schools did not appear to have contributed to the fight against this virus, which is akin to the current corona virus.

In addition, recent model studies of the coronavirus predict that school closures can only prevent 2 to 4 percent of infections. This effect is much smaller than with other lockdown and social distancing measures.

Social costs

On the other hand, the social and social costs of closing childcare and schools are high. One of the study authors, Prof. Russell Viner, said to the BBC: “We don’t have much data on the effect of school closings on the coronavirus outbreak, but what we know shows that the impact is likely to be small . “

On the other hand, the costs of closing schools are high. Pupils are lagging behind, parents are less able to work and children in an unsafe home situation miss the way out of school. According to Viner, schools in the UK should therefore reopen as soon as possible.

Denmark

Unlike in England and the Netherlands, a decision has already been taken in Denmark. The childcare and part of the schools will reopen here after Easter. This is because, according to the Danish Prime Minister, the corona virus is sufficiently under control.

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