School closures can lead to drastically negative outcomes for children.
Data from 191 countries collected from February to September 2020 show no
consistent association between school reopening status and COVID-19 infection rates. An assessment of the role of schools in COVID-19 transmission was conducted by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in 31 countries in July 2020. It concluded that childto-child transmission in schools was uncommon and not the primary cause of COVID-19 in children who were infected during the time they attended school.22 However, it is important to note that higher education institutions have played a role in community transmission in many countries.
Children are more likely to get the virus outside of school settings. There is a
much higher risk of children being infected with COVID-19 if there is an outbreak in the
community. A study by the British Government found that infection rates among students and teachers did not increase following school reopenings in the summer and that localized outbreaks correlated with regional outbreaks, not with school opening.
