I’m curious to know how daycares were deemed essential but schools were not. People with school aged kids had to make due, while everyone with small kids seemed to have lucked out. My neighbors have one parent working remotely and both their kids have gone uninterrupted, another couple are both home and their kid goes. These kids are still getting social development, learning spanish, etc, while kids a little older are left out. They might clean a bit more, but 2yr olds dont wear masks or social distance.
Also, if you are a healthcare worker or first responder (not some “lesser” essential worker like grocery, food, etc) your kid got to continue going to school anyway because of the executive order. It’s not the same, but they were with other kids and had teachers helping them through the distance material. I felt it was unethical to send my kid because we took covid seriously and I was home and we didnt “need” him there, but in hindsight I’d be very tempted to have gotten a letter from my wife’s work and sent him.
You sort of answered your own question but I think the answer to your question is that in a perfect world, we would isolate everyone so no one is at risk. It was determine that a small amount of kids together was likely less risk that full classrooms. Not to mention the criticality that essential workers can go to work.
At the time, there wasn’t a lot of data about how this disease spreads in kids and schools. It’s still not clear but at this point, most of the data suggests that this does not spread the same amongst kids as it does in adults.
If outbreaks occur in certain communities or schools, they can be shut down locally as they already do with the flu. The risk here is much lower than is being portrayed.
https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/
Policy makers must also consider the mounting evidence regarding COVID-19 in children and adolescents, including the role they may play in transmission of the infection. SARS-CoV-2 appears to behave differently in children and adolescents than other common respiratory viruses, such as influenza, on which much of the current guidance regarding school closures is based. Although children and adolescents play a major role in amplifying influenza outbreaks, to date, this does not appear to be the case with SARS-CoV-2. Although many questions remain, the preponderance of evidence indicates that children and adolescents are less likely to be symptomatic and less likely to have severe disease resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, children may be less likely to become infected and to spread infection. Policies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within schools must be balanced with the known harms to children, adolescents, families, and the community by keeping children at home.
