The COVID numbers from the CDC do not support keeping the schools closed. The 0-24 age group has a 99.9 percent survival rate. The 25-64 age group has a 99.91 percent survival rate. The death rate by COVID is wildly overblown by the media.
However, students are harming themselves at a staggering rate. The rate of death by suicide in people from 10 to 24 years old increased by 57.4 percent in the U.S. over the 10-year period from 2007 to 2018, according to data released by the CDC on Nov. 27. Those numbers are before COVID.
Students are also falling further behind in their studies. One study suggests students began fall 2020 with roughly 70 percent of the learning gains in reading from the prior year relative to a typical school year. In mathematics, students are returning with less than 50 percent of the gains. In lower grades, students may be nearly a full year behind in math compared to what we would observe in normal conditions Mental health and education should be our priority, not the fear of a virus that has a 99.9 percent survival rate for most people.
