Look what has happened in the last few weeks, the U.S. has more cases than any other country. Of 17 million worldwide cases the U.S. has 4.3 million cases; this is 25% of worldwide cases. The U.S. is only 4.5% of the world population. Opening schools at this time is only going to spike the COVID-19 crisis further. The United States has a school population of about 54 million (5-17 years old). Bringing this many children together throughout the U.S. will increase the incidence of COVID-19 greatly. Masks, social distancing, and sanitizing will work if applied properly, but how does a teacher keep school children from comingling at all times?

Furthermore, any infected child will be returning home and infecting the entire family. This pandemic will not be over until an effective vaccine has been made and the populace has been vaccinated.

Terry Birt

Groton