Anthony Furey: A Reminder of the Folly of Pandemic School Closures

Commentary A remarkable new survey out of an Ontario university has concluded that closing schools was likely not necessary to deal you the COVID-19 virus. The survey isn’t remarkable though for what it says. It’s remarkable both because we knew back then what they’ve concluded, yet we went ahead with school closures anyway. It’s also remarkable that we’re finally able to talk about this sanely, whereas such a study would have led to attacks on the researchers had it been released in the middle of the pandemic response. Academics at McMaster University conducted what they described as an “extensive” two-year review of all the data related to COVID-19 in schools and daycares and found that those facilities weren’t a meaningful source of transmission of the virus....