"On Wednesday, Sick Kids released its recommendations for children returning to school in September; by Thursday it had attracted criticism, suggestion, derision, and some praise.
“This is entirely pediatricians writing about a school decision, and what the do ent screams out is there’s no expertise in this do ent related to the health of people who aren’t children,” says Dr. David Fisman, epidemiologist at the University of Toronto. “There’s this fetishization of creating a sense of normality for children … which is completely mismatched to this moment.”
"It’s a skeletal examination of it. And not terribly well thought out,” says Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious disease specialist and ICU doctor at Toronto Western Hospital. “Erring too much on the side of freedom and complacency is dangerous, knowing that the influenza season is predictable, and it’s going to happen, and we know the risk that poses.
“I think people are going to be willing to accept some amount of inconvenience if it means other people won’t be at risk.”
At its heart, this is about balancing risk. Children suffer the disease at a much lower level; research indicates that below the age of nine or 10 they are less likely to contract it, though Fisman has data showing that children under 10 had the highest test positivity rate in Ontario over the last month.
And there are still grey areas as to how much children transmit the disease; that is the key. ..........."
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star...ot-enough.html