Will closing schools contain COVID-19?

Depends on what we do with our kids

Many schools around the USA have closed, potentially for weeks, to help stem the spread of coronavirus. If you — like us — have children at home, you are likely grappling with how to handle their being out of school.

This is no ordinary snow day, and the measures we take now can have important implications for protecting our families and our communities.

First, let’s consider the public health rationale for closing schools. It’s not mainly to protect kids, at least not directly. Evidence suggests that while healthy children do become infected with COVID-19, perhaps at a similar rate to adults, they do not experience as severe symptoms. (We do not know enough about what happens when children with underlying health problems are infected.)

Instead, closings are part of broader strategy to reduce the epidemic, or at least to spread cases over a longer period of time through social distancing. It is unclear how widely children, even with mild cases or without any symptoms at all, pass on the virus to other kids or adults. Early evidence suggests that children shed virus and can transmit illness even if asymptomatic.

Closing schools can create social distance among children, teachers and parents and thus reduce infection rates. This in turn can reduce the likelihood that parents get sick (adults are more likely to get sick if infected than are kids). This spreads beyond our individual families to reduce the number of severe cases and the burden on health care personnel and the health care system, which can have important benefits for patients infected with COVID-19 as well as adults and children who need medical care for other reasons.

However, school closings are unlikely to be as successful if we continue with play dates, playgrounds and parties as usual. We need to consider what steps we can take to reduce the spread of the virus now that kids are out of school.

From a virus control strategy, it would be ideal to stay in our homes all day. However, kids (and parents) can quickly go stir crazy.

A trip to the playground sounds fun, and viruses tend to spread less effectively outdoors. However, emerging evidence suggests that in a laboratory, COVID-19 can stay on different surfaces for hours to days.

In addition, playgrounds can be places where lots of children (and adults) congregate, making it hard to keep social distance. More generally, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises, “Discourage children and teens from gathering in other public places while school is dismissed to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community.”

If it’s possible, consider a walk outside or adventure in nature as alternatives. Avoiding all social contact with other families is difficult if not impossible for many of us, especially when trying to balance work and child care.

For times when children are exposed to others, there are factors to consider:

❚ It may be beneficial to have a “closed network strategy.” This means families within a trusted circle interact with one another, but work to create social distance from others outside their closed network and limit any potential disease spread with those “outside” the group. These circles should stay small in terms of the number of families and total people in the group.

❚ When children are playing, it is hard to enforce social distance between them (remaining 6 feet apart will be hard for many kids). But parents and caregivers can still maintain social distance in this setting, and caregivers and children alike can practice good hygiene, for example, with frequent hand washing. Drop the kids off at the front door (or to play in the backyard) and don’t go inside to chat.

❚ Consider who is supervising the small group of children, trying to limit the exposure of older adults who are at increased risk if they do contract the coronavirus.

❚ A final note is that as soon as a family member exhibits any symptoms, the entire family should isolate themselves from all interactions and follow medical advice in that situation, which may include restricting all interactions with others for 14 days. If you are choosing a closed network strategy, notify the other families in your network right away.

This is a challenging time, and we recognize that these ideas may be difficult for many of us to implement. And there is much still unknown about the virus at this point.

Even so, it is important that each of us do what we can to slow the spread of the epidemic. Look online or call friends to brainstorm activities to do at home. And remember that increasing physical distance does not require also increasing psychological distance; reach out to friends and neighbors by phone, text or email. Check in on each other, and we’ll all get through this together, in a way that protects you, your family and your community.

Elizabeth Stuart is associate dean for education and a professor of mental health at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Keri Althoff and Justin Lessler are associate professors of epidemiology. Craig Pollack is associate professor of health policy and management at the Bloomberg School and associate professor of medicine at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. WANT TO COMMENT? Have Your Say at letters@usatoday.com, @usatodayopinion on Twitter and facebook.com/usatodayopinion. Comments are edited for length and clarity. Content submitted to USA TODAY may appear in print, digital or other forms. For letters, include name, address and phone number. Letters may be mailed to 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA, 22108.