July 10th Marks 119th Day Since Educational Institutions Have Been Shutdown In Pakistan!

Over the 7 months since COVID-19 was discovered and has spread across the world, a large amount of data has been collected on the morbidity, mortality and infection profile of the virus. As countries around the world reopen schools, it is instructive to examine the health implications of doing so together with best practices being adopted to ensure the safe unlocking of education. 1. The evidence is clear: the mortality rate in young people, especially those under the age of 23, is statistically insignificant. A new study by Cambridge University statisticians shows that the chance of anyone under the age of 15 dying from COVID-19 is 1 in 3.5 million. To put this number in perspective, the probability of being struck by lightning is 1 in 700,000! Children also tend to get less sick from the virus than adults1. A recent Health Advisory by UNICEF makes clear that children who do get infected generally show mild symptoms and recover well. In addition to low mortality and morbidity, children are also weak vectors i.e. their capability of passing on the disease to others is much lower than adults2. One reason for the absence of infections could be that children have fewer of the receptors the virus uses to enter the body, according to Prof. Herman Goosens, the Coordinator of a EU Task Force on COVID-19. According to Goosens, children account for less than 1 percent of infections. Recent evidence from Germany, Denmark, Finland and France, where schools have reopened, is instructive. No statistical correlation has been found between the reopening of schools and the RO or infection rate in these countries. Nor did significant infection clusters emerge where schools have reopened or in schools themselves3.