#1: You don't take risks with children.

#2: Children (although likely not seriously affected by the virus), still can be hosts and transmit the disease within families (grand-/ parents), or between families in our community.

#3: You don't take risks with children.

Thank you for a thorough article with great information!

Other closures: the entire archdiocese of SF, including schools in San Mateo county are also closed. Right now they are closing schools and all related events until 3/25. This includes Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton (they will stay closed through their spring break), Nativity, and others I don’t know off the top of my head. For a complete list of 90 plus schools, look here: schools.sfarch.org
Feels strange to have one child in this group and another in the MPUSD that is remaining open. WHO has declared a pandemic. Seems to me everyone should stay home as much as possible. Close all of the schools!

There are parents and children with covid-19 but they are not being tested due to the lack of tests. Why are we waiting for positive tests results from non-available tests to close schools when we know covid-19 is already spreading in the community, just not being tested? The SM health department needs to go rogue and start testing whether approved by CDC or not. Or they need to find the guts to close the schools without test results from tests that don't exist. Our ability to make good decisions for our community is being completely undermined by sheer incompetence of the CDC/federal govt. I expect my local health department to counter this by taking decisive action, not whining about what a hard decision it it.

Parents, feel free to reach out to me with your thoughts on schools staying open despite some concerns that sick people with the virus aren't being tested because of lacking testing capabilities and there could be undetected cases connected to the schools. -Angela Swartz, aswartz@embarcaderomedia.com

Here's a question. My junior takes the English portion of the CAASPP test on Monday and Tuesday. Is this factoring in the decision to keep public high schools open? Many local private schools and community colleges have already closed.

Saving lives is more important than education or even (gasp) getting into college. Close the schools now.

50% of Americans have chronic diseases that place them at high risk of the more severe coronavirus complications.

The majority of school children have family members with chronic diseases, and they are not all over 60 years old.

Schools should transition to on-line learning, with perhaps a mix of some kids still attending in person if they need to for various reasons. If the class-room population drops to very small numbers, then the risk is radically reduced. I can only imagine how difficult this will be for educators, but it might be necessary, because all kids need an education, and sometimes food/services that are not feasible online.