Many of the remaining interventions were clearly ineffective and fairly widely ignored, and the likely more effective interventions like people staying out of work are unwinding much more gradually. More importantly, the decrease in kids in school is likely to have a more significant impact the other way.
There have been many posts in recent days pointing to schools as being a driver of infections, but I’ve yet to see any conclusive proof.
Having seen the arrangements schools in my city were making, I made the following posts back in August 2020:
The measures introduced by schools will do little to stop any spread of the virus (if it is present in the community)
For the avoidance of doubt, I fully support the reopening of schools in the U.K. though I do think the way this is being done will lead to an increase in transmission of the virus. Time will tell...
They brought forth several pages of vitriol on the ‘Return to Education’ thread.
When I revisited various of those posts in December 2020, the following was one of the few polite replies:
That's the general pattern based on what I have experienced and people I know have experienced; students and teachers who do test positive tend to have likely got it outside a school setting.
An analysis of places visited was posted on here but it does not analyse where the infection is likely to have occurred.
Again, for the avoidance of doubt, I think schools should have remained open throughout the pandemic.
I’m genuinely curious though in the shift of attitude that posts claiming schools may have been a driver of infections now largely go unchallenged.
I know that
@yorkie has provided some very helpful information previously on educational settings and wonder if I’ve missed something?