The closure of schools, as a measure to limit infections from SarsCov2, must be used as a last resort and for a limited time, since the negative impact on physical, mental and educational health, as well as economic, outweighs the benefits.
This is stated by the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC), in a report published on its website, which however does not consider the impact of the English variant, on which no data is yet available.
The return to classrooms in mid-August in several countries coincided with a general relaxation of other restrictive measures in many countries, and therefore does not appear to have been a driving force in the second wave of cases observed in many European states in October.
But there are those in Italy who have some doubts: "I hear that there is talk of the reopening of the school year on January 7, these are things that drive me crazy. How do you say 'it opens' without checking the 3, the 4 January the situation? In Campania we do not open all the 7 ", said the president of the Campania Region Vincenzo De Luca.
"The data must be evaluated - he added - and the idea of sending 50% of students to school is an idea that Campania does not share, we evaluate the return step by step, but certainly we do not send 50% as a block. at school".