School closures in spring resulted to reductions in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and deaths by up to 60 percent in some areas of the country, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Wednesday.

Researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings Network, and the University of Cincinnati in Ohio wrote in the study that states with lower numbers of confirmed cases during school closures from March to May likely saw the biggest impact of children remaining at home, which made the cases lower by around 72 percent.

They added that states with more COVID-19 cases have reduced their number by 49 percent by closing schools.

"States that closed schools earlier, when cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was low, had the largest relative reduction in incidence and mortality," the researchers were quoted in a report.

However, they said it is also possible that the decrease may have been linked to the concurrent non-pharmaceutical interventions.

The research's findings were discovered at a time when schools across the country were debating over reopening plans for the fall. This includes states of New York City and Los Angeles. New York has decided that schools will offer a combination of online and in-person learning. Los Angeles plans to have online classes alone.

Children are generally thought to have a lower risk for severe illness from COVID-19. However, how they can spread the disease is yet to be discovered.

The chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Dr. Sarah Fortune, said that schools are "like little bars."

This is because many people are confined in tight spaces. Fortune added that states who are deciding to reopen schools can see "equivalent" spread to areas that allowed bars and restaurants to reopen.

Fortune added that they would need to test students all the time to reopen schools in a more normal way.

Parents on Schools Reopening

Nationwide Children's Hospital's survey in Ohio found that over 40 percent are reluctant to send their children back to school. Parents worry that their children will be infected with COVID-19 at school.

Researchers noted that 44percent of parents worry that their children would catch COVID-19 at school and infect family members when they get home. Around 37 percent of parents said they were worried their children would be exposed to germs in school.

However, around 38 percent of responding parents think whether their children would fall behind academically if online learning continues. Thirty-six percent of parents were concerned about the challenges linked to online learning.

Researchers also said 36 percent of parents worry about their child's "emotional well-being" if schools remain closed. Only five percent of parents said they had no concerns about school plans in the fall.

"The results show that while we need to continue to take precautions to stop the spread of COVID-19, it's important to focus on the mental health implications, as well," Parker Huston, one of the researchers who headed the survey, was quoted in an UPI report.

Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said that education officials should ensure there is a balance for learning, social, and mental health needs of children in making decisions for reopening schools.

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