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Do the Benefits of School Closure Outweigh Its Costs?

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Raffetti, Elena 
Di Baldassarre, Giuliano  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8180-4996

Abstract

School closure has been a common response to COVID-19. Yet, its implementation has hardly ever been based on rigorous analysis of its costs and benefits. We aim to first illustrate the unintended consequences and side effects of school closure, and then discuss the policy and research implications. This commentary frames evidence from the most recent papers on the topic from a public-health epidemiology and disaster risk reduction perspective. In particular, we argue that the benefits of school closure in terms of reduced infection rates should be better compared with its costs in terms of both short- and long-term damage on the physical, mental, and social well-being of children and society at large.

Description

Keywords

Precautionary Principle, School Closure, Confirmation Bias, Covid-19 Pandemic, Benefit-risk Tradeoff, Humans, Public Health, Schools, Child, Costs and Cost Analysis, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2

Journal Title

International journal of environmental research and public health

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1661-7827

Volume Title

19

Publisher

Sponsorship
European Research Council (771678)