[Dalrymple]

Katherine is correct, shutting down public schools was sheer foolishness for COVID.

This extreme safetyism is a recent development. No US schools were shutdown during the height of the Hong Kong flu in 1968-69. Not only that, but the University of Illinois at the time housed 1000 freshmen men on cots in a single large room (the Armory) at the time in the fall of each year. Those people were moved into a normal dorm in the Spring semester when space became available due to flunk-outs.

Admittedly, COVID-19 was probably worse (1 million dead in US vs 100,000 for Hong Kong flu) but the actual numbers are probably much closer, given recent trends to over count for financial reward reasons.