TPM Reader PH adds some more detail on the school closure issue …
You’re probably already getting a lot of email about NYC schools. I’m a parent of a public school kid, so I’m following pretty closely. I appreciated your note the other day about the schools-open fixed mindset. If you haven’t already, you might want to give a listen to De Blasio on the Brian Lehrer show today. Specifically, around the 7:20 mark they start discussing keeping the schools open, and he exhibits very strongly the kind of cost-focused mindset you flagged. In particular a few minutes in he replies to the question of “what about kids transmitting the virus to adults?” in a way that seemed insincere, or at least coming from an advocacy place rather than a place of consideration.
Thanks for the great coronavirus coverage, hope this helps.
I listened to the passage in question and PH is right. The Mayor is simply reflexively unwilling to engage the substantial evidence that schools are critical vectors of contagion spread. There is lots of evidence that moving quickly to close schools has a big impact on community mortality if it is done early.
I don’t want to focus too much on this because we’re covering this story nationally. I don’t want to place too much focus on New York City. But my own sense is that the Mayor is simply lost on this issue.
