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A new report says schools and universities should keep classes open unless there is strong enough health advice to outweigh social and economic costs . Picture : Dan Peled / NewsWire .
Schools and universities are high transmission environments .
Open or closed ?
Covid-19 review used ‘ misleading ’ data , says epidemiologist .
By Eleanor Campbell
A new report calling for Australia ’ s schools and universities to remain open during future Covid-19 outbreaks has been critiqued for using “ misleading ” data .
In mid October , a six-month independent review into Australia ’ s Covid-19 response led by Western Sydney University chancellor professor Peter Shergold was released to the public .
The report , funded by three of the country ’ s major philanthropic trusts , said the government “ failed to get the balance right between protecting health and imposing long-term costs on education , mental health , the economy and workforce outcomes .”
“ It was sensible to close schools where there was an outbreak and when little was known about how the virus spread ,” it said .
“ But it was wrong to close entire school systems , particularly once new information indicated that schools were not hightransmission environments .”
The report pointed to Sweden , which made the decision to keep primary schools open during 2020 .
It cited a controversial study which found that despite schools remaining open , incidence of severe disease and deaths among Swedish children and teachers remained low .
The paper has been critiqued for only covering a four month period and has faced allegations that its authors omitted key data to support its findings .
Zoë Hyde , an epidemiologist and biostatistician from the University of Western Australia , said looking to the “ Swedish strategy ” could lead to serious consequences .
“ Children have been left with disabling long Covid as a result of the Swedish strategy , and it ’ s not something we ’ d ever want to emulate in Australia ,” Hyde told Campus Review .
“ What we actually know is that by the end of 2020 , Sweden had about 10 times the number of cases of the serious multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children than neighbouring Norway and Finland combined .
Hyde said the evidence was “ very clear ” that schools have been an important driver of the pandemic , both here and overseas .
“ Schools and universities are high transmission environments , if mitigation measures like better ventilation and air purifiers aren ’ t in place ,” she said .
“ Our focus now should be on making schools resistant to the spread of airborne respiratory diseases by investing in ventilation and air cleaning technology . This should prevent the need to close them in future pandemics .” ■
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