Fact: hundreds of kids die each year nationwide from the flu while none - or close to none - die of corona.

Kids’ risk is mainly as carriers, meaning they can infect grandma or teachers.  But they do that each year with the flu - which kills tens of thousands of adults - and we don’t close schools or test asymptomatic kids.  Plus treatments are already improving and we can wear masks.

Spoiler alert: life has inherent risks and we all die.  Some kids and teachers even die driving to and from school.  Life is for living, not hiding.

Avoiding all deaths has never been the paradigm, nor should it be.  If it was, we'd never reopen schools or hike, swim, have sex, even dance, let alone drive a car.  The fact life comes with risk is often what makes it worthwhile.

Instead of avoiding all death, the goal should be to maximize "utility."  It's an Economics 101 concept taught the first day of class.  In short, it means we account for all factors when making decisions, not just death.  It's why people sky dive and why we drive even though someone else might kill us.

Also, it's funny, if not telling and sad, that it's the elites making these decisions, whose kids and grandkids, like mine, won't suffer much by closure.  Instead, the ones who suffer the most are the "deplorables" and their kids, whose socialization and education are held back most and harder to make up.  But the elites tell us it is best for them and they are just too ignorant to understand.

Bottom line: if schools aren’t open because of corona, then we should never reopen them, even after there is a vaccine, since kids get the flu and bring that home to grandma too.  I fear this is becoming more politically driven than data driven.

All said, at this juncture, we may be doing more harm to our kids and society by “protecting” them and closing schools.

Graphic credit: Pixabay