Whataboutery alert. Either we care about the increased child abuse and we care about kids not retaining knowledge, or we don't.
Masks are required when one cannot maintain a 6-foot social distance. Students can wear masks, no?Well... depends on a lot of factors. A lot of schools have class sizes that are not conducive to social distancing. That means there would not be enough teachers or classrooms. Younger kids are probably going to be impulsive and often ignore social distancing which requires more oversight by adults (which means more staff). Same with hand-washing.
Most of those are just now implementing safety guidelines in order to reopen. Plus, universities are now starting to designate separate buildings for housing students that test positive.Schools and college campuses are notoriously horrible for contagion. They're probably worse than long-term care facilities but younger people are less likely to die of complications from things like this. But then they leave school or campus and take their germs with them.
The downside from not reopening schools will only hurt students--especially the young children who are least likely to be harmed by the virus.