ORLANDO, Fla. — The decision to send students back to school still weighs heavy for many parents and guardians.
What You Need To Know
- Dr. Marcia Katz believes it's too risky to send kids back to school
- Katz, with UCF's COVID-19 Task Force, points to South Korea study
- Study found kids ages 10 and up can spread virus as much as adults
- More Coronavirus Coverage
Dr. Marcia Katz of the University of Central Florida's COVID-19 Task Force, thinks students should not return to campus, saying in-person classes are too risky. She points to a study from South Korea that concluded that children ages 10 and older can spread the virus just as much as adults. Younger kids have lower transmission rates, but it's still not zero.
Katz says the state of Florida is misguided in mandating brick-and-mortar schooling across the board. She thinks that at the very least, middle- and high-schoolers should attend class by distance learning only.
"I know that if I had a middle-schooler or a high-schooler, I would not have them attend school until the rate of transmission in the Central Florida region was down. I think it’s high risk," Katz said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has cited studies from Europe showing low transmission rates for kids as support for reopening brick-and-mortar classrooms.
But Katz said those studies had much smaller sample sizes and that this new study can't be refuted.
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