Covid-era school closures caused the U.S. significant economic and educational loss while being less effective than other transmission interventions, according to new research.
The University of Washington and Oxford University study found that closing schools created $2 trillion in future economic losses — a conservative estimate — while reducing Covid spread by just 8%.
Mask mandates, on the other hand, lessened transmission by nearly 20% and cost relatively little, researchers concluded.
“Hindsight is 20/20, right?” said Adrian Raftery, a professor emeritus of statistics and sociology at UW and a co-author of the study. “This study’s an opportunity to look back and see what worked, what didn’t work, and what we could’ve done better.”
The research examined 11 different non-pharmaceutical interventions — including mask mandates, public testing, contact tracing, social distancing, and workplace closures. Those interventions combined saved almost 900,000 lives and reduced the death rate by about 70%, Raftery said.
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Waiting for an analysis of the long term costs of taxpayer supported Dane County Madison Public Health “mandates”