Commentary
Many of the bizarre features of the pandemic response can be explained by industrial self-interest, graft, power lust, confusion, and so on. One feature does not have such an obvious explanation: the closure of public schools in some places for as long as two years.
The extremely low-to-minimal risk to the kids was known from very early on. They could have stayed in school the entire time as they did in Sweden. Scared older teachers—realistically at very low risk—might have found substitutes. There were surely other workarounds besides utterly smashing education.
What civilized society does this? None.
It appears that school closures were just part of the mix of the panicked response. “Indoor and outdoor venues where groups of people congregate should be closed” said Trump’s sweeping and astonishing edict of March 16, 2020, and that included schools. Period….