Schools eventually must reopen, and state and local officials in the U.S. can learn from other countries that are sending students back to class in the coming days and weeks.
Doctors are growing more confident that coronavirus hits children less hard than adults, and there's even some evidence they may be less likely to catch the virus in the first place -- which would make them unlikely to spread the pandemic, reported the Wall Street Journal.
A review of 67 students around the world found that individuals younger than 18 were far less likely to suffer the worst effects from COVID-19 infections, and most were asymptomatic, and those findings -- and the experience in other countries already emerging from their lockdowns -- could help guide a return to school.
Widespread testing has given Iceland one of the richest troves of data about children and coronavirus, and most elementary schools in that island nation have remained open throughout the pandemic.
School days and class size are limited, and older students are starting to return to schools and universities with similar restrictions.
About half of Denmark's elementary schools reopened last week, and more are set to follow, and students and staff will be expected to wash their hands regularly and classrooms will be regularly disinfected.
Older children, who appear to be more susceptible to the virus and its severe symptoms, will stay home for now.
Public health experts aren't ready to conclude that younger children face less risk from the virus, but they also understand that prolonged social distancing poses health and other developmental risks to children.
It's not clear that lower infection rates are the result of limited testing on children, who tend to display only mild symptoms, but doctors aren't sure why, because other respiratory illnesses disproportionately attacks the very young and very old.
Researchers suspect it may be because children get more colds, fevers and stuffy noses often associated with other types of coronaviruses, but another theory involves a receptor for the ACE-2 protein identified as the virus' entryway into human cells.
Children also suffer from fewer of the underlying health risks, such as lung damage, obesity and heart disease.
