| Is it safe to go back to school yet? As the fall rapidly approaches, few questions have been as hotly debated. It's some tough calculus to crunch. Parents are eager to get kids out of the house so they can get back to work, or at least work more efficiently from home. Studies have suggested kids are suffering from so much time away from the classroom and their peers. And yet, Covid-19 is still surging in much of the country — and in many of those regions teachers have protested being forced back into the classroom. In a live Q&A this week, Bloomberg talked with Derek Cummings, an expert in infectious disease transmission at the University of Florida's Emerging Pathogens Institute, and Emily Oster, an economics professor at Brown University, about the risks and challenges ahead. Cummings refuted the idea that there is enough evidence to show sending kids back to school is safe. "I do not think that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that children are less likely to spread SARS-CoV-2," he said. In fact, last week, an Indiana school opened and then closed down the same day due to a positive Covid-19 test. Cummings said opening too soon could bring more of that.  A school bus undergoes maintenance at the San Diego Unified School District Transportation Department in San Diego, California last month. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg One idea discussed was an "exposure budget." For example, reopening schools might mean having to shut down bars or restaurants. "The bottom line is that we have to make choices," said Oster. "So far, we seem to have prioritized things other than schools. This seems short-sighted to me." Cummings agreed. "We saw that when we lock things down, and implement suites of social distancing and mask use, cases go down. Now, we have to figure out which ones we can relax and not have cases increase again. From a societal perspective, we also have to decide which functions are most important." The bottom line, he said: Unchecked transmission of the virus is bad for everyone. But with reduced transmission and safety precautions in place, it might be possible to open schools up once again. "The best way to support ongoing schooling and a functioning economy is to respond to the pandemic rather than thinking we can go back to school or economic functions as they were before the pandemic," he said. —Kristen V. Brown | 
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