An emergency medicine physician projects that if schools open up in the fall, they'll be closed by the end of October due to COVID-19 outbreaks

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• As the fall semester quickly approaches for a number of school districts across the US, lawmakers, school boards members, and parents have been debating whether or not schools should reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• Matt Lambert, an emergency medicine physician and former chief medical information officer for New York City Health and Hospitals, told Business Insider that schools could reopen with strict health safety precautions, but the prevalence of the virus could challenge if they are able to stay open.
• Lambert said it could be difficult identifying and separating potential coronavirus cases and flu cases due to the similarity between symptoms and increased exposure to others.
• "When the flu comes back around October, it's going to create some challenges intermingling with the coronavirus, because patients don't come in saying, 'I have the coronavirus or I have the flu' — they come in saying, 'I have a fever, a cough or shortness of breath,'" he said.
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Reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic has been a point of contention among lawmakers, school boards, and parents and students alike.

Citing the "confluence" of the flu season and increased exposure, one doctor with experience in advising city officials on public health said schools can either taking strict health safety precautions or expect to shut the school down again by the end of October if they reopen.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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See Also:

• Dr. Fauci predicts drugmakers will likely produce 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021
• Andrew Yang's nonprofit is partnering with the $1K Project to bring $1,000 direct monthly payments to struggling US families
• The former head of the FDA warned that the Northeast will likely get hit with another wave of coronavirus cases, saying the virus continues to 'rotate through different parts of the country'

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