I am pleased to see Mr. Balentine give credence to science (“Follow the science and reopen schools,” July 24).  However, he does not follow the science far enough.

Researchers note in “Addendum to: Children are not COVID-19 super spreaders: time to go back to school” in The Archives of Disease in Childhood: “Schools will not reopen as they were prior to the pandemic, but the community must work collaboratively and across stakeholders and agencies to achieve a ‘new normal,’ which includes risk mitigation balanced against potential harms to our children and young people. As suggested by the WHO, countries’ implementation of comprehensive track and trace systems is fundamental to ensuring that school reopening does not pose a threat to wider community transmission of SARS-CoV-2.”

Balentine does not even mention the need for robust risk mitigation and tracking systems. Yet these systems are crucial to protecting children’s health.

Whether or not children are ready transmitters of the virus, they are still victims of it.  Children under 20 comprise 9% of all cases in Maryland; over 8% of all cases in California, and about 24,000 cases in Florida have occurred among those 17 and younger. While children may not die of this disease at the same rates as the elderly, there is growing evidence that they may be at risk for long-term consequences, including lung and neurological damage from coronavirus infections.

I understand that working parents may be faced with significant burdens if their children do not return to a “normal” school schedule. But I urge decision-makers to carefully consider the risks of exposing an entire generation to unknown, possibly long-term, health risks.

Mel Tremper

Topsham