Closing schools in Norway did not bring about a better result than strict infection measures, according to researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. In addition, school closings were shown to have a negative effect on students’ writing skills and children — particularly marginal groups — suffered more when their schools closed due to reduced contact with school counselors or school health services.
Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health used a registry system to monitor possible outbreaks of COVID-19 in the schools. At the green level, students and staff had to avoid all physical contact; at the yellow level, one class of pupils could not come in contact or interact with another class; at the red level, one class was divided into smaller cohorts of students and those students were not to mix with other cohort students.
Researchers concluded that moving schools to the red level is a better option than closing schools and offering digital learning. Norway has been in its third wave of infections since February 2021, dominated by the British mutation of the virus.
SOURCE: Sciencenorway.no April 27, 2021