Things I have been reading this week

 As always, most of this has probably made its way out to the universe through my other social media postings, but I like having things where I can find them again. 

• Just out this week in Der Spiegel is a piece on a long term study going on in Austria, which is regularly testing children. They've found: 
  

  But Wagner's study doesn't just demonstrate that the number of unreported cases among children and their teachers is relatively high. The mass tests also show that younger children are by no means exempt from infection by SARS-CoV-2. Indeed, there was no significant difference to infection rates among adults. Furthermore, schools in poorer areas were found to have 3.5 times as many positive results as elsewhere, which is consistent with generally higher infection rates in lower income neighborhoods. 

  Further: 
  

  All of these findings have cast doubt on the idea that children are less affected than teenagers. And they have shown that almost half of infected children show no symptoms. Meanwhile, an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States found that asymptomatic cases are potentially responsible for more than half of all infections.

• This is actually from the beginning of last month, but every time I hear Governor Baker or someone else reference "longitudinal studies," I am reminded that this is so far the largest one I have seen that includes schools, and its conclusion was this: 
  

  Children’s return to classrooms was followed by an average 24-per-cent rise in the R transmission number, University of Edinburgh researchers found after analysing data from 131 countries.

   The only measure that was associated with a higher increase was lifting the ban on small gatherings.

• This thread from Dr. Zoe Hyde, an epidemiologist in Australia, further illustrates how (to use her word) "wonky" trying to suss out children and coronavirus is. Kids don't necessarily consistently test positive even when they have it. 

• This report on a recent study from Korea regarding cases from a restaurant has us all looking at our measurements and air flow again.

• Given that Imperial College study from about two weeks ago that I referenced here, I've been keeping an eye on the U.K. and here's the latest of what their teachers think of the plans.

• I've been neglecting the ways in which school buildings being opened and closed around the country is going and being received, but of note from this week was Governor Raimondo of Rhode Island--the state with highest per capita rate of coronavirus in the country--pretty extensively going after superintendents who are (or have been) going remote, which was not well received, which she later apologized to some for. Also, this whole mess in Arizona (there's some reporting from elsewhere there, too), leading to a superintendent resigning after his family was threatened by those who wanted schools open.