I'd say that's a false dichotomy. Lots of kids won't have access to a safe environment during the day without school. There will be no visibility for those suffering abuse. Physical abuse will be worse with a kid at home with an abusive parent all day, under stress. There will be less access to food for many children. The virus holds the potential of devastating effects on school children and their families if kids go back. We don't have any good way of quantifying the trade-offs. With everything else, we've been running large-scale social experiments to see what works to keep rates at a level the hospitals can manage. I don't see why we shouldn't do the same with schools: let them re-open on a restricted basis, attempt to cater to those most in need, and see what happens.
I 100% support your view IF they get smarter about protecting teachers and staff (masks, at a minimum). I would love to buy my wife a fogger so she could be sure her room was disinfected properly at the end of every day. Of course they are sold out and it's likely someone would complain about that, too.
Our state (NM) has proposed mask wearing, social distancing, isolation by classroom, and alternating schedules to achieve 50% capacity. Yet still they may not open. At the same time, teachers don’t generally get much support financial or otherwise, school is such a messy endeavor already I can understand the hesitation to move forward with any plan.
