As students we should not have to choose between our health and our education. COVID-19 has now reached levels of a pandemic. To reduce the rate of infection, preventing not only students but also their family and friends from contracting COVID-19, minimal contact measures should be put in place.

The main uncertainty at this stage is how much and at what rate will this COVID-19 virus spread. Epidemiologists fear that a sudden explosion of illness will overwhelm the health care system and more people will die because there won’t be enough hospital beds or resources to keep them alive.

In many parts of the world you already see action taking place - schools are closing, employees told to work from home, major sporting events canceled, self-quarantine, etc.

All of this is crucial in slowing the rate of spread of the virus, on top of proper hand washing with soap and overall good hygiene.

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"Studies show that school closures are one of the most beneficial 'non-pharmaceutical interventions' (NPI) that can be employed, more effective even than reactive quarantines or banning of public gatherings."

Study examining impact of school closures and other NPI, and their precise timing, in the 1918 influenza pandemic, looking at 43 major USA cities.

"The earlier that schools were closed (ideally even in advance of outbreaks) the lower the number of excess deaths in 43 US cities during the 1918 Influenza pandemic. The longer that school closings and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) were applied in each of 43 US cities during the 1918 influenza pandemic, the lower was the ultimate mortality rate." - Dr. Christakis (Yale Professor and Physician)

"Cities in which multiple interventions were implemented at an early phase of the epidemic had peak death rates ~50% lower than those that did not and had less-steep epidemic curves."

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