{"id":993244,"date":"2021-11-10T08:14:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T13:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=993244"},"modified":"2021-11-10T08:14:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T13:14:07","slug":"study-japan-school-closures-in-spring-2020-did-not-stop-virus-spread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/study-japan-school-closures-in-spring-2020-did-not-stop-virus-spread\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: Japan School Closures in Spring 2020 Did Not Stop Virus Spread"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstudy-japan-school-closures-in-spring-2020-did-not-stop-virus-spread%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=993244&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/japan-school-closure-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">School closures across Japan in spring 2020 did not prevent the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, according to a new study published by the medical journal <em>Nature Medicine<\/em>, the U.K.\u2019s <em>Daily Mail<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-10178633\/School-closures-DONT-work-New-study-finds-Japans-classroom-shutdowns-didnt-stop-spread-Covid.html\">reported<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmpirically, we find no evidence that school closures in Japan caused a significant reduction in the number of coronavirus cases,\u201d the study\u2019s authors wrote.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThese null results concerning the supposed benefits of closing schools suggest that policymakers should be cautious when considering similar policies in the future, especially given the substantial costs such policies can have for the well-being of both children and parents,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41591-021-01571-8.pdf?utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_source=commission_junction&amp;utm_campaign=3_nsn6445_deeplink_PID100032693&amp;utm_content=deeplink\">study<\/a> warned.<\/p>\n<p>A team of researchers from Gakushuin University in Tokyo, Shizuoka University in Shizuoka, and Harvard University in Massachusetts studied the effects of school shutdowns across 847 municipalities in Japan starting on March 2, 2020. The study included data from 27 of Japan\u2019s 47 total prefectures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo estimate the causal effects strictly in Japan in spring 2020, we compared the number of cases between municipalities with open schools and municipalities with closed schools,\u201d the study\u2019s authors wrote.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The researchers said they selected both municipalities with shuttered schools and those with open schools \u201cso that they are similar in terms of dozens of features (for example, past number of cases; social, economic and political factors; and NPIs [national public initiatives] other than school closures such as stay-at-home warnings and business closures).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study examined the number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents in both types of municipalities from March 4 to June 1, 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[W]e did not find any evidence that school closures significantly decreased the spread of COVID-19,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur results suggest that the effect of school closures on COVID-19 cases in Japan in early 2020 is not significantly different from zero,\u201d the researchers stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur null results suggest that policies on school closures should be reexamined given the potential negative consequences for children and parents,\u201d the study added.<\/p>\n<p>Japan\u2019s government has ruled out shutting down the country\u2019s public schools to curb the spread of coronavirus moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government will not seek such blanket school closures,\u201d Japanese Education Minister Hagiuda Koichi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2021\/08\/21\/national\/japan-blanket-school-close\/\">told<\/a> reporters at a news conference on August 20, noting that he referred to elementary, middle, and high schools.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will protect children\u2019s opportunities for learning as much as possible,\u201d the education minister added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>School closures across Japan in spring 2020 did not prevent the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, according to a new study published by the medical journal Nature Medicine, the U.K.\u2019s &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-993244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=993244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=993244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=993244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=993244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}