Is it safe to send your kids to school?

Ten months into the pandemic, the prospect of reopening K-12 schools is divisive. Yet unlike wearing a mask to stop the spread of the virus — a politicized act which is scientifically proven to work — there is far more nuance between the "right" and "wrong" option for in-person schooling. And it can be wildly variable depending on the region.

Recently, Chicago has found itself facing this very question of reopening schools. Mayor Lori Lightfoot hoped to reopen public schools today for the first time since March, though her plans faced fierce opposition from the teachers' union. Emily Oster, an economics professor at Brown University, told the New York Times that the Chicago school reopening was "probably the most contentious and unpleasant reopening, in terms of how the different sides are interacting with each other."