Over the past 10 months, debates have raged over how to keep the coronavirus in check.

What to open, what to close, where the virus spreads, when are we relatively safe?

Through it all, one kind of space has been the subject of very vigorous debate.

And yet, starting a few months into the virus, it yielded a kind of unexpected conventional wisdom.

The latest science suggests schools are not super spreaders.

We've discovered over the spring that children needed to go to school.

They are not the super spreaders that we thought at first that they were.

In the midst of the darkness, some welcome light.

Kids are safe from themselves and others.

They can go to school.

When other institutions closed,

countries around the world,

especially in Europe, kept their schools open.

And yet, here we are, several months later.

Frickter lockdown measures have come into force across Germany.

The measures will further limit social contact and keep schools and non-essential shops closed.

Schools and colleges in England are to be closed to most pupils until at least half term.

It turns out, if you believe the epidemiologists, schools do, in fact, bring the risk of infection.

How could we ever have thought otherwise?

Rachel Cohen has been covering the debate around school closings and openings, most recently in The Intercept.

Rachel, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

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