Dear Gov Newsom:

Please SHUT down all K-12 schools in California. Flatten the curve of new infections. Reduce death-rates.

There is overwhelming evidence that Social Distancing is the only way to slow down the rate of COVID-19 infections in our community and to match the healthcare capacity that we have as a community to manage all illnesses.  Hubei and Italy which acted slowly have had a death rate of 3.5% to 5% and the other provinces in China which shut down sooner have had a death rate of 0.9%.

Without social distancing, the number of cases of COVID-19 infections double every two days. While school kids are better able to withstand COVID-19, they will be the vectors of transmission to and from their parents and grandparents.

After the shut down, please launch a comprehensive State-wide plan to include things like

• Distance learning program
• Alternate daily meals distribution program
• Assistance to critical health care workers with their kids at home

Please act decisively Today!

Here is a comprehensive paper on why every day matters.  https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

More Details for all readers:

There are 2 factors that affect the exponential growth of any disease.

1. Exposure to an infected person and 2. Probability of infection and serious illness in the individual after an exposure.

By, pure math and studies from how the disease is progressing, 40-70% of all of us may get the infection in about 18 months. The community has only a certain capacity (hospital beds, masks, respirators etc) to deal with mass illness. The longer we can stretch it out - all of us can get medical attention and have the possibility that new vaccines and treatment protocols will be invented.

So we have to flatten the curve and not have a spike. Deaths occur more frequently when patients are unable to get medical attention because the healthcare system is overwhelmed (exactly what's happening in Italy - they are making triage decisions in ICU hallways as to which patient gets the ventilator and which one doesn't). So, how do we not overwhelm the healthcare system.

With #2 (reduce the probability) - we can all help with healthy habits - washing hands, cleaning surfaces, not touching ones own nose and mouth, etc.

For #1 - the only real option is to create social distance or de-densification. If we do that we can flatten the curve and all of us will be healthier for it.

During the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, Philadelphia did not halt gatherings, St. Louis did. Philadelphia lost 3X the number of people per capita compared to St. Louis.

Please SHUT down all K-12 schools in California. Flatten the curve. Reduce the case fatality rate.