Why did we keep healthy children out of school for so long?

In March 2020, the Swedish Public Health Agency said healthy children should remain in school.

A Twitter follower recently shared a Swedish Public Health Agency Web page with me about children and schools from March 1, 2020:

It’s a fascinating artifact from the only high-income country to not close primary and lower secondary schools in spring 2020.

The Web page provides a window into what the Swedish government’s public health experts were thinking about when they advised the government to keep schools open.

I’m struck by the language — “healthy children” — used on the Web page, which was basically explaining to Swedish parents why the government felt it was safe to keep schools open when other countries were beginning to think about closing them. I’ll share some translated screen shots and then elaborate under each image.