School closures of 8 weeks or more may better mitigate coronavirus spread, CDC says

Further, short-term closures may actually have detrimental effects, negatively impacting older caregivers at home, the CDC said.

Closing schools also comes with its own setbacks, namely a potentially negative impact on academic outcomes, which the CDC also acknowledged in its updated guidelines. The Department of Education recently issued its own guidance to educators about its flexibility related to student absences and testing standards.

In any school closure, students could still congregate outside of school and spread the disease, the CDC acknowledged.