Terceira Berdahl

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Julia T. McQuillan, Corresponding Author Jmcquillan2@unl.edu University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Sociology, 706 Oldfather Hall, PO Box 880324, Lincoln, NE, 68508-0324 USA Corresponding Author Email: Jmcquillan2@unl.edu Search for more papers by this author Jennifer A. Andersen, orcid.org/0000-0001-6809-892X University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest, College of Medicine, Office of Community Health and Research, 1125 N.

Across the United States, school districts are grappling with questions of whether and how to reopen elementary and secondary schools in the 2020–21 academic year.1 Keeping schools closed and relying on distance learning will have serious learning, social, nutritional, and health consequences for children, especially those in low-income families.2 There would also be impacts on parental employment and the overall economy.

In many areas of the US, non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic Whites to die from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).1–5 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that age-adjusted COVID-19 hospitalization rates for Blacks and Hispanics as of May 30, 2020, were 4.5 and 3.5 times those of Whites, respectively.6 The magnitude of these disparities has focused renewed attention on the consequences of long-standing structural inequality...