IU epidemiologist and professor Ana Bento will help the World Health Organization determine strategies for reopening schools. Bento has been named a member of the organization’s Technical Advisory Group of Experts on Educational Institutions and COVID-19.
Bento is one of 16 experts appointed to the panel, and one of two from the United States, according to a news release yesterday from the School of Public Health. The group will “provide strategic and technical advice to WHO, UNESCO and UNICEF on matters relating to the role of educational institutions in COVID-19 transmission and containment.”
“We're basically developing a roadmap for developing advice for new studies precisely to try to understand the role of children in transmission,” Bento said. “And also try to give the member countries advice on how to reopen safely. So developing metrics and thresholds for when to open, when to close, if necessary.”
Bento has participated in two meetings so far, with more to come.
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