Lexington County schools’ extensive covid-19 precautions appear well justified.

New research suggests children are able to contract and spread the virus like the rest of us.

Yet in the US, with a population of more than 330 million, only 45 children under age 15 have died.

Tragic as those 45 deaths are, they compare with nearly 25,000 deaths of people 45 to 64, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data also show far lower rates of hospitalization among children.

Recent studies found infections among children of all ages from schools to camps to homes.

Other research suggested that older children can be responsible for transmission.

Most studies are limited and more research is needed, experts told The Wall Street Journal.

Outbreaks at schools overseas and a Georgia summer camp suggest children aren’t as immune as first thought.

Schools here and elsewhere in the US can safely reopen, researchers say, but new findings suggest proceeding carefully.

The SC Education Department has already approved the 5 Lexington County districts’ safety plans for schools, buses and cafeterias. These include a mix of classroom and remote teaching, widespread masking, sanitizing stations, frequent cleaning, social distancing and good ventilation.

Schools overseas have reopened with little incident after taking stringent precautions.

About 97,000 new US cases among children were reported in the last 2 weeks of July.

More than 7 in 10 new cases were among children in the South and West.

Since March, nearly 340,000 children have tested positive or 8.8% of all reported cases.

Covid-19 cases in children appear to become serious less often than in adults.