The thing is, schools could be open now if any effort had actually been made to make them Covid-19 safe - either repurposing other spaces and splitting classes, or some kind of rota system. It's clear having schools open with no social distancing drives transmission.
But it didn't/doesn't have to be this way. If the government had enough imagination/ambition to see past their all or nothing approach to schools, then we wouldn't need such long school closures.
And ironically, in the summer, it was actually unions pushing for an ambitious solution to schools and the DfE ignoring them.
At least part of the reason schools shut is that the Naht (national association of headteachers) started legal action against the DfE and the DfE declined to try and prove schools were legally a safe working environment - which I think tells you all you need to know, really. And safe doesn't mean "no imminent risk of death" - a high risk of catching a nasty illness is also unsafe.
It's also worth bearing in mind that a lot of people in hospital are under 65 and in groups that won't be getting the vaccine any time soon.
So, instead of going for an all or nothing approach that clearly doesn't work, we need to be thinking about solutions for schools that will make them actually safe for both teachers and the wider community.
My personal feeling is that the most viable solution for secondary school is some kind of rota system, with students getting at least some time in school each week.
For primary, where people need the childcare more, it's possibly about recruiting extra temporary staff and spreading students out more - probably by using non-school buildings that aren't in use right now.
Neither of these solutions are perfect obviously, but I think they would be more sustainable than the current all or nothing approach.