Schools and coronavirus transmission

Schools and coronavirus transmission

 

The questions about how to open our schools safely remains a highly contentious topic. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidance about measures schools should take to safely reopen, including using masks and social distancing. In fact, the CDC published a study recently that found the number of cases of Covid-19 in schools was significantly lower if schools consistently maintained basic pubic health measures such as masking and physical distancing. The CDC looked at data from 17 schools in Wisconsin, where a total of 191 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed among staff and students, but only seven cases were traced back to students that were infected at school.   And a new study from the CDC this week shows us just what happens when people don’t distance and use masks strictly. In this study, the CDC traced the positive cases of 13 educators and 32 students from 6 elementary schools in Georgia between December and January. Those 45 cases made up 9 clusters, and in 8 of those clusters it was likely that transmission occurred from teacher to student. The researchers note that even though there were plastic partitions put up between desks, there were such a high number of children in the class that the the desks were situated less than 3 feet apart. They also noted that inadequate mask use by kids likely contributed to spread in five of the clusters, and that students ate lunch in their classrooms, another possible point of transmission.    The authors of the study also noted that vaccinating teachers could also play an important role in making schools safer.  "Although not a requirement for reopening schools, adding COVID-19 vaccination for educators as an additional mitigation measure, when available, might serve several important functions, including protecting educators at risk of severe COVID-19-associated illness, potentially reducing in-school (coronavirus) transmission, and minimizing interruptions to in-person learning."