- Only 5 school-associated COVID-19 cases were detected among students and teachers who were exposed and tested in 20 schools in the district.
- The rare infections associated with school are attributed to the poor use of mask or near lunch.
- Schools can reopen safely, even if seats are 3 feet apart when looking at other measures such as masks, the CDC says.
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The spread of COVID-19 was high in Salt Lake County, Utah this past December and January, but in one school district it has remained very low thanks to mitigation measures such as wearing a mask, a March 19 report from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention found.
Specifically, only 0.7% of the teachers and students who were in close contact with an infected peer or colleague contracted COVID-19 from them. None of the 20 schools analyzed experienced a coronavirus outbreak.
According to the authors, the report shows that mitigating measures such as wearing masks and restricting extracurricular activities can make school reopening safe. Children cannot always sit a full foot apart, just as in the schools studied.
Consistent with this report and other studies, the CDC on Friday changed its physical distance guideline for K-12 schools, saying that in most circumstances, 3 feet of space between students is enough.
The cases related to the school were detected on the incorrect wearing of mask or the seat during lunch
To conduct the study, between December 3, 2020 and January 31, 2021, CDC researchers looked at 20 K-6 schools in one Salt Lake County school district.
They identified 1,041 students and teachers who were susceptible to COVID-19 who, while in school, were in close contact with 51 of their COVID-positive peers and colleagues. ‘Close contact’ means that they have been with the infected person in a classroom, cafeteria, school bus or in the recess for 15 minutes or longer.
After testing 735 of the 1,041 contacts, the authors of the study found that only 12 contracted the disease, and only five contracted it in school. In those cases related to the school, the transmission seemed to take place because the infected person was not wearing their mask properly or sitting near someone during lunch.
Wearing masks and staggering interruptions can prevent transmission, even if some students and teachers are COVID-positive
The study authors acknowledge the mitigation strategies of the school to prevent higher distribution rates and outbreaks in schools.
For example, students were placed in groups where possible, and most schools decorated lunch, gym, and other activities such as library use and art classes. They also restricted or made virtual, extracurricular curricula and events such as sports, events, performances and outings. 86% of teachers reported that their students always wore their masks except when eating and drinking.
Such strategies appear to be successful, despite the fact that children were separated by a median of 3 feet, and that teachers often interacted with their children in a small group interaction with young children, without any plexiglass or other obstacles .
Even when the school district weakened its quarantine guidance in mid-December – only to contact an infected person’s close contact with the quarantine if one or both of them did not wear masks did not change the rates of COVID-19 cases. The report resulted in more than 1,200 student days taught in person.
This can be a model for other schools
The study had some limitations. First, the genome sequencing technology to distinguish school transfer from community transfer was not always available. In addition, some contacts of infectious people could be missed, and some identified contacts may have been unknowingly immune to COVID-19. The findings also cannot be applied to new COVID-19 variants that were not distributed in the Utah community at the time.
However, the authors of the study say that Utah schools can be a model for others who want to learn safely again.
“If distances of about 6 m are not feasible,” they write, “schools in high-income communities can still limit the transfer of schools by consistently using masks and implementing other important mitigation strategies.”