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According to the Department of Health, schools have so far seen low levels of COVID-19 transmission.
A new report contains information on 84 outbreaks from August 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 in K-12 schools in the state. The report contains both public and private schools and all learning methods. An outbreak is defined as two or more positive COVID-19 cases among students and staff with onset of symptoms within a period of 14 days apart.
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In the nearly five-month study period, 13 provinces reported outbreaks related to schools. In total, the 84 outbreaks included 305 COVID-19 cases. Of the cases, half were among students aged 18 or younger. According to the DOH, 64% of outbreaks were involved in two or three cases.
‘Here’s encouraging news,’ said Laura Newman, PhD, MHS, COVID-19 Outbreak Response Senior Epidemiologist in a news release. ‘We’re seeing fairly low levels of COVID-19 transmission within school settings so far. Most COVID-19 outbreaks in schools involve three or fewer cases, and school administrators, teachers, and staff do a good job of implementing preventative measures that limit the spread of COVID-19. ”
“Our goal is to help schools protect the health of their staff and students, the families they go home to and the wider community. We are sharing this data so that educators, families, local public health and communities can see and learn from what is happening in schools regarding COVID-19, ”added Lacy Fehrenbach, MPH, Deputy Secretary of Health, COVID-19 Response.
Of the 305 cases, 42% were non-Hispanic white, 9% Hispanic, 4% other and 45% unknown. Sixty-one percent were among women. The age groups with the most cases were 5-9 years old and 10-14 years old with 17% each. None of the cases were admitted to the hospital overnight, and according to the state study, no deaths were reported.
The study included all modes of learning: personal, hybrid, remote, remote with exceptions and other / unknown. At the time of the outbreaks, 12% of schools taught personally, 22% used a hybrid teaching model, 6% used a distance learning model, 12% worked with a remote model with exceptions and 48% used another learning model. or the data on their method were not available. The DOH says that the exceptions include personal learning for students with special learning needs.
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In the study, the province with the most cases related to schools was Spokane at 151. Snohomish County accounted for 53 of the 305 cases, and Clark County had 24. King County had 20 of the 305 cases in total.
The state Department of Health plans to release a report on outbreaks in schools again by the end of February. The report is expected to contain data from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021.