Experts stressed the importance of personal learning for students’ development and access to essential services. On the other hand, the Covid-19 case, hospitalization and death rates remain high in the country.
In an effort to find the right balance, schools have adopted different approaches that include personal learning, online learning and a hybrid of the two.
In an article published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, CDC researchers noted that the type of spread seen in print offices and long-term care facilities has not been reported in schools. In-school transfer took place, but the researchers said there was little evidence that it contributed significantly to the larger transfer of the community.
“Committing themselves today to policies that prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission in communities and in schools will help ensure the future social and academic well-being of all students and their education,” the researchers said in the JAMA article. writing.
Two new studies by the CDC, published Tuesday in the weekly report Morbidity and Mortality, show that children with the right precautions can return to school safely.
Triple face masks and no high-contact sports
In the first study, researchers looked at data on 17 K-12 schools in Wood County, Wisconsin, that were personally taught in the fall. They found lower Covid-19 cases than in the community at large, and few cases of transfer to school.
Of 5,530 students and staff, 191 tested positive for Covid-19. The researchers found that the Covid-19 cases in schools were 37% lower than in the surrounding community.
Contact detection and investigation determined that seven of the 191 cases – 3.7%, all among students – were contracted at school. Three of the seven students who tested positive come from one primary school class.
The schools did not do routine Covid-19 selection, but they did apply mitigation measures.
For example, students were each provided with three to five double- or triple-layer masks. In schools, masks were needed, and more than 92% of students of all age groups wore them throughout the country.
Year group of 11 to 20 students of the same grade level met for classes and lunch indoors, where students often sat next to the same person. Cohorts were asked not to mix, and the researchers found no transfer at school between different cohorts.
Staff were instructed to limit the machine, social distance and time in shared indoor spaces. If a student did not have Covid-19 symptoms, their siblings were also told to stay home.
When a student or staff member tested positive for the virus, school officials used interviews to identify close contacts – anyone who was away from the person for more than 15 minutes. Some of the close contacts are needed to be quarantined at home, and if they develop symptoms during that time, officials have investigated the spread of the school.
The team says their findings suggest that students, even with varying degrees of positivity in the community, do not necessarily have an increased risk for the virus if they attend personal classes. In fact, they say that in a monitored environment such as the classroom, it can lead to compliance with social measures.
Outdoor activities, such as indoor sports, could be a different story, according to a separate CDC report published Tuesday.
Two high school wrestling matches in Florida became a superspreader in December when 54 of the 130 participants – wrestlers, coaches and referees – tested for Covid-19 and 38 were positive. Among 91 close contacts of infected people, 43% tested positive for the virus. One contact, who was older than 50, was killed.
It is not possible to maintain physical distance in the sport with high contact, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that the mask not be worn because it poses danger.
After calculating the amount of time everyone was involved in quarantining and isolating, the researchers estimated that 1,700 personal school days were lost as a result of the outbreak – a number that they said would probably have been higher. if the outbreak did not occur so close. at the end of the semester.
Outbreaks among athletes involved in high-contact sports may affect the learning of people for all students and increase the risk of secondary transmission through the school and community, with potentially serious outcomes, including death, “wrote the researchers.