Researchers see little evidence that in-person school drives COVID-19 cases

Studies in the United States and abroad found little evidence that schools spread COVID-19 infections, showing a “ path forward ” to in-person teaching, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday.

The risk of getting COVID-19 in schools and whether it is possible to learn in person or stick to online classes is a hot topic of debate in many countries, including the United States.

While there was some evidence of transmission in school, “the preponderance of the available evidence from the fall school semester was reassuring,” the researchers said in an opinion piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network.

Studies in the United States and abroad found little evidence that schools spread COVID-19 infections, showing a “ path forward ” to in-person teaching, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday.

The CDC said that “there is little evidence that schools have made a meaningful contribution to greater community transfer.” More than 25.4 million infections have been reported in the US since the pandemic began last year

“ As many schools have reopened for personal education in some parts of the US and internationally, school-related cases of COVID-19 have been reported, but there is little evidence that schools have made a meaningful contribution to greater community transfer, ” the CDC.

The authors pointed in part to a new CDC study of rural schools in Wisconsin, where student mask wearing was high.

The incidence of COVID-19 in the 17 primary and secondary schools was 37 percent lower than in the broader community, and there were no school staff infections.

“Given the findings of our dataset, with proper precautions such as distance and wearing face coverings, adult school staff seems unlikely to contract COVID-19 in class,” says author Amy Falk of the Aspirus Hospitals and Clinics. , said in an email reply.

CDC scientists in JAMA said school closures could affect academic progress, mental health, and access to essential services.

They said mitigation measures such as universal mask use, social distance, and ventilation were key to preventing infection.

Researchers pointed in part to a CDC study of schools in Wisconsin, where student mask wearing was high. The incidence of COVID-19 in the 17 primary and secondary schools was 37% lower than in the broader community, with no school staff contracting infections

In the Wisconsin study, only seven of the 191 cases (3.7 percent) identified among 5,530 students and staff in the period from Aug. 31 to Nov. 29, 2020, were associated with school transfer, all among college students, researchers reported.

Social distance was required and mask wearing was reported to be more than 92 percent.

Classes were conducted in stable cohorts with both lunch and classes taking place indoors.

However, no systematic COVID-19 screening was conducted in the schools or the community, and student mask wearing was charted by only a few teachers, according to the Wisconsin study, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report of the CDC.

The researchers found widespread virus transmission in the surrounding community during the study period, with 7 percent to 40 percent of Wood County COVID-19 tests showing positive results.

The COVID-19 incidence among students and staff in the study translated into 3,453 cases per 100,000 in schools, versus 5,466 per 100,000 in the broader community.