SALT LAKE CITY – Research conducted by the University of Utah into 20 Granite District elementary schools and a private school provides “one of the strongest evidence yet” that transmission of COVID-19 in elementary schools is very low, the researcher said Friday.
“Personal education can be done safely with multi-tiered, strictly enforced prevention measures. It really enforces and reinforces the Governor’s recommendation that we continue to mask all schools in Utah, at least until the end of the school year, and provides assurance that know how to make schools safe, ”said Dr. Adam Hersh, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and lead investigator for the study.
Findings from the Utah Health and Economic Recovery (HERO) Project study, a collaboration between University of Utah Health and the David Eccles School of Business discussed at a press conference Friday, helped inform new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that say with universal masking, students must maintain a distance of at least 90 cm in the classrooms.
The new guidelines still call for a 6-foot distance between adults and students, as well as in communal areas and when masks are off while eating.
In middle and high schools, the CDC recommends that students are at least 1 meter apart in classrooms where everyone is masked and the community risk is low, moderate, or substantial. Secondary students should be at least 6 feet apart in communities where COVID-19 risk is high unless they can meet in small groups.
CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky said Friday at a White House briefing that safe, one-to-one instruction gives children access to essential educational, social and mental health services they need to be successful.
Recent research confirms “that primary schools that implement strong, layered prevention strategies can operate safely while protecting teachers, staff and students. We have seen data showing that this is safe even in areas of widespread community distribution,” Walensky said .
In the Beehive State, where 1 in 5 Utahns is a school-age child, 6-foot social distance recommendations have posed a challenge for educators. In some ways, the unique features of Utah gave researchers a glimpse of social aloofness, when it was not possible to exactly meet the 6-foot recommendation and the importance of other layers of mitigation.
“It is testament to the fact that the protocols we are using and wearing a mask that is adhered to were quite effective,” said Ben Horsley, Granite School District communications director. He explained that some of the schools studied had classes larger than the national average, while others were closer to the national average, because some of the students in those schools had been chosen for virtual learning.
“It was clear that there were limitations from the start (to recommendations for social distance of 6 feet).”
Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah, said the classroom conditions in Utah likely meant that “ our teachers in our schools really worked extra hard to ensure safety. Knowing they faced a greater challenge may have been a paradoxical advantage. They did even better. “
Among 21 elementary schools, researchers found five secondary cases of COVID-19 likely due to school exposure for a secondary attack rate of 0.7%, or seven per 1,000 contacts, Hersh said.
“In 4 out of 5 of these cases, there were clear failures in prevention strategies, including poor mask use, which helped us understand why transmission could have occurred in these cases,” said Hersh.
“We also found that in most of the cases where the infection was believed to be from school, there was secondary transmission to their homes, reinforcing the importance of limiting spread in school,” he added.
In three cases, researchers performed genetic sequencing to determine whether infections were related to school or community.
“The genetic testing of viruses was limited, but extremely insightful,” said Hersh.
“In all three of these cases, it was clear that the viruses were from a completely different lineage, which told us that the second case we discovered was unrelated to the first case and came from elsewhere outside the school,” he says. said.
A statement from the CDC said in part that the Utah study was one of many nationwide that “affirmed the CDC recommendations that schools should return to personal learning and that this can be safely achieved for the protection of student teachers in the United States. communities. “
Since personal learning resumed in schools in Utah last fall, COVID-19 transfer rates have been faster in middle and high schools than elementary schools, but typically lower in schools than communities.
“Given the size of the class in Utah, it has always been a challenge to stay six feet tall. However, our teachers have done everything they can to create a safe space. Thanks to these efforts, we were able to start the school year personally. and hopefully wrap it up, ”said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson said Friday.
Larry Madden, Salt Lake City School District interim superintendent, said the new CDC guidelines on how to safely place students remotely were timely as the district prepares to provide high school students four days a week starting Monday. four days a week for personalized learning.
“We will continue to closely monitor the security guidelines we have received and will not apply additional measures, such as plexiglass barriers. We are committed to protecting our students and staff.”
Madden continued, “We are grateful to the many health and epidemiology experts, including the Salt Lake County Health Department, who work to keep our schools and communities safe. Our experience with the HERO project in our three comprehensive high schools has been incredibly. positive, and we appreciate the extra support to help us keep COVID-19 broadcasts at bay in our schools. “
According to the CDC, evidence suggests that “many K-12 schools that have rigorously implemented prevention strategies have been able to safely open to in-person instruction and remain open.”
The agency’s operational strategy presents “a path for schools to deliver safe, face-to-face education”, including “universal and correct use of masks and physical distance”.
Testing remains an important strategy for identifying people with COVID-19 infections. Vaccinations of teachers and staff provide additional layers of protection, according to the agency.
The new recommendations come as the state of Utah appears on April 10 to lift a statewide mask mandate as mandated under HB294, recently passed by state legislatures.
The bill states that the mask requirement will continue to apply to gatherings of 50 people and more and in schools. Nor does it limit companies from needing masks.
The bill has not yet been signed by Governor Spencer Cox.
Meanwhile, National Education Association President Becky Pringle expressed concern “ that the CDC has changed one of the ground rules for ensuring school safety without demonstrating certainty that the change is justified by science and can be implemented in a way that does not detract from the greater long-term needs of students. “
NEA welcomes the pressure to ensure widespread testing, vaccination and adequate funding for mitigation action.
“We are almost in a position to ensure that all of our schools can be so much safer. But as public health officials have rightly warned, in light of new variants and a race to make vaccinations widely available, now is not the time to make vaccinations widely available,” beware, ”Pringle said in a statement.
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Marjorie Cortez