ATLANTA – A new study finds that teachers may be a more important driver for COVID-19 transmission in schools than students.
The paper released Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies nine COVID-19 transmission clusters in elementary schools in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta in December and January, including one cluster where 16 teachers, students, and student family members were at home . infected.
In only one of the nine clusters, a student was clearly the first documented case, while a teacher was the first documented case in four clusters. In another four, the first case was unclear. Of the nine clusters, eight related to a likely teacher-to-student transmission. Two clusters saw teachers infect each other during in-person meetings or lunches, with one teacher subsequently infecting other students.
“Educators played an important role in the spread,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to reporters in an online briefing on Monday. “The spread of COVID-19 often took place at face-to-face meetings or lunches and then spread to classrooms.
The findings are consistent with studies from the United Kingdom that found teacher-to-teacher to be the most common form of school transfer there, and a German study that found that school transfer rates were three times faster when the first documented case was a was a teacher. . In some US districts, schools have had to go completely virtual because so many teachers have been exposed to the virus.
Other research has suggested that the transmission of viruses in schools is low and they should reopen for personal instruction, a report that has pushed President Joe Biden’s administration to mixed success in recent weeks. The Marietta district with 8,700 students, like almost a handful in Georgia, has been offering in-person classes since the fall. Superintendent Grant Rivera said more than 90% of elementary school students returned in person, making some classrooms relatively busy.
All Marietta clusters also reported “less than ideal physical distance,” with students often less than 1 meter apart, although plastic dividers were placed on desks.
“The two main reasons for the spread of COVID-19 in these schools were insufficient physical distance and adherence to masks,” Walensky said.
In seven cases, the transfer may have occurred during small group instruction sessions where teachers were close to the students. Although the authors said they saw students wearing masks, interviews showed that “insufficient mask use” by students may have contributed to the spread of infection in five clusters.
The CDC again advised that schools should follow “ multi-faceted ” strategies to prevent the spread of the virus, including reducing teacher-to-teacher meetings, ensuring masks are worn correctly, and taking physical distance, especially during meals when people do. can’t wear masks.
Rivera said the school district has redesigned education in elementary classrooms, allowing students and teachers to spend less than 15 minutes at a time in small groups and that children stand apart when they gather on carpets for reading or other activities.
Rivera said the district had not used Friday for class hours, but for teacher collaboration. Now the district is encouraging teachers to keep separate.
“We told teachers that all teacher collaboration should be virtual,” Rivera said.
He also said chairs had been removed from teachers’ work areas, photocopiers have been moved to other places in some cases, and teachers who plan to eat with a colleague have been told to eat outside.
Student meals are the biggest challenge, Rivera said.
“To be honest, I really struggle with it,” he said.
Students were kept in classes to limit exercise and keep students in isolated pods, but now classes are encouraged to eat outside, with some particularly packed classrooms moving to larger spaces, such as cafeterias, gyms or auditoriums.
The Marietta District has also continued extensive virus testing after the investigation ended, Rivera said.
The study also said that in addition to those strategies, it might be desirable to vaccinate teachers to protect teachers, reduce school handover and allow schools to work personally, although the CDC reiterated that teacher vaccination is “ not a requirement for reopening. ” schools. “
President Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers said the study “validates” the CDC guidelines.
“School buildings can be safe for teachers and children, but the layered risk mitigation and testing and detection must be implemented to curb the risk of transmission, with the availability of vaccines as an additional layer of protection,” the teacher union chief said in a statement.
In an earlier version of the story, Dr. Rochelle Walensky misspelled.