MADISON, Wisconsin (WMTV) – Health officials say a COVID-19 outbreak at a Dane County daycare center was caused in part by families with children in different classrooms infecting each other.
Health officials first reported the outbreak on April 5, originally saying 21 children and workers had tested positive for the virus, plus 14 family members of students or daycare workers had tested positive for COVID-19. On Friday, Public Health Madison & Dane County reports that four more family members of these children or employees have tested positive for the virus.
PHMDC noted that two factors played a major role in the crossover outbreak classroom and COVID-19 variants.
PHMDC explained that families had multiple children in different classrooms, meaning that a person from one class was initially infected and the virus would then spread at home to family members in another class. The person then spread to the classroom where the student was present or where the employee worked.
Health officials warned that siblings of students who test positive should stay at home until they meet public health criteria for return. Students may return if they have been fever-free for 24 hours, their other symptoms have improved, and it has been at least 10 days since their symptoms started.
However, PHMDC said the infectious B.1.1.7 variant makes it difficult to catch COVID-19 quickly because this variant spreads faster and more easily than the original COVID-19 variant. The CDC recently reported that this variant, which first circulated in the UK, is the most prominent variant currently found in the United States.
PHMDC urged families to monitor all symptoms and noted that many of the children’s symptoms were mild. Families should also not assume their child’s symptoms are the result of a cold or allergies, and health officials stressed the importance of testing children for the virus.
Dane County had previously noted on April 9 that COVID-19 had cases in children under the age of 16 significantly increased in the past month.
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