CDC finds with precautions in place, scant spread of coronavirus in schools

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

Schools operating in person have seen scant transmission of the coronavirus, particularly when masks and distancing are employed, but some indoor athletics have led to infections and should be curtailed if schools want to operate safely, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded in papers published Tuesday.

The CDC team reviewed data from studies in the United States and abroad and found the experience in schools different from nursing homes and high-density worksites where rapid spread has occurred. “The preponderance of available evidence from the fall school semester has been reassuring,” wrote three CDC researchers in a viewpoint piece published online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “There has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.”

The review, which echoes the conclusions of other researchers, comes as many schools districts continue to wrestle with whether and how to reopen schools and as President Biden makes a return to in-person learning one of his top pandemic-related priorities. A new CDC study, also released Tuesday, looked at 17 rural K-12 schools in Wisconsin and found just seven out of 191 covid-19 cases resulted from in-school transmission. Researchers noted that students and staff in these schools wore masks almost all the time.

“The conclusion here is with proper prevention efforts … we can keep transmission in schools and educational settings quite low,” said Margaret A Honein, the lead author of the JAMA report. “We didn’t know that at the beginning of the year but the data has really accumulated.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/cdc-school-virus-spread/2021/01/26/bf949222-5fe6-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html

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"A new CDC study, also released Tuesday, looked at 17 rural K-12 schools in Wisconsin"

Sorry but "rural" doesn't compute with "urban", where in many cases you have school buildings that are often over a century old with no potable water, and numerous maintenance staff. One of the problems hasn't been so much the students or teachers but sadly the "invisible staff" who are usually lower paid and are more exposed to the virus due to where they live and how they commute to/from school.

[AlexSFCA]

1. vaccinate teachers and reopen schools

[masmdu]

14. E X A C T L Y !

[Squinch]

2. I work in 4 urban schools in poor neighborhoods. They are routinely closed due to

multiple cases.

"Scant" is lovely, except when it's you or your kid.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Exactly

I just tick off in mind having had 12 years of schooling in the late '60s through the '70s, in Philly's public school system, in buildings that were built not long after the turn of the 20th century (except my high school building that had been built in 1959, 20 years before I graduated). There was no air-conditioning, and if anything, little or no "air handling" other than opening or closing a window and pulling out a fan. The classes were often packed with 35 - 40 kids per classroom (despite a supposed "30-student max" per class).

Contrast that with one of my younger nieces who during her almost 15-year lifetime in her suburban township, had 2 brand new schools, built from the ground up.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Illinois DPH Found The Same As CDC

Admittedly, Chicago schools didn't open for in person but nearly the rest of the state did, including big districts in Cook, DuPage, Lake & Will Counties.
The last of those counties have had 42 cases in schools. There are more than 170,000 students, K-12 in that county.
Lake was a tiny bit better, DuPage a pinch worse. (70 something cases with over 220,000 students.)
I'm not saying this is universally true, but this is 2nd study that concluded this, that I know about. The conclusions are nearly identical.
The only 3 substantial school outbreaks in Illinois schools were at private schools, two of which were both religious affiliated & did not mandate masks. The third had it's outbreak associated with rich kids going away at Thanksgiving.
Since I've been going into schools as a sub, I find the measures to be excellent in all of the 12 districts I've gone.
I don't dispute your experience, but it appears that mitigation in schools is not only possible, but probable.
And, no all 12 districts are not in affluent areas.

[Squinch]

7. In my 4 schools there have been 18 cases. And they are conscientious about

precautions. In school. But these are kids whose parents work in public facing jobs, and some kids whose parents are drug abusers, and other kids whose parents are just not very bright.

And that's with about 1/3 of the kids attending in person and the rest remote learners.

And each of those 18 cases has become a vector leading to more cases.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Like I Said...

...I don't doubt your experience, and what you describe is certainly problematic.
But, on a grand scale, which these 2 studies were, it appears it's doable.
The IDPH study actually concluded that the biggest issues were bars (by far #1), restaurants, churches with no mask requirement, and "COVID fatigue". That last one was a catch all for people doing stupid things like flying to Florida for Christmas, throwing backyard barbecues with 150 people, or house parties with 50 people in an 1,800 square foot house.
I'll try to find a link to it and post later. I have to record a couple guitar tracks in a bit. Try to get to it later.

[Squinch]

9. Don't bother. Of course those incidents would spread the disease. But here in the

NYC school system there have been thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths.

What are you saying? That schools should be fully opened because the incidence is low in those two studies? If so, I'll go back to my original statement: "Scant" is lovely unless it's your kid.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Since You're Looking For A Fight, I'm Out

I'll stick with data & science.

[Squinch]

11. Since you're seeing fights where there are none, your leaving the conversation is probably best.

[SheltieLover]

4. "Precautions?" Like knuckle dragger staff & admins?

Irresponsible to make such a blanket statement and this does NOT account for new mutated forms!

[keopeli]

5. I'm so tired of this relentless pressure on teachers with little thanks for all we are doing now.

Everyone take a deep breath and be patient. We're a few months away from safely reopening. I know you're tired and frustrated. Teachers are tired, frustrated, overworked, undertrained for virtual teaching, trying to keep track of your children AND we don't want to be your guinea pigs so you can get rid of your children during the day. You think it's hard having your kids around you 24/7? Try having 300 kids to keep track of remotely every day! All this sturm und drang so we can come back a couple of months earlier than we should to be safe.

It's not all about YOU! Teachers actually miss teaching in person, but we're not willing to die so you can have some free time!

[Squinch]

12. This exactly. And if, in a big school system, "only" 100 children or teachers would die

if you opened the schools up, that's 100 children or teachers. I think people are so immune to these death numbers that we are having conversations about what constitutes a good death rate in schools.

No death rate is a good death rate when it is completely avoidable with a few odious but temporary precautions.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. In Britain, a school refused to allow a 10 y.o. back for 2 months *because he wanted to wear a mask*

Kieron said he wanted to wear the mask when at school to protect his father, who has diabetes.
...
In early October the school contacted the family to make a plan for his return, but in a letter dated 8 October said: "We do hope Kieron returns tomorrow but it must be without a face covering in accordance to the guidance provided."

The school's head, Charles Daniels, told the family in his letter: "School is following the advice and guidance from the Department for Education, Lincolnshire County Council, Public Health England and Lincolnshire.

"Until the school receives different advice from those organisations then the school policy remains that primary aged pupils do not wear face coverings on school premises."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-55150372

Even in secondary schools (ie age 11-18), the policy for all of the autumn was masks in "communal areas" but not classrooms. They may finally get round to changing that when schools open up again.