Teachers can play a role in transmitting COVID-19 at school – US CDC

Teachers can play an important role in the transmission of COVID-19 within schools, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday, citing a study conducted in primary schools in a Georgia school district. , where he said the use of a mask and social, the distance was sometimes inadequate. The report was released after researchers at the agency said last month that there was little evidence that schools were spreading COVID-19 infections across the country – based in part on a study of schools in Wisconsin – lessening concerns about allowing Learning. The Wisconsin study found virus spread significantly less within schools compared to transmission in neighboring communities. Georgia’s investigation involving about 2,600 students and 700 primary school staff in a school district showed nine groups of COVID-19 cases involving 13 educators and 32 students in six primary schools, the CDC said. The CDC report found that students sat less than a meter apart and that the lack or inappropriate use of a mask contributed to the spread in some cases. He also reported that students had lunch in classrooms, which could have increased the spread. “These findings suggest that educators can play an important role in transmission at school and that transmission at school can occur when physical distance and mask compliance are not ideal,” said the report. Of these, two groups involved likely teacher-to-teacher transmission that was followed by teacher-to-student transmission in classrooms, the agency said in its Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report. Teacher transmission resulted in about half of the 31 school-related cases, according to the investigation.

The study was subject to some limitations, including the difficulty in determining whether coronavirus transmission occurred at school or in the local community, the agency noted. Distinguishing between the two types of transmission was particularly challenging when the average number of cases per 100,000 people in 7 days exceeded 150, the agency said. The CDC said that vaccinating educators with COVID-19 should be considered as an additional mitigation measure to be added when available, although it is not needed to reopen schools