- CDC researchers said there was “little evidence” that schools significantly fueled the transmission of coronavirus in an editorial on Tuesday.
- The researchers suggested reopening schools with masks and requirements for social distance.
- The decision, they wrote, may require some sacrifices – like closing restaurants or gyms.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
American schools began to close their doors last spring amid an increase in coronavirus cases. The decision was based on the science available at the time, which suggested that poorly ventilated indoor spaces – especially those that contained large groups – were sources of transmission.
In general, this remains true, but a series of recent studies have found that schools are relatively low risk compared to other places where people gather, such as family gatherings, nursing homes, crowded office buildings or university dormitories.
In an editorial on Tuesday, researchers at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was “little evidence that schools have contributed significantly to increased transmission in the community.”
The researchers asked schools to return to face-to-face learning, with some basic rules in place: Masks must be worn at all times. Social distance must be maintained. And indoor sports practices or competitions should be limited.
“It won’t be safe to have a pizza party with a group of students,” Margaret Honein, one of the CDC researchers, told the New York Times. “But outdoor cross-country, where the distance can be maintained, can be good to continue.”
Keeping schools safe for personal learning would also require some sacrifices, the researchers added, such as closing restaurants, bars or gyms.
A November study by Stanford University researchers estimated that full-service restaurants, gyms, hotels, cafes and places of worship would produce some of the biggest increases in coronavirus infections after the reopening, compared to essential locations like supermarkets. Restaurants were particularly high-risk, due to their limited space and the fact that people tend to dine for more than an hour.
Restricting meals at home could therefore decrease transmission from the community, making it less risky for children to go to school.
Masks and social distance compensate
Elementary school students use hand sanitizer before entering class in Godley, Texas, on August 5, 2020.
LM Otero / AP
Schools are no stranger to coronavirus outbreaks: after Israel reopened some classrooms for face-to-face learning in May, 13% of students and nearly 17% of employees at a high school in Jerusalem received COVID-19. But the school stopped applying face masks and turned on the air conditioner continuously due to a heat wave.
In addition to masks and social detachment, CDC researchers recommended increasing ventilation in classrooms, expanding tests to identify asymptomatic cases and continuing to offer online classes to high-risk students and staff.
The coronavirus relief plan proposed by President Joe Biden would allocate $ 130 billion to help schools implement these measures. Biden set a goal to reopen most K-8 schools during his first 100 days in office.
“If you do mitigation strategies, it is safer for children and adults to be in school than in the community,” Daniel Benjamin, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at Duke University, recently told Insider.
Kindergarten students raise their hands at Lupine Hill Elementary School in Calabasas, California on November 9, 2020.
Al Seib / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
Benjamin’s study in 11 school districts in North Carolina identified relatively few cases of coronavirus from August to October: only 32 infections were reported in schools over nine weeks. Students aged 5 and over were required to wear masks, stand two meters away from each other and wash their hands regularly.
A new CDC report also detected minimal transmission between K-12 schools that required masks in Wood County, Wisconsin. Of 5,530 students and staff, only 191 COVID-19 cases were reported between August and November. Only seven of these cases were associated with transmission at school.
In both studies, the virus was spreading wildly in the local community, suggesting that mitigation strategies did work. When transmission is low, some schools may even escape with less precautions.
A recent study looked at transmission in primary schools in Oslo and Viken, the two Norwegian counties with the highest COVID-19 case totals in the country. From August to November, 234 children were tested for the virus, but only two cases were identified. None of these students seemed to transmit the virus to anyone else, although masks were not necessary.
But Benjamin warned that schools that do not require masks “will have a rude awakening” as they struggle with the new strains of coronavirus identified in the UK and South Africa, which seem to spread more easily.
“When the cases increase, they will need to be masked or they will have real problems,” he said.