(Reuters) – 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 one Georgia school district.
The report was released after agency researchers 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 – easing concerns about allowing learning staff. The Wisconsin study found significantly less spread of the virus within schools compared to transmission in neighboring communities.
An investigation involving some 2,600 students and 700 primary school staff in a Georgia school district showed nine groups of COVID-19 cases involving 13 educators and 32 students in six primary schools, said the CDC.
Of these, two groups involved likely teacher-to-teacher transmission that was followed by teacher-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 difficulty in determining whether coronavirus transmission occurred at school or outside the local community, the agency noted.
Distinguishing between the two types of transmission was particularly challenging when the average 7 days of cases per 100,000 people 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 necessary for the reopening of schools.
Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Bill Berkrot edition