Experts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released new proposals for reopening schools safely among COVID-19. Schools can resume personal classes, the CDC says, if they and the surrounding community take the right warning.
The new proposals, published online in JAMA, explain that “data collection now suggests a way forward to maintain or return classes specifically or wholly”.
Intra-school coronavirus transmission is generally very low, the recommendations say. In a CDC study published earlier in the week, researchers looked at COVID-19 data for 17 schools in Wood County, Wisconsin between August and November 2020. They found that the incidence of COVID- 19 lower among students and faculty at those schools than it was for the county as a whole (3,453 cases per 100,000 people compared to 5,466 per 100,000). There were 191 cases among students and staff, but only seven of these cases were linked back to distribution within the school – the remainder were obtained outside the school.
Looking at how COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred in schools over the past year, CDC researchers found that classrooms were overcrowded (which prevented speeding. social correct), inconsistent face mask use, and the use of air-conditioning that recirculated air were all the main causes. So the new proposals for the safe reopening of schools start by continuing the steps that many schools are already taking. That includes requiring everyone to wear masks, implement COVID-19 screening methods, get better ventilation in classrooms, reduce size class, and requires social distance measures. The recommendations also cite personal athletics (especially communication sports as wrestling) as a cause of dissipation.
But it is clear that it is not just about what schools need to do – the community around them needs to keep the level of COVID-19 as low as possible so that classes can resume safely. “Prevention of transmission in school settings needs to address and reduce emissions in the surrounding communities through policies to prevent the spread,” the proposals state. measures such as restrictions on indoor food at restaurants, limits on the number of people who can attend gatherings, improving access to the COVID-19 vaccines, and the continued use of foreign surfaces (especially in public areas).
Public health experts agree that with the right measures in place, schools are unlikely to be major sources of COVID-19 emissions, it is best if they can stay open, and that there is a way for them to re- open safely. But this can really be very challenging.
“My last restaurants have not changed since this summer: 1) Community referral issues, 2) It is possible to stay safe with #MaskUp, etc. 3) But we fail to protect teachers & children in Too Many Schools, ”Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, emergency medicine physician and researcher at Brown University on Twitter in relation to the new proposals. “Let’s be resilient, so we can reopen safely. Our children & teachers deserve it.”
“A lot of people think I want to close schools for the pandemic. That’s not true. I believe schools could make it safe enough to open. BUT, I don’t think many schools or communities have done what it takes to be open safely now, “wrote Ellie Murray, Sc.D., MPH, associate professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health Boston University. on Twitter.
“I still feel strongly that schools should finally be [to] close. Glad to see @CDCgov measure in, ”wrote Uché Blackstock, MD, emergency medicine physician and founder of Advancing Health Equity, on Twitter.
Reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic is a crucial step, but it will not be easy enough. “Decisions made today can help ensure the safe operation of schools and provide essential services to children and adolescents in the U.S.. Some of those decisions could be sorry, “read the suggestions. “Today’s commitment to policies that prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in communities and schools will help ensure the future social and academic well-being of all students and their education. “
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