The CDC says schools can have in-person learning with ‘limited spread’ of COVID-19

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new research that it says suggests in-person learning is relatively safe during the pandemic. The study, which was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, analyzed data from 17 schools in rural Wisconsin between Aug. 31 and Nov. 29, 2020. Eight were elementary schools, with 1,529 students attending in-person, and nine were grades seven through 12, with 3,347 students attending in-person schooling.

The schools reported that most students wore masks and, based on the data the CDC gathered, COVID-19 cases among students and staff were lower than those in the county overall. More than 191 COVID-19 cases were identified in students and staff, and only seven — all among students — were linked to in-school spread.

The schools also followed several “mitigation measures,” per the CDC, including funding for the districts to give students three to five masks; requiring masks indoors and when within 6 feet of others outdoors; attempting to seat children near the same person within their cohort at lunch and in class; and asking siblings to quarantine at home as well when a student contracts COVID-19. Classes included anywhere from 11 to 20 students. “With masking requirements and student cohorting, transmission risk within schools appeared low, suggesting that schools might be able to safely open with appropriate mitigation efforts in place,” the researchers concluded.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said in an interview with Yahoo Life that the findings make sense. “The science is on the side of opening schools with safety measures,” he says. “It should be the default — school should be the last thing to close.” But Dr. Lawrence Kleinman, professor and vice chair of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, says that the risk of spread in schools “is not zero.” “Schools are safer with the right precautions, but how does one define ‘safe?’” he asks.

As of now, President Biden plans to reopen schools for in-person learning by late spring.

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