Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Teachers At Maskless Schools Can Play 'Central Role' In Spread: CDC Study
CNBC: CDC Study Shows Teachers Could Play 'Central Role' In Covid Spread At Schools
School teachers and staff may play a “central role” in transmitting Covid-19 in schools where social distancing isn’t followed and face masks aren’t worn. Vaccinating them against the disease could help return students to the classroom safely, according to a new federal study published Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the coronavirus’ spread within eight Georgia public elementary schools in the same school district between Dec. 1 and Jan. 22, which included 24 in-person learning days. During this period, the average number of cases per 100,000 residents in the county increased nearly 300%, the study said. (Higgins-Dunn, 2/22)
AP: CDC Study: Teachers Key To COVID-19 Infections In 1 District
A new study finds that teachers may be more important drivers of COVID-19 transmission in schools than students. The paper released Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies nine COVID-19 transmission clusters in elementary schools in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta in December and January, That included one cluster where 16 teachers, students and relatives of students at home were infected. (Amy, 2/23)
Bay Area News Group: COVID-19 School Outbreak Study By CDC Ties Spread To Teachers
Amid debate over reopening public schools closed for almost a year by the coronavirus pandemic, a new federal study Monday indicated that when there were outbreaks on campus, they were chiefly driven by infected teachers. The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined nine case clusters in a Georgia elementary school district in suburban Atlanta. “Educators were central to in-school transmission networks,” said the study, which also noted that “all nine transmission clusters involved less than ideal physical distancing, and five involved inadequate mask use by students.” (Woolfolk, 2/22)
In related news about reopening schools —
NBC News: Why President Biden Can't Make States Vaccinate Teachers — Or Anyone Else
President Joe Biden wants to vaccinate teachers to speed school reopenings, but more than half the states aren't listening and haven't made educators a priority — highlighting the limited powers of the federal government, even during a devastating pandemic. (Seitz-Wald, 2/23)
The New York Times: Covid Vaccines For Kids Are Coming, But Not For Many Months
As adults at high risk for Covid-19 line up to be immunized against the coronavirus, many parents want to know: When will my child get a vaccine? The short answer: Not before late summer. Pfizer and Moderna have enrolled children 12 and older in clinical trials of their vaccines and hope to have results by the summer. Depending on how the vaccines perform in that age group, the companies may then test them in younger children. The Food and Drug Administration usually takes a few weeks to review data from a clinical trial and authorize a vaccine. (Mandavilli, 2/12)
The Washington Post: Can We Reach Covid Herd Immunity Without Vaccinating Children?
Amid a race to vaccinate as many people as possible against the coronavirus, which has sickened more than 28 million people and killed about 500,000 in the United States, the 10-year-old son of a Washington Post reader posed a pertinent question — one even experts are struggling to answer with any real certainty. Is it possible for the United States to achieve herd immunity without vaccinating children? It’s a complicated question, as health experts have differing ideas about what constitutes a herd immunity threshold for the coronavirus. (Bever, 2/22)
Stat: Schools May See A Burst Of The Common Cold When They Reopen
A curious thing happened when Hong Kong reopened schools after closing them because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It bears watching here. Hong Kong closed its schools to in-person learning from late January 2020 to late May — and then again in early July, when more Covid cases were detected. Within a few weeks of schools reopening in October, they started to see large numbers of kids getting sick, despite mandatory mask-wearing, additional spacing between desks, and other measures to lower the risk of spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. (Branswell, 2/23)
