Minimal SARS-CoV-2 Transmission After Implementation of a Comprehensive Mitigation Strategy at a School — New Jersey, August 20–November 27, 2020

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Volpp, Kevin G. ; Kraut, Bruce H. ; Ghosh, Smita ; Neatherlin, John
• Description:
  During fall 2020, many U.S. kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) schools closed campuses and instituted remote learning to limit in-school Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes COVID-19 (1,2). A New Jersey grade 9-12 boarding school with 520 full-time resident students, 255 commuter students, and 405 faculty and staff members implemented a comprehensive mitigation strategy that included universal masking, tTesting, upgraded air-handling equipment to improve ventilation, physical distancing of ≥6 ft, contact tracing, and quarantine and isolation protocols to prevent and control Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among students, faculty, and staff members. Mandatory twice-weekly screening using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tTesting of all students and staff members during August 20-November 27, 2020, resulted in the tTesting of 21,449 specimens. A total of 19 (5%) of 405 faculty and staff members and eight (1%) of 775 students received positive test results; only two identified cases were plausibly caused by secondary Transmission on campus. Comprehensive mitigation approaches including frequent tTesting and universal masking can help prevent outbreaks in in-person high school settings even when community Transmission is ongoing.
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Contact Tracing CoronaVirus Infections COVID-19 COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing Humans Masks Physical Distancing Quarantine SARS-CoV-2 Schools

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• Source:
  MMWR Morbidity Mortal Weekly Rep. 70(11):377-381
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Pubmed ID:
  33735161
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7976619
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Issue:
  11
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:43555bf91867824aea3462d63aa850d07083bd77f2ab28d7888973aa9e6406750c1c4bf2336da2b490052ae76dece9f1ac7aadb3a4e1b6e1773a9e805c41fe94
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104792/cdc_104792_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 99.27 KB ]