Low SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Elementary Schools — Salt Lake County, Utah, December 3, 2020–January 31, 2021

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Hershow, Rebecca B. ; Wu, Karen ; Lewis, Nathaniel M. ; Milne, Alison T. ; Currie, Dustin ; Smith, Amanda R. ; Lloyd, Spencer ; Orleans, Brian ; Young, Erin L. ; Freeman, Brandi ; Schwartz, Noah ; Bryant, Bobbi ; Espinosa, Catherine ; Nakazawa, Yoshinori ; Garza, Elizabeth ; Almendares, Olivia ; Abara, Winston E. ; Ehlman, Daniel C. ; Waters, Keith ; Hill, Mary ; Risk, Ilene ; Oakeson, Kelly ; Tate, Jacqueline E. ; Kirking, Hannah L. ; Dunn, Angela ; Vallabhaneni, Snigdha ; Hersh, Adam L. ; Chu, Victoria T.
• Description:
  School closures affected more than 55 million students across the United States when implemented as a strategy to prevent the Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes COVID-19 (1). Reopening schools requires balancing the risks for SARS-CoV-2 infection to students and staff members against the benefits of in-person learning (2). During December 3, 2020-January 31, 2021, CDC investigated SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in 20 elementary schools (kindergarten through grade 6) that had reopened in Salt Lake County, Utah. The 7-day cumulative number of new COVID-19 cases in Salt Lake County during this time ranged from 290 to 670 cases per 100,000 persons.| Susceptible| school contacts| (students and staff members exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in school) of 51 index patients** (40 students and 11 staff members) were offered SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tTesting. Among 1,041 susceptible school contacts, 735 (70.6%) were tested, and five of 12 cases identified were classified as school-associated; the secondary attack rate among tested susceptible school contacts was 0.7%. Mask use among students was high (86%), and the median distance between students' seats in classrooms was 3 ft. Despite high community incidence and an inability to maintain ≥6 ft of distance between students at all times, SARS-CoV-2 Transmission was low in these elementary schools. The results from this investigation add to the increasing evidence that in-person learning can be achieved with minimal SARS-CoV-2 Transmission risk when multiple measures to prevent Transmission are implemented (3,4).
• Subjects:
  Adult Child Child, Preschool Contact Tracing CoronaVirus Infections COVID-19 COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing Female Full Report Humans Male Masks Middle Aged Physical Distancing SARS-CoV-2 Schools

  More +
• Source:
  MMWR Morbidity Mortal Weekly Rep. 70(12):442-448
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Pubmed ID:
  33764967
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7993560
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  7 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062313
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:048dbb68d236bef59c23f0dae5eaa78651c64ad1abff1da5f0259c00473bacdfedfe3d704ddf0043d76d558a432e19774fa8bfaf7a98db3890b258d5238e0f32
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104805/cdc_104805_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 120.04 KB ]