School District Prevention Policies and Risk of COVID-19 Among In-Person K-12 Educators, Wisconsin, 2021

Details

• Personal Author:
  DeJonge PM ; Gangnon R ; McCoy K ; Meiman J ; Pray IW ; Tomasallo C
• Description:
  Objectives. To assess the rate of COVID-19 among in-person K-12 educators and the rate's association with various COVID-19 prevention policies in school districts. Methods. We linked actively working, in-person K-12 educators in Wisconsin to COVID-19 cases with onset from September 2 to November 24, 2021. A mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards model, adjusted for pertinent person- and community-level confounders, compared the hazard rate of COVID-19 among educators working in districts with and without specific COVID-19 prevention policies. Results. In-person educators working in school districts that required masking for students and staff experienced 19% lower hazards of COVID-19 than did those in districts without any masking policy (hazard ratio = 0.81; 95% confidence interval = 0.72, 0.92). Reduced COVID-19 hazards were consistent and remained statistically significant when educators were stratified by elementary, middle, and high school environments. Conclusions. In Wisconsin's K-12 school districts, during the fall 2021 academic semester, a policy that required both students and staff to mask was associated with significantly reduced risk of COVID-19 among in-person educators across all grade levels. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Education Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Coronavirus COVID-19 Disease Transmission Face Masks Occupational Exposure Policy Teaching
• ISSN:
  0090-0036
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 5 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  112
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067119
• Citation:
  Am J Public Health 2022 Dec; 112(12):1791-1799
• Contact Point Address:
  Peter M. DeJonge, PhD, MPH, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health, Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1 West Wilson St, Madison WI 53703
• Email:
  peter.dejonge@dhs.wisconsin.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Madison
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20150701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Public Health
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7a2fce877e38873260cfec2ff093aad94b3169b2a550494a93898b7d618773a8fd0a7f3f9ec75636e293aa144bc2c62c5f08a07d08de4ee5270a2508f7de05c7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231295/cdc_231295_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 855.51 KB ]