Unvaccinated, unmasked teacher infected more than half of students in class with Covid-19, CDC reports

“The school demanded that teachers and students hide inside; Interviews with parents of infected students suggested that students’ compliance with masking and distancing guidelines according to CDC recommendations was high in the classroom. However, the teacher would have been exposed on certain occasions when reading aloud in class, ”the report reads.

“Throughout this period, all offices were six feet apart,” he added. “All the classrooms were fitted with high efficiency portable particulate air filters and the doors and windows were left open. “

It was not enough to protect the children.

Eventually, 27 people, including the teacher, were infected. None were seriously ill and all recovered. The cases analyzed involved the Delta variant of the coronavirus, although the researchers said they were not necessarily able to test everyone who may have been infected during the outbreak.

The CDC highlighted the case as an example of how schools must follow all recommendations if they are to protect students and staff.

“The introduction of the virus into the classroom by a teacher who worked at the school, when she was both symptomatic and unvaccinated and who was unmasked when read aloud in class, resulted in cases in classroom, throughout the school and among student families and community staff, ”Walensky said during a White House briefing on Covid-19 on Friday.

“We know how to protect our children at school. We have the tools.”

Children under 12 are not eligible for the vaccination, and the CDC says it’s important for adults around them to get vaccinated to protect them.

Deputy county health worker Dr Lisa Santora said officials had urged teachers to get vaccinated since January, but many had failed to do so. “We saw firsthand that it wasn’t the kids who were going to make teachers sick. It would be the other way around,” Santora told CNN.

Santora said Marin County has held “Super Saturday” events to encourage teachers and staff to get vaccinated, but some teachers are still not vaccinated. “Adults underestimate their risk of hospitalization when they choose not to be vaccinated,” she told CNN.

She said 90% of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the county are currently unvaccinated – and many are between 30 and 50 years old.

The outbreak in elementary school was a warning to the county that the Delta variant was going to make it more difficult to prevent outbreaks, she said.

“We had a few of the adults who were part of the outbreak – they were parents of children in school – they were vaccinated. It was another indication to us that Delta was different,” he said. she declared.

“Of the five infected adults, a parent and teacher were not vaccinated; the rest were fully vaccinated,” the report said. “The vaccinated adults and one unvaccinated adult had symptoms of fever, chills, cough, headache and loss of smell. No other school staff reported becoming ill.”

The county was able to conduct an intensive contact tracing operation which painted a good picture of what happened. Several children appeared to have been infected at a sleepover, and some of the infected teacher’s class appear to have infected siblings.

Screening most of the exposed children was essential, as many never developed symptoms.

“The school was on point with all of their mitigation strategies,” Santora said. “I think if it wasn’t Delta I don’t think we would have seen this.”

Nonetheless, the CDC concluded, schools can safely open for in-person classes if they take care.

“In schools with safety protocols in place for prevention and containment, rates of cases in children and adolescents were 3.4 times lower during the winter peak compared to rates in the community,” they said. writing.

“This analysis reflects patterns of transmission before the more transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) became predominant in the United States. A multi-pronged prevention strategy, including masking, physical distancing, testing and, more recently, immunization of children and adolescents aged 12 and over will remain essential to reduce transmission as more and more students return to the classroom, ”they added.

“These findings from a large and diverse county present preliminary evidence that schools provided a relatively safe environment during the 2020-21 school year.”