(Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control)

A new medical study conducted in Wisconsin and published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that requiring face masks, physical distancing, and other safety measures held COVID-19 transmission within schools to a minimum.

The study, which has gained national headlines this week, found that only seven of 191 coronavirus cases diagnosed among students at 17 rural Wisconsin schools were connected to in-school spread.

“With masking requirements and student cohorting, transmission risk within schools appeared low, suggesting that schools might be able to safely open with appropriate mitigation efforts in place,” states a summary of the study, which was conducted between August and November in Wood County.

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With masking requirements and student cohorting, transmission risk within schools appeared low, suggesting that schools might be able to safely open with appropriate mitigation efforts in place.

DR. AMY FALK, M.D.

IN NEW RESEARCH ABOUT COVID-19 IN SCHOOLS PUBLISHED BY THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL

The study was published Tuesday, Jan. 26, the same day that three CDC doctors published an opinion piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association stating that most evidence is “reassuring” that COVID-19 transmission is low in schools. According to The Washington Post, “The review, which echoes the conclusions of other researchers, comes as many school districts continue to wrestle with whether and how to reopen schools and as President Biden makes a return to in-person learning one of his top pandemic-related priorities.”

The Wisconsin-based study was conducted at schools in southern Wood County, about 100 miles east of Eau Claire, by Dr. Amy Falk, a Wisconsin Rapids pediatrician with Aspirus Doctors Clinic.

According to an Aspirus media release:

In a setting of widespread community transmission, few instances of in-school transmission were identified, with limited spread among children within their cohorts and no documented transmission to or from staff. Even in communities with high rates of disease, schools can implement preventive measures to limit spread and reopen safely for in-person instruction.

“This data indicates that with important safety measures like universal masking, transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in schools appears very low,” said Dr. Falk. “Allowing for in-person education is so important to our youth, especially during these difficult times.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted school for children in many parts of the country. During September to November 2020, COVID-19 cases and compliance with mask use were investigated in 4,876 students and 654 staff in 17 K-12 schools in South Wood County, Wisconsin.

Schools opened and implemented measures to limit the spread, including wearing masks, establishing groups of 11-20 students, quarantining after exposures, and staff maintaining six feet of distance, if possible. Investigators found that teachers reported more than 92 percent of students used masks.

During 13 weeks of in-person learning, seven students and zero staff were known to get COVID-19 at school. This report suggests even with high community levels (7-40 percent positive tests) of the virus that causes COVID-19, K-12 schools can limit in-school spread by implementing preventive measures.

In an article about the study, The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune noted that Dr. Falk and her colleague, Dr. Lisa Olson, had worked directly with the schools to create safe re-opening plans at the start of the school year. “Falk and Olson met with school leaders, teachers and students to stress the importance of following safety protocols, especially stressing mask wearing,” the newspaper reported. “But efforts also included frequent hand washing, social distancing and teaching students in cohorts that minimize interactions between classes of students.”

“I just think it's been a beautiful example of what we can could if we banded together as larger community. ... We can do normal things such as school or work,” Dr. Falk told the newspaper.

President Biden has said that his priorities include reopening most K-8 schools within 100 days of taking office. However, as The Washington Post reports, Biden “has not said how he will calculate this metric, or whether hybrid systems, where students divide their time between learning in school and at home, would count.” The Eau Claire school district has maintained such a hybrid approach during the current school year, while other districts have had varied approaches: For example, students in the Chippewa Falls school district returned to in-person classes earlier in January after nearly three months of virtual learning. They now attend school in-person four days a week.

“If you have 8-12 teachers gone on any given day and a lack of subs wanting to come into the building, it’s really tough to keep a school running when you're that short on staff,” Derrick Kunsman, principal of Chippewa Falls Middle School, told Eau Claire TV station WQOW in a report earlier this week. “We’re hopeful that we can keep people healthy and keep those quarantines and isolations down.”