ABC Science Collaborative on Reopening Schools

Posted on by Kayla

February 16, 2021

Last week, the CDC released new guidance outlining how to safely return to in-person learning for K-12 schools.

The CDC recommends that schools should follow five key mitigation strategies, regardless of how high community transmission is at any given time. These five key strategies include:

  • Universal and correct use of masks
  • Physical distancing
  • Handwashing and respiratory etiquette
  • Cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities
  • Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine, in collaboration with the health department

While the CDC recommends all of the key strategies above, they specifically call out the first two as the highest priority, noting that universal and correct use of masks should be required and physical distancing of at least 6 feet should be practiced as much as possible.

As we have stated over the past month, the data outlining that schools are safe with masking and 6’ distance are strong (ref 1-15). Note that in several of these publications, children were sometimes routinely closer than 6’ and distancing was not enforced. However, the data on distancing (especially for grades 6-12) are not as robust; and this question is under active study by the ABC Science Collaborative today. We have also provided the reference (ref 16) that clearly indicates that in the absence of mitigation (and in the presence of moderate to high community transmission), COVID-19 will spread rapidly in schools.

The ABC Science Collaborative concluded in our recent study that, with proper prevention strategies, schools can remain a healthy place for learning even in the midst of alarming spread in communities. The CDC recently cited this study and its new guidance is in line with prevention strategies that the ABC Science Collaborative has shared. In addition to our recent study, our 12 Principles for Safer Schools looks at what schools should do to stay prepared and updated as information changes.

As always, the ABC Science Collaborative aims to provide data to support school-specific decisions by sharing emerging science and providing an interpretation of what that means, especially as it relates to in-person learning. Information about COVID-19 changes often and, therefore, it is important to emphasize that science-based recommendations are subject to change

Decisions about how to handle COVID-19 prevention in schools are ultimately the responsibility of each school or district, and may vary. If you have specific questions about your school’s in-person learning plan, please contact your district or school leader.

For more information about the ABC Science Collaborative, visit our About Us page.

 

References:

Included in this list are publications that report individual-level data from K-12 schools. Thus, we do not include studies that are merely mathematical models that speculate on the risk/benefits of K-12 education; nor do we include ecologic data (e.g., county-wide data) that try to link population data to school opening status and attribute individual risk to community data (see Durkheim’s publication from 1897 and other work on ecologic fallacy as to why not); and we do not include data from colleges or childcare unless those data are reported within a K-12 publication.