• MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. · Mar 2021

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

    • Rebecca B Hershow, Karen Wu, Nathaniel M Lewis, Alison T Milne, Dustin Currie, Amanda R Smith, Spencer Lloyd, Brian Orleans, Erin L Young, Brandi Freeman, Noah Schwartz, Bobbi Bryant, Catherine Espinosa, Yoshinori Nakazawa, Elizabeth Garza, Olivia Almendares, Winston E Abara, Daniel C Ehlman, Keith Waters, Mary Hill, Ilene Risk, Kelly Oakeson, Jacqueline E Tate, Hannah L Kirking, Angela Dunn, Snigdha Vallabhaneni, Adam L Hersh, and Victoria T Chu.
    • MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 2021 Mar 26; 70 (12): 442-448.

    AbstractSchool 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) testing. 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).

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