COVID-19: How Delta Strain Penetrated Elementary Classroom

• Clinical trials of the vaccines in young children are underway. Pfizer has said that results should be available in September.

An unvaccinated elementary schoolteacher infected with the highly contagious delta variant spread the virus to half of the students in a classroom, seeding an outbreak that eventually infected 26 people, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The detailed study, which comes as school districts across the country reopen, seems certain to intensify the debate over vaccine mandates in schools. A handful of school districts, including New York City, have already announced vaccine requirements for teachers and staff.

Reports suggest that others may follow suit now that the Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine.

“The most important thing we can do to protect schoolchildren, particularly those too young to be vaccinated, is to make sure the adults in their lives, including teachers and school staff, are vaccinated,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the report.

The study was one of three new CDC reports that focused on schools or children. In another study, researchers found more evidence that schools can be low-risk environments when they combine several precautionary measures. But that research was conducted before the delta variant began spreading.

A third report focused on vaccination rates for teenagers. Half of all 12- to 17-year-olds have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the White House announced Friday. But the new study revealed that vaccination rates for this age group remained highly uneven across the country.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Cloth Masks Won’t Save You From The Delta Variant- Health Expert Warns

Together, the studies highlight both how much scientists have learned about how to protect children in schools — and how much remains uncertain now that the delta variant has arrived.

The classroom outbreak occurred in Marin County, California, in May. Neither the school nor the staff members and students involved were identified.

The teacher first showed symptoms May 19, but worked for two days before getting tested. During this time, the teacher read aloud, unmasked, to a class of 24 students, despite rules requiring both teachers and students to wear masks indoors.

All the students were too young for vaccination, which has been authorised only for people ages 12 and older.

On May 23, the teacher reported testing positive for infection with the coronavirus. Over the next several days, 12 of the students also tested positive.

FURTHER READING:

• COVID-19 Delta Variant Causing High Hospitalisations, Deaths – WHO
• Highly Contagious Delta Variant May Become Dominant COVID-19 Strain In US

Clinical trials of the vaccines in young children are underway. Pfizer has said that results should be available in September.

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