The question of when and how to open schools for full in-person learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most consequential the U.S. currently faces. A wealth of evidencesuggests that schools can provide in-person instruction with a very low level of risk when safety protocols are successfully implemented.
So, what do school districts, teachers, families and students need to know? As an infectious disease epidemiologist with more than 15 years of research experience – and as co-editor of the COVID-19 Literature Situation Report, which produces a daily summary of the most relevant newly published and pre-print literature related to COVID-19 – I offer answers to some of the most urgent questions about how schools can safely resume in-person instruction. Some of this evidence is gleaned from preprint studies that may change after they are peer-reviewed.
Will school make children more likely to transmit COVID-19?
Infection with the COVID-19 virus has been less common in school-age children, especially those in elementary school, than among other age groups. Evidence from Florida, Utah, Missouriand elsewhere indicates that less than 1% of school-age children have had COVID-19, despite most being in school in person. Most cases have not been linked to school exposures.