CDC Study: Teachers May Be More Important Drivers of COVID-19 Transmission Than Students

By Joshua Summers First Posted: Feb 23, 2021 01:33 AM EST

CDC Study Suggests Teachers as a Significant Factor to COVID-19 Transmission

(Photo : Milos Bicanski)
An empty schoolyard at a closed primary school amidst new lockdown guidelines to help combat the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, on November 16, 2020 in Athens, Greece.

Schools have taken a halt in face-to-face education in response to coronavirus and prevent the COVID-19 transmission among students and teachers. But another factor that will keep you away from school was when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that teachers can play a significant role in COVID-19 infection.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the data they have so far suggests that children under 18 years represent about 8.5 percent of reported cases with relatively few deaths than other age groups. It added that school closures might impact the child's health, education, and development. But will you let your child go to school knowing that teachers have a role in infection transmission?

Teachers and COVID-19 Transmission

Seattle Times reported that the CDC released a paper regarding the nine COVID-19 transmission clusters in elementary schools in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, which happened in December and January. The group involved were 16 teachers, students, relatives of students at home who were infected.

Daily Independent noted that only one among the nine clusters was a student, clearly the first documented case, while in four groups, the teachers were the first documented case. The four other cases were unclear, and among the nine clusters, the eight involved probable teacher-student transmission.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, during an online briefing with the reporters, said that the teachers played an essential role in the spread, ABC13 News reported.

Walensky added that the COVID-19 transmission happens during in-person meetings or lunches and then later spread to classrooms.

The CDC's findings were reportedly inlined with the United Kingdom's research that discovered that teacher-to-teacher is the most common type of transmission. Another study with a similar result is from Germany that suggests three times higher transmission rate when the first documented case was an educator.

CDC: Factors in the Spread of COVID-19 in Schools

According to the Seattle Times report, the Marietta Clusters involved less than ideal physical distancing with students often less than three feet apart, even though plastic dividers were placed on the desks.

Walensky noted that the two main reasons for the spread of COVID-19 infection are physical distancing and mask adherence.

Reports said that the transmission might have happened during small-group instruction sessions where teachers were close to the students in seven cases. However, the authors of the study mentioned that they observed that many children wore masks, but students' "inadequate" mask use could still have contributed to the spread of infection in five clusters.

Because of this, the CDC advised that schools need to pursue multifaceted strategies to stop the spread of the virus, like cutting down on teacher-to-teacher meetings, increasing physical distancing, and reinforcing the proper wearing of masks.

ABC13 News further noted that the CDC study suggests the educators and teachers need to be vaccinated to protect them against the virus and mitigate further COVID-19 transmission. It will heighten the safety of both teachers and students who attend school.