By BRENNA DONNELLY
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
New research from the Centers for Disease Control finds that when millions of students went back to class recently, communities did not see a major spike in COVID-19 cases. It led the agency to recommend: “K-12 schools be the last settings to close after all other mitigation measures have been employed and the first to reopen when they can do so safely.”
This could have big implications for Indiana schools returning to in-person learning. Hamilton Southeastern Schools is the most recent to change its schedule, allowing kindergarten to sixth grade to return 100 percent in-person learning, with 50 percent virtual for grades 7 to 12.
Researchers published the findings in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report dated Jan. 13.
The researchers looked at statistics from the nearly two-thirds of U.S. schools going back to class. They found three million cases in people under age 24, and discovered most of those cases were in people age 18 to 24.
That indicates that even though there are millions of little kids mingling at schools, young adults out of grade school got COVID-19 more often. When someone under 18 did get sick, the CDC found they were more likely to be high school students than elementary students or children in childcare.
These findings are connected to schools where children are wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
The CDC report didn’t include data on viral spread to adults in schools, like teachers and other staff members.