An elementary school teacher in California who reported for work in May despite showing symptoms of Covid-19 spread the infection to half of her students, along with several of their family members.
According to a recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in May of this year, the teacher was only one of two faculty members who had not yet been vaccinated.
On May 19, she began to experience “cough, subjective fever, and headache” but attributed these symptoms to allergies.
She continued to report to work for two more days, and even read aloud to her students without a mask, in spite of a requirement from the school to wear one while indoors.
As her symptoms did not abate, she was tested on May 21, and tested positive for Covid-19 on May 23.
The school where she worked then reported her test results to the Marin County Department of Public Health (MCPH) on May 25.
But from May 23 and onwards, additional cases of Covid-19 were reported among the faculty and staff members, students, parents, and siblings connected to the school, the CDC report said.
“On May 26, MCPH initiated case investigation and contact tracing that included whole genome sequencing (WGS) of available specimens. A total of 27 cases were identified, including that of the teacher,” added the CDC.
After 22 out of 24 students in the teacher’s class were tested for Covid, 12 received positive test results.
The students who had been tested were all unvaccinated because of their age.
In the US, vaccines have been made available for children from the age of 12.
Furthermore, MCPH discovered that the students who had been seated closest to the teacher’s desk were the most infected.
“The attack rate in the two rows seated closest to the teacher’s desk was 80 per cent (8 of 10) and was 28 per cent (4 of 14) in the three back rows.”
Furthermore, six other students at the school who were too young to be vaccinated tested positive for Covid from May 24 to Jun 1.
After this, “eight additional cases were also identified, all in parents and siblings of students in these two grades.” Three of those who tested positive had already been vaccinated.
The CDC report added that “Vaccines are effective against the Delta variant, but risk of transmission remains elevated among unvaccinated persons in schools without strict adherence to prevention strategies.
In addition to vaccination for eligible persons, strict adherence to non-pharmaceutical prevention strategies, including masking, routine testing, facility ventilation, and staying home when symptomatic, are important to ensure safe in-person learning in schools.”
/TISG