COVID-19 Classroom exposure

A small study in Emerging Infectious Diseases provides some evidence that infected teachers could pass SARS-CoV-2 to their students in a traditional classroom setting. A symptomatic teacher returned to the classroom in late February after a trip to Europe. The teacher tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on March 1. Among five students who attended interactive classes in which the teacher walked around the room, two had serology results suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 infection. None of the 16 students in noninteractive classes — in which the teacher mostly stayed in one place — tested positive for antibodies. The authors conclude: “Widespread school closures have mostly eliminated the risk for classroom transmission of SARS-CoV-2. However, these results suggest that classroom interaction between an infected teacher and students might result in virus transmission.”

Classroom exposure study in Emerging Infectious Diseases