WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WTAQ) – A study from a team of Wisconsin Rapids physicians looking at the impact of in-person classes on the pandemic is now being shared by the CDC.
“I think we’re seeing that, with appropriate precautions, schools are just not the place where transmission is happening. It’s out in the community with generally grown ups doing what grown ups do,” said Dr. Amy Falk.
Falk led the charge on the study, which ran from September 1st to around the Thanksgiving break.
“It started with the surveying of teachers and how masking compliance was going in their classrooms. We also were obtaining, simultaneously, data from the schools regarding number of COVID-19 cases that were being reported,” Falk told the WTAQ Morning News with Matt and Earl. “I felt that masking was going to be the linchpin to the whole thing. With high masking compliance, I thought perhaps it would be the best solution for getting kids back into school.”
That study showed that schools in the Wisconsin Rapids area had very few cases of COVID-19 as a whole, especially when compared to the surrounding community.
“Saw up to 40-percent positivity in our county as a whole. Out of 5,530 students and staff, there was only 191 cases. And only 7 of those cases were thought to have been contracted within the school,” Falk said. “But no staff and nobody was severely affected with COVID-19 of those kids…Through their contact tracing, they were able to say which cases were likely to have been contracted in school and which ones not.”
Many of those positives, Falk says, were on the elementary level. They were also noted to be in groups that make sense, like clusters of kids who ate lunch together.
Also, despite beliefs one way or another, there was no significant variability between age ranges in compliance with mask rules. Some thought that younger kids wouldn’t be able to keep them on all day, while others argued that adolescents might act out and refuse to wear them. But both groups saw over 90-percent compliance throughout the length of the study.
“This study really demonstrates that masking is absolutely effective, which the scientific community has recognized pretty much this whole time. If our community saw masking compliance rates greater than 90-percent, as we’re seeing in the school setting, it is well accepted that we would not see the spread that we have been seeing,” Falk said. “It’s just physics. It’s a barrier of droplets being able to get out into the world, and slowing the down or reducing the number really can help reduce transmissibility.”
Falk adds that many schools weren’t able to employ exact six-foot distancing measures, but did the best they could.
“There was great masking, there was hand sanitizing. Our next project might be looking at what role distance plays in mitigating spread,” Falk said.
Children under ten don’t seem to be great vectors for the virus, which Falk says is quite unusual. But as more data has rolled out, that has generally held true. Either way, she says a lot of kids get why the measures are in place.
“So resilient, they just understand – my 4 year old can explain to you that ‘I wear a mask to protect me, you wear a mask to protect you’ – and it’s just sort of simple and just a part of their life. So I think kids have really risen to the challenge,” Falk said.
It could be some time, even up to another year yet, before children are eligible to receive the vaccine and build community immunity in schools that way.
But Falk says their study, among several others, have shown that teachers aren’t in any greater apparent danger in a school setting than they otherwise would be in the community at large. But she maintains that getting them vaccinated could play a big role in eliminating other measures as quickly as possible.
“Getting teachers vaccinated, those who would like to be vaccinated, which I would highly encourage, is going to be a game changer. One of the major points of concern for the teachers unions and other groups is the safety of the teachers,” Falk explained. “I think with physician advocates really helping in their community, educating on the topic, get teachers and other community members vaccinated – the quicker we can do it, the quicker we can start seeing spread decline.”
Now, some reviews of the study have been critical. Wisconsin Rapids is a smaller, more rural district with less socioeconomic diversity than other areas like Milwaukee and even Green Bay.
“Unfortunately, everything is just so politicized. I’ve seen both sides of the coin spin it in a way. One things we’re really forthcoming about is our limitations,” Falk explained.
But she points out that larger districts across the country have been able to replicate similar disease spread percentages by enforcing precautions like masking and improving sanitization and ventilation of their buildings.
“I think with schools who are able to do those types of measures, and with excellent contact tracing, I think it’s worth looking at. Because we know that children are suffering greatly while being virtual. It’s not nearly equivalent to being in person,” Falk said.
You can find the full interview here. You can also read the entire report here.
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