Prognosis
Testing, Tracking Can Keep Students’ Virus Risk Low, Studies Say
- Australian study found 1.2% of contacts became infected
- School, nursery openings raise global concerns of resurgence
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Schools and nurseries don’t pose a high risk of spreading coronavirus when proper testing and tracking measures are used, according to a study that found a small percentage of people contracted the disease from infected peers and teachers.
Only 1.2% of people caught the virus after they were in contact with 27 children or teachers who were infectious, according to a study of schools and nurseries in New South Wales, Australia, where track, trace and isolation measures were used. Further analysis of seven sites found the disease was less likely to spread from child to child than from staff to staff, researchers said Monday in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.