Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Politics
Prognosis

Covid-19 Outbreaks Aren’t Driven by In-Person Classes, CDC Says

  • Schools should be last to close, first to reopen, study finds
  • Those 18-24 may have contributed more to community spread
A teacher walks around the classroom during a lesson at an elementary school in San Francisco, on Oct. 5, 2020. 

A teacher walks around the classroom during a lesson at an elementary school in San Francisco, on Oct. 5, 2020. 

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The return to in-person classes in nearly two-thirds of the U.S. hasn’t led to a rash of community outbreaks, federal scientists said in a study of 2.87 million cases among those under age 24.

Disease rates in counties where in-person learning is available for school-aged children and adolescents is similar to areas where classes are entirely online, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It concludes schools should be the last to close, and the first to re-open.