Educators are less worried about the increase in COVID-19 cases at school this year

It is not yet clear whether the newly detected variants of Omicron justify stricter mitigation or surveillance measures in schools. “Obviously, this variant needs to be carefully monitored, but it’s too early to change behavior,” said Elissa Perkins, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and an infectious disease expert. Volunteer Advisor to the Massachusetts Department of Primary and Secondary Education.

Until this fall, high staff vaccination rates and state testing programs allow schools to quickly determine if asymptomatic students have been infected with the virus after being exposed to COVID-19-positive teachers or classmates. I was able to do it. Almost every school in the state participates in the program. You can leave more students with negative test results in school.

Week of November 18th The state recorded 3,257 cases Among students.that is Almost three times the 1,230 cases recorded in the first week of school. Similarly, staff cases have nearly tripled to 558 since September 16.

A cluster has emerged over-, Matapoi set, And Southborough, and Boston has closed the entire Jamaica Plain K-8 School After the outbreak of 46 people, Encourage the teachers union, Parents request an independent investigation. When the school was suspended for Thanksgiving, Boston reported another 25 cases from a pool test at Sarah Greenwood K-8 School in Dorchester. (District authorities are working to determine the number of confirmed cases.)

Still, medical professionals say there is no evidence that schools have become a major source of community expansion or that Omicron has emerged there.

“It’s not surprising that the numbers are increasing. It’s the holiday season. People go more indoors,” Perkins said.

Erin Bromage, an associate professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, said schools are not a major source of dissemination in most communities today. “In most schools, we see only isolated cases revealed through testing,” he said.

By better understanding the more tools available to control the increase and decrease of the virus and transmission, school leaders said they felt more optimistic.

“I’m less worried than this time last year,” said Billerica coach Tim Piwower. He said most of his staff were vaccinated. But Omicron’s discovery undermined his optimism. “The timing of this is bad,” he said, pointing out the “unavoidable” rise after Thanksgiving and throughout the holidays.

So far, experts and school leaders have stated that there is no evidence of significant changes in the way students and staff are protected. (However, some school districts that were experimenting with unmasking may pause before completely removing the face cover.)

In addition to the availability of vaccinations, including recent approvals for immunizing young children, schools may use a state test program called “Test and Stay” to address positive cases at school. I was able to do it. Instead of sending all contacts to your home quarantine like last year, registered districts like Billerica can quickly test students and teachers.

In Andover, for example, from November 1st, school leaders responded to the outbreak of 31 elementary school students and one staff member. The contract tracker is of unknown origin, but believes that the infection may have occurred at three different community events. To Nicole Keeser, a spokeswoman for the district.

The elementary school did not close the classroom. Instead, the school used a state test program to quickly determine that there were no additional positive cases among classmates and “helped many students continue their face-to-face classes. “Kieser wrote.

Throughout the state, this program is helping to “save” Face-to-face school days for 135,438 people, according to state data.

“It helped a lot,” said Thomas Anderson, director of New Bedford. “Nothing is perfect, but this works for us.”

Anderson said he didn’t know what percentage of the students agreed to the test, but many families opt-in “when faced with the possibility that their child might have to stay home.”

At Lowell Public School, only about a quarter of students apply for tests and stays, according to Jason McCleven, Principal of Washington Elementary School and Interim Safety Coordinator for the District. “I hope more people will sign up,” he said.

Bromage, an associate professor at UMass Dartmouth, is worried that too few campuses are using surveillance tests. Monitoring tests regularly test registered students and staff. Known exposure to try to catch before the case spreads. “By not participating in the surveillance program, they are running blindly,” Bromage said.

According to state data, only 63% of schools enroll in preventative surveillance tests, and some of the largest school districts do not use them. (The state does not recommend it to vaccinated students or staff.) Without regular surveillance tests, the school would “in-school until multiple cases were seen on out-of-school tests.” I don’t know if I have an infection, “he says. Said. “At that stage, they are trying to chase the infection, not to move forward.”

However, according to some supervisors and Perkins, a professor of emergency medicine at Boston University, it is not an effective use of the school’s limited staff. She advocated school surveillance last year, but scientists say they have more information than they do now. “My stance has changed because of last year’s data and few school infections,” she said.

And as vaccinations became available to children aged 5 to 11 earlier this month, she quickly tested students whose schools showed signs of the virus or were exposed to positive classmates on the test. I am even more convinced that I should spend time and energy to do so.

However, in areas with low immunization rates, there is still concern about withdrawing surveillance tests given the increasing number of cases. “We’re a little worried,” said Azel Kavan, a spokeswoman for Springfield Public School, a city where 43 percent of people aged 12 to 15 are fully vaccinated. The district uses both regular monitoring tests and tests and will stay if positive. “There are no clusters, but vaccination is not what we want.”

Piwowar in Billerica is worried that less than half of the ages 12 to 15 are fully vaccinated and children in his area have not yet been vaccinated. “There are health implications … And there is the fact that children who test positive have to take a considerable amount of time off school and their educational impact is enormous.”

Bianca Vázquez Toness can be reached at [email protected].. Follow her on Twitter. @biancavtoness..