ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The results of a Washington University-Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study involving COVID and St. Louis County schools are in. In schools practicing social distancing, COVID transmission is extremely rare, and schools implementing mask wearing and increased ventilation had lower COVID transmission than in the community.
“Going to school is where you want to be, almost,” said Dr. Jason Newland, an infectious disease specialist at Washington University and St. Louis University. “If you had someplace to go, daily, if you can’t be at home, be at school. Everything they’re doing is definitely going to keep you away from the virus.”
While Jennings School District offers students a virtual option, they’ve also offered in-person education since the beginning of the school year. Superintendent Dr. Art McCoy said one-third of the staff is trained in contact tracing.
The CDC study focused on some of the COVID mitigation techniques that Jennings has been practicing all year.
McCoy said: “What we learned is that transmission occurs outside of school more than inside of school. We learned the rates of transmission are very low when students are inside of school wearing masks.”
Newland says Pattonville is another school district that could serve as a model.
“Schools can be a safe place to go even when our community transmission rates are extremely high,” he said. “Why is that? Because of the mitigation practices that are in place in our schools.”
McCoy said the message from the study might just be that school communities and COVID can co-exist.
“Simply put,” McCoy said, “schools are the safest place because students and adults know the do’s and don’ts, and they keep structures and boundaries in place.”
McCoy said Jennings also staggers classroom seating and traffic flow in and out of the buildings. Instead of school buses, Jennings uses minivans and passenger cars with the windows open for ventilation.