In-person schooling and associated COVID-19 risk in the United States over Spring Semester 2021

Wiens, K. E.; Smith, C. P.; Badillo-Goicoechea, E.; Grantz, K. H.; Grabowski, M. K.; Azman, A. S.; Stuart, E. A.; Lessler, J.

Because of the importance of schools to childhood development, the relationship between in-person schooling and COVID-19 risk has been one of the most important questions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous work using data from the United States in winter 2020-21 showed that in-person schooling carried some risk for household members, and that mitigation measures reduced this risk. However, in-person schooling behavior and the COVID-19 landscape changed radically over the 2021 spring semester. Here we use data from a massive online survey to characterize changes in in-person schooling behavior and associated risks over that period. We find a significant increase in the frequency of in-person schooling and a reduction in mitigation, and that in-person schooling is associated with increased reporting of COVID-19 outcomes, even among vaccinated individuals (though the absolute risk among the vaccinated is greatly reduced). Moreover, vaccinated teachers working outside the home were less likely to report COVID-19-related outcomes than unvaccinated teachers reporting no work outside the home. Adequate mitigation measures appear to eliminate the excess risk associated with in person schooling.