Details of COVID-19 Disease Mitigation Strategies in 17 K-12 Schools in Wood County, Wisconsin

Falk, A.; Benda, A.; Steffen, S.; DeCoster, M.; Gandhi, M.; Hoeg, T. B.

Importance: With the current COVID-19 return to school guidelines, over half of American K-12 students are being denied access to full time in-person education, leading to harmful academic, emotional and health consequences. Objective: To describe the specific details of mitigation strategies employed at 17 K-12 schools in Wisconsin during a time of exceptionally high COVID-19 community disease prevalence where in-school transmission was minimal. The aim of this report is to assist school districts and governing bodies in developing full-time return to school plans. Design: Retrospective cohort Setting: Wood County, Wisconsin, August 31 to November 29, 2020 Participants: 5,530 students and staff from 17 schools in 4 school districts Main outcomes and measures: 1. Distancing between primary and secondary students in school 2. School ventilation details 3. Masking among teachers 4. Lunch, recess and bussing practices Results: 89.3% of elementary students included in our study did not maintain 6 feet of physical distancing in the classroom and 94.8% were within 6 feet in lunchrooms. The majority of secondary students (86.2%) were able to maintain 6 feet of distancing in the classroom but no students were greater than 6 feet in the hallways. 58.8% of schools did not install new ventilation systems prior to the school year. Students ate lunch indoors. Bussing of students continued and all elementary children were allowed to go without masks at recess. Conclusion and relevance: In the setting of high community COVID-19 disease transmission, 6 feet of distance between elementary students and major ventilation system renovations in primary or secondary schools do not appear to be necessary to minimize disease spread. Requiring masks at recess and prohibiting bussing also appears unnecessary. These findings may inform guidance on the safe reopening of schools and allow for more children to return to in-person schooling.