Walensky: Schools not following CDC guidance seeing ‘large-scale’ outbreaks

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky called on schools that are not following guidance to “do the right thing” and implement COVID-19 precautions, like masking, to avoid outbreaks and protect children from the virus. 

“In our outbreak investigations, large-scale quarantines or large number of cases are generally occurring in schools, because schools are not following our guidance, particularly our recommendations for teachers as well as students aged 12 and over to be vaccinated and for everyone right now to be masked,” Walensky said during a Friday briefing.

“I want to strongly appeal to those districts who have not implemented prevention strategies and encourage them to do the right thing to protect the children under their care,” Walensky said. “We know these multi-layered mitigation strategies work, and thanks to the American Rescue Plan schools have the resources to implement these strategies.” 

The CDC director said studies have shown prevention strategies, including masking, social distancing, testing, ventilation and vaccination, help to thwart COVID-19 spread in schools. She cited a CDC study released Friday that found the case rates among children in schools with these protections were 3.4 times lower during the winter peak compared with rates in the community.

“Schools should implement as many of these prevention layers as possible simultaneously,” she said. “And this serves to protect our children, even if there are inevitable breaches in any single protection layer.”

But some schools face obstacles in requiring masks as several GOP governors, including Gov. Greg Abbott (Texas) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (Fla.), have banned schools from mandating masks, which has prompted defiance from school officials and court battles. 

Walensky acknowledged that symptomatic and severe COVID-19 cases in children are “less common” than in other age groups. But she said the U.S. has seen a rise in pediatric cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks, citing the highly transmissible delta variant.

Current pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. reached 1,500 in the past day, as the pressure on the children’s hospitals mounts. The Children’s Hospital Association requested “immediate help” from President Biden as the hospitals approach capacity and endure staff shortages. 

At least 90,000 students in 19 states have had to quarantine or isolate after either contracting or being exposed to COVID-19, according to analysis from The Hill.

But vaccinations among eligible populations are increasing, as White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said now 50 percent of those aged 12 to 17 have gotten at least one dose.

“In fact the vaccination rate among adolescents is growing faster than any other age group,” he said. “And we will continue to do everything we can to get this group of adolescents vaccinated.”

The vaccine has not yet been authorized for those younger than 12, putting the age group at more risk to getting infected than the vaccinated.