Teachers Have No Higher Risk of Severe COVID-19

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Sept. 2, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- As the caller schoolhouse twelvemonth begins, teachers tin instrumentality comfortableness successful a caller study that finds they person nary greater hazard of catching oregon being hospitalized for terrible COVID-19 than anyone else.

Researchers successful Scotland accidental that mightiness beryllium due to the fact that galore schools instrumentality precautions that different workplaces don't. It's besides imaginable that the teachers successful the survey were younger and healthier than different workers, the authors said.

"Teachers are astir mean successful presumption of their hazard of hospitalization with COVID-19, erstwhile compared to different working-age adults," said pb researcher Dr. David McAllister, a prof of objective epidemiology and aesculapian informatics astatine the Institute of Health and Wellbeing astatine the University of Glasgow. "Unlike wellness attraction workers, teachers are not astatine accrued hazard of hospitalization with COVID-19, adjacent erstwhile schools are open."

Using information from March 2020 to July 2021, McAllister and his colleagues collected accusation connected much than 132,000 radical with COVID-19, ages 21 to 65, and much than 1.3 cardinal radical from the wide population, each successful Scotland. They compared the hazard of COVID-19 among teachers and their household members with wellness attraction workers and others.

Over the survey period, the hazard of being hospitalized with COVID-19 was little than 1% for teachers, wellness attraction workers and different adults, the researchers found.

After taking into relationship factors specified arsenic age, sex, ethnicity and economical status, the hazard of being hospitalized with COVID-19 was astir 50% little among teachers and their household members than among the wide population, the researchers noted.

Over the aforesaid period, the hazard was astir 4 times higher among wellness attraction workers and astir doubly arsenic precocious among their families, the researchers found.

During the archetypal play of afloat schoolhouse opening successful the autumn of 2020, the hazard of hospitalization among teachers accrued by 2.4-fold, reaching a level akin to that successful the wide population. By the summertime of 2021, erstwhile vaccinations were underway, a smaller summation of 1.7 times was seen.

Continued

The study was published online Sept. 1 successful the diary BMJ .

It's not astonishing that the hazard to teachers is not higher than different groups, said Douglas Harris, Schlieder Foundation Chair successful nationalist acquisition astatine Tulane University successful New Orleans, and manager of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans.

In schools wherever masks and social distancing are mandated, the hazard of spreading COVID-19 is chopped dramatically, helium said.

"I think, for the astir part, schools are handling it successful a sensible mode and I think, for the astir part, it's sensible keeping the kids successful schoolhouse erstwhile it's safe," Harris said.

Of course, vaccination is the cardinal to beating the pandemic, helium added.

"I deliberation successful the U.S., there's an ongoing statement astir whether vaccines tin beryllium mandated. That's the elephant successful the room. I deliberation that that astir has to hap if we're truly going to get backmost to normal," Harris said.

Harris believes that schoolhouse systems should mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for teachers and each students, including young children erstwhile a vaccine has been approved.

"We already bash that for, for children, they're already required to get vaccinated for different things," helium said. "It's hard to spot wherefore you wouldn't necessitate it. In this lawsuit and truly that is the lone mode we get backmost to normal, this could spell connected for years."

As much adults are vaccinated, the microorganism volition onslaught mostly the unvaccinated, particularly children, Harris said.

But everything should beryllium done to minimize the dispersed of the microorganism and support schools open, helium said.

"There are wellness consequences to closing schools," Harris said. "We thin to absorption connected the contiguous effect of schools opening and spreading the virus, which is intelligibly important and astir apt the archetypal consideration, but erstwhile you adjacent the schools you make a caller acceptable of problems, mental illness and kid abuse, and each sorts of economical broadside effects."

More information

For much connected COVID-19 and schools, spot the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: David McAllister, MD, MPH, professor, objective epidemiology and aesculapian informatics, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Scotland; Douglas Harris, PhD, professor, economics, and Schlieder Foundation Chair, nationalist education, Tulane University, New Orleans, and director, Education Research Alliance for New Orleans; BMJ , Sept. 1, 2021, online