This week Fred reviews the latest school recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that released a new Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools to incorporate the best available evidence at this time

The evidence suggests that many K-12 schools that have strictly implemented mitigation strategies have been able to safely open for in-person instruction and remain open. Add to this the disproportionate negative effect on low-income communities since schools play such a significant part in promoting equity and getting schools open for in person classes becomes even more pressing

As Vinay Prasad put it: “76 days left to open public schools, Anything less than 90% open in person 5 days a week is failure in my book, and will be when history looks back on this moment”

What will it take – layer (incremental) strategies

Five key mitigation strategies are essential to safe delivery of in-person instruction and help to mitigate COVID-19 transmission in schools:

Universal and correct use of masks

Physical distancing

Handwashing and respiratory etiquette

Cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities

Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine, in collaboration with the health department

The priority here is universal and correct use of face coverings and physical distancing

We discuss who should vaccinate and specifically the thinking around those who have had COVID19 and a pre-published paper. The highlight here is that for those who had a previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 we have seen a slow decline in antibody titers but for this small group of 10 subjects who received the mRNA vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna) the researchers detected a 1000 fold increase in neutralizing antibodies

So – do you need a vaccine if you have had COVID19

Contact us at Veilig Health if you’d like to discuss your situation.