Unvaccinated, unmasked teacher infected more than half of students in class, reports CDC

An unvaccinated elementary school teacher who took off their mask to read to students ended up infecting more than half of the students, last May.

As per California public health officials, the students further went on infecting other students, family members and community members. 

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said that it is a prime example of how easy it is to undermine efforts to protect children who are too young to be vaccinated. 

A team at Marin County Public Health reported in the CDC's report of death and disease that the teacher came to work even though they had COVID-19 symptoms and then took off their mask to read to the young students. In the classroom of 22 students, 12 became infected.

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"The school required teachers and students to mask while indoors; interviews with parents of infected students suggested that students' adherence to masking and distancing guidelines in line with CDC recommendations was high in class. However, the teacher was reportedly unmasked on occasions when reading aloud in class," the report read.

"Throughout this period, all desks were separated by six feet," it added. "All classrooms had portable high-efficiency particulate air filters and doors and windows were left open."

The CDC highlighted this case as an example of how schools need to follow all recommendations if they want to protect students and staff.

During a White House briefing, Walensky said, "The introduction of the virus into the classroom by a teacher who worked in school, while she was both symptomatic and unvaccinated and who was unmasked when reading aloud to a class, resulted in cases within the classroom, across the school and among families of students and staff in the community".