New Reports and StudiesSchool Ventilation: A Vital Tool to Reduce COVID-19 SpreadREPORT - May 26, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health released a new report calling on kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) school administrators to urgently invest in ways to provide healthy air in schools to increase safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and potential future respiratory disease outbreaks, as well as to improve student learning. The new report,
School Ventilation: A Vital Tool to Reduce COVID-19 Spread, reviews how improvements in building ventilation can reduce the risks of disease transmission. The report also summarizes current ventilation guidelines for K-12 schools and shares the results of an analysis finding that ventilation improvements are a cost-effective public health measure compared to enhanced (“deep”) cleaning that focuses on surfaces. (John Hopkins Center for Health Security)
Mask Use and Ventilation Improvements to Reduce COVID-19 Incidence in Elementary Schools — Georgia, November 16–December 11, 2020CDC'S First Published Study Addressing Ventilation, May 28, 2021
STUDY - Summary
: What is already known about this topic? Kindergarten through grade 5 schools educate and address the students’ physical, social, and emotional needs. Preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools is imperative for safe in-person learning.
What is added by this report? COVID-19 incidence was 37% lower in schools that required teachers and staff members to use masks and 39% lower in schools that improved ventilation. Ventilation strategies associated with lower school incidence included dilution methods alone (35% lower incidence) or in combination with filtration methods (48% lower incidence).
What are the implications for public health practice? Mask requirements for teachers and staff members and improved ventilation are important strategies in addition to vaccination of teachers and staff members that elementary schools could implement as part of a multicomponent approach to provide safer, in-person learning environments. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
Characteristics of COVID-19 Cases and Outbreaks at Child Care Facilities — District of Columbia, July–December 2020STUDY - Summary: What is already known about this topic? COVID-19 cases reported at child care facilities are correlated with level of community transmission.
What is added by this report? Among 469 child care facilities in the District of Columbia, 23.9% reported at least one COVID-19 case, and 5.8% reported outbreak-associated cases during July 1–December 31, 2020. Among 319 cases, approximately one half were among teachers or staff members. Outbreak risk was increased in facilities operating <3 years, with symptomatic persons who sought testing ≥3 days after symptom onset, or with asymptomatic cases.
What are the implications for public health practice? Implementation and maintenance of multiple prevention strategies are important to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in child care facilities and to facilitate a timely public health response to prevent outbreaks. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
Stronger Air Pollution Standards in U.S. Would Have Significant Public Health BenefitsSTUDY - Reducing certain
air pollutants in the U.S. by small amounts would prevent thousands of early deaths each year among elders, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study, which focused on
fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3), also found that even when levels of these pollutants met or fell below the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) current National Ambient Air Quality Standards, they were still associated with significant mortality in elders. The authors said the findings raise serious concerns that the country’s current air quality standards do not sufficiently protect public health. (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)
Air Pollution, Not Just Poor Nutrition, Can Lead to Childhood StuntingREPORT - One of the most effective ways to promote children’s health is to reduce air pollution, according to a
meta-analysis of 45 studies exploring the link between air pollution and stunting. The researchers from
Vital Strategies found that air pollution significantly increases the risk of stunting in children, a risk that begins in the womb as mothers inhale fine particulate matter and continues throughout their childhood. Stunting is when a child is unable to reach their full physical and cognitive potential because of external factors such as poor nutrition, and it’s determined by the age of 5. Household air pollution, in particular, has been linked to harmful effects such as stunting, according to the report. “The impact of air pollution on stunting is similar to air pollution on any other health outcome,” Vivian Pun, an epidemiologist in Vital Strategies' Environmental Health Division and one of the report’s authors, told Global Citizen. (Global Citizen)
Study Links Classroom Ventilation, Air Quality with Academic PerformanceSTUDY - Each year, more than 50 million K-12 students spend upward of 1,000 hours in U.S. classrooms. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, research was establishing suggestive links between academic performance and a classroom’s air quality, possibly due to the latter affecting students’ concentration and illness-related absences. But those prior studies examined student performance only relative to carbon dioxide concentrations and the rate at which ventilation removed that CO2 from classrooms. Nebraska’s Josephine Lau and colleagues decided to investigate other facets of air quality and ventilation, along with their potential effects on student achievement. Over a two-year span, the team surveyed and analyzed 216 classrooms from 39 schools in the Midwest. The study revealed links between the type of ventilation system installed at a school and its students’ performance on year-end math and reading tests. (Nebraska Today)
