Many school districts across the nation will once again open for in-person instruction later this month. But data on how COVID-19 spreads in schools remain inadequate.
At the request of one of my readers, I’ve updated my annotations of state K-12 data reporting, first published on December 6. The annotations are posted on a new resource page, which also includes notes on the four major national sources for COVID-19 school data. I’ll be updating this page every two weeks.
Here’s how the state data stand, as of January 1:
- 34 states and the District of Columbia are reporting COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools, in some form
- 7 states are reporting incomplete data on school outbreaks or cases in school-aged children
- 20 states are separating out school case counts by students and staff
- 5 states are reporting deaths linked to school outbreaks
- 1 state is reporting COVID-19 tests conducted for school students and staff (New York)
- 2 states are reporting in-person enrollment (New York and Texas)
Related posts
- Sources and updates, July 16Sources and updates for the week of July 16 include detecting SARS-CoV-2 in the air, regular testing in schools, Google trends, and more.
- Sources and updates, April 9Sources and updates for the week of April 9 include Omicron boosters, federal Long COVID progress, ventilation improvements in K-12 schools, and more.
- Sources and updates, March 12Sources and updates for the week of March 12 include Long COVID deaths, gastrointestinal symptoms, trust in public health agencies, and more.
- Wastewater surveillance can get more specific than entire sewershedsThis week, I had a new article published in The Atlantic about how COVID-19 wastewater surveillance can be useful beyond entire sewersheds, the setting where this testing usually takes place. Sewershed testing is great for broad trends about large populations (like, an entire city or county), the story explains. But if you’re a public health official seeking truly actionable data to inform policies, it’s helpful to get more specific.
Some genuinely interesting information, well written and broadly speaking user genial. How much have you written like this?