To accompany “What is the role of in-person classes in COVID-19’s spread?”

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

1.  How have you prepared for returning to school in the age of COVID-19? What’s different about those preparations from before the pandemic struck?

2.  When it comes to COVID-19, what is a so-called super-spreader event? What is the delta variant and why might it complicate people gathering in indoor spaces, such as schools?

During Reading:

1.  Susi Kriemler’s team undertook a study in Switzerland that looked into what?

2.  What is SARS-CoV-2? Why was Kriemler’s team focusing on antibodies to that?

3.  What did the Swiss study show about schools as potential super-spreader sites?

4.  How did the new study by Dan Cooper’s team differ from Kriemler’s? 

5.  What did this University of California, Irvine study show about the potential for schools to become super-spreader sites for COVID-19?

6.  How did the best-performing school differ from the worst? What was the cost of making the best-performing school ready for COVID-19?

After Reading:

1.  What are three take-home lessons from the research presented in this story?

2.  If you live in the United States, find your home on the CDC map of SARS-CoV-2 transmission rates. How does your region compare, generally, with the rest of the nation?

3.  Based on what you read, are you more concerned about COVID-19 safety in school, in your community or in both? Use information from the story to explain why.