A masking mandate in North Carolina schools during the early weeks of the Delta variant surge resulted in a lower rate of infection among school children and staff members than what was reported in the broader community, according to a new report from the ABC Science Collaborative.
Publishing in the journal Pediatrics, the analysis includes data from 20 school districts in North Carolina that held summer school or year-round school between June 14, 2021, and Aug. 13, 2021. The Delta variant became the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the United States in early July 2021. “The findings of this study are extremely encouraging for the health and safety of students and staff attending schools where universal masking is in place,” said Kanecia Zimmerman, MD, MPH, co-chair of the ABC Science Collaborative. “The Delta variant is more transmissible than previous ancestral variants, but transmission in schools can continue to be low with vaccination among those who are eligible, strict adherence to masking, and avoidance of pandemic fatigue.” Learn more here.