The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘WE NEED TO REMAIN VIGILANT’
Amid rise in cases, a focus on school health screenings
As many Connecticut schools prepare to reopen for in-person instruction, screening students for symptoms of COVID-19 will be part of the new routine.
But most school districts are leaving that responsibility to families — a process some medical professionals say may not be effective, particularly as some communities have seen recent spikes in COVID cases among infants and children.
In Danbury, the number of infants in the city who have tested positive for the coronavirus recently doubled and more than two dozen young children have also been infected.
Since Aug. 12, there have been four COVID cases among Danbury infants. There had previously been four infant cases in the city since the pandemic began in March. The jump in youth cases is part of an overall spike in Danbury, and has resulted in city schools switching from a hybrid model to going completely remote to start the year.
That’s a good decision, said Thomas Murray, associate medical director for infection prevention at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. He said municipalities should expect to see some COVID spikes, but officials need to act quickly to keep them under control.
“What we need to do is make sure that a small
cluster here and there doesn’t become a larger outbreak across the state,” he said. “One cluster or one area of a few cases isn’t surprising. But we want to make sure we’re not seeing widespread infection.”
A spokesman for the state Department of Public Health did not respond to requests for comment and data on recent child cases statewide.
Kara Prunty, acting director of health in Danbury, said there have been 27 new cases in the city the past two days, including five children under 16 years old. But the city has not seen any new infant cases since Wednesday, she said.
“The data shows more
children testing positive, compared to previous months,” she said. “We are continuing to raise awareness and encourage everyone to get tested, including children.”
But Beth Natt, regional clinical director of hospital partnership operation at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, said the Danbury numbers could be misleading since widespread COVID-19 testing was not available during the early days of the pandemic. She said it’s likely there were more infant and pediatric cases that went undetected.
“It’s not that kids weren’t getting (COVID), it’s just that (testing was so limited) that we didn’t know about it,” said Natt, a pediatric hospitalist.
Still, she said, the latest numbers should re-emphasize the importance of
social distancing, maskwearing and other precautions.
“We need to remain vigilant,” she said.
As many school districts are planning for at least some in-person instruction, determining whether students are healthy will be mostly left up to their families.
In Bridgeport, for example, parents are expected to screen students before school, making sure their temperature is below 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit and observing for symptoms associated with COVID-19.
Stratford has a similar policy, asking parents to check for a temperature of 100 or higher, as well as chills, sore throat and other symptoms.
In Stamford, the reopening plan posted online asks for staff and
students to “complete (a) health self-assessment in morning before leaving home,” but doesn’t give specifics.
In its guidance on reopening schools, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not provide specific recommendations on temperature checks and symptom screenings, though it says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “does not recommend universally screening students at school, because screening may fail to identify a student who has a SARS-CoV-2 infection and may overidentify students with different common childhood illnesses.”
However, at least some Connecticut health experts have concerns about leaving temperature and symptom assessments to
parents.
“I would have to question this approach, as when the parents are expected to work or might have (exhausted) their sick leave benefits, (they may possibly) send kids to school with a mild temperature,” said Michael Urban, director of occupational therapy at the University of New Haven. “The best approach would be for the schools to do the checks themselves to assure there is a level of consistency in symptom checking.”
He said symptom checks in general are a good idea, though he pointed out that many children are “silent carriers” of COVID and can often be asymptomatic.
Keith Grant, senior system director of infection prevention for Hartford Healthcare,
agreed that checking at home is not the most effective method.
“I think assessments should be on campus as much as possible, but I don’t think all campuses (are able) to operationalize that,” he said.
However, he didn’t believe there was an increased likelihood of parents sending their children to school with temperatures or other symptoms. Grant pointed to the early days of the pandemic as proof. Connecticut was hit hard by COVID, but responsible behavior, such as social distancing and maskwearing, helped prevent wider spread.
“(We’re) still living in the state where, a few months ago, we were in a very bad place,” he said. “We know what the risk is.”