Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Jul 14, 2025

An unvaccinated teacher spread COVID-19 to 50% of students in a classroom after taking off a mask to read, CDC says

An unvaccinated teacher spread COVID-19 to 50% of students in a classroom after taking off a mask to read, CDC says

The COVID-19 outbreak spread to 26 people, the CDC reported.

An unvaccinated primary-school teacher in Marin County, California, spread COVID-19 to 26 other people, including 50% of their classroom, after spending two days sick with the coronavirus at school while not always masking, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

The report, published Friday, highlights how vital it is to both vaccinate and mask elementary-school teachers to protect children under 12, who cannot get vaccinated yet.

"We know how to protect our kids in school. We have the tools," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday, discussing the report during a White House COVID-19 briefing.

The teacher in question "was both symptomatic and unvaccinated," Walensky said, and "was unmasked when reading aloud to the class," whose students were all too young to be vaccinated.

The teacher's actions resulted in 12 COVID-19 cases among the class of 24 kids, along with six other illnesses at the K-8 school, and eight parents and siblings were infected, the report said.

The investigation used viral-genome sequencing to determine the cases were all likely related. All the COVID-19 cases sequenced in the outbreak were classified as the Delta variant, which is about twice as contagious as other versions of the virus.

No one was hospitalized.

The unvaccinated teacher spread COVID-19 to 12 of their 24 students, despite distancing and masks on the kids, the CDC said.


The CDC drew up a map of the classroom, which shows the prevention measures that had been taken.

Students' desks were spaced apart 6 feet, windows and doors were left open to promote good ventilation, and an air filter was installed at the head of the class. Kids' adherence to CDC guidelines on both masking and distancing in school was "high" in class, according to interviews the CDC conducted with parents.

But with an unmasked, unvaccinated teacher at the helm, none of that appeared to matter so much.

The teacher continued teaching for two days while symptomatic, starting on May 19, with their symptoms worsening from initial congestion and fatigue that they wrote off as allergies to a cough, fever, and headache.

It did seem that sitting farther away from the sick teacher helped protect students, which makes sense when you consider how the coronavirus travels from person to person through the air when sick people talk or shout.

"The attack rate in the two rows seated closest to the teacher's desk was 80% (8 of 10) and was 21% (3 of 14) in the three back rows," the CDC report said.

The finding underscores what other experts have been saying for a while now — more adults need to be vaccinated to protect everyone from the Delta variant.

"Six feet is not magical," Mike Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said Thursday on his podcast, stressing that he thought the CDC guidelines didn't go far enough to prevent the spread of the more contagious Delta variant.

"We can make [school] safer, and we have to do that," Osterholm said. "The first thing we do is we use our vaccines."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
×