After months, students have started going back to school. This gave smiles to their faces though some parents are still hesitant to send their children to schools. The pandemic has made them think that schools might be a less safe place as the gathering of students might cause infection. Studies have found that the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 in schools can be stopped by following the protocols like physical distancing, masking, and other safety precautions.
Children With Disabilities Have Low Chances Of Getting Infected Of The COVID-19 Virus
However, the COVID-19 dangers to children with intellectual disabilities and impairments in schools have been poorly known. These children typically cannot disguise or distance themselves from others and they may have underlying medical issues that make them vulnerable to the virus and its associated effects.
A recent study reveals that fast saliva-testing screenings targeted at early detection of the virus have helped contribute in the six schools headed by the Special School District of St. Louis County, the leading providers of specialized training in Missouri to exhibit excessively low spread of the virus. Necessary, protocols such as the use of masks and social distancing were also undertaken. In conjunction with the Special School District, the research was conducted by The Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis.
According to Christina A, the senior author involved in the study, “Our research shows that safety protocols can work in high-risk school settings.” Those who are in these schools irrespective of their abilities found safer due to strict follow-up of the standard processes. The staff have made kids aware of the situation and do not let them move without a mask and also taught them to keep a distance from each other which steps have given desired results in the form of low spared of infection of the virus among these special kids.
Saliva testing once a week in six months of six special school districts in St Louis County schools from November 2020 to May 2021 has found fewer than two incidences of school-based in the area. The researchers add that the study was carried out before the delta rise in Missouri and around the world while the results were the reassuring transmission of the virus.
The team of the study suggested testing for saliva can help keep the transmission at a low rate when children go back to school and meet each other in a normal situation. The test, carried out in cooperation with a biotechnology business by the Department of Genetics at the School of Medicine and the McDonnell Genome Institute offers results the same day.
The teachers, students, and other staff members of the Special School District were provided voluntary, weekly saliva tests from 20 November 2020, and the project would continue all through the 2021-22 school year.
Some students are affected by illnesses including neuromuscular problems, physical handicaps, and severe autism; others require gastric tube feeds or breathing with an airway tube. Those 605 school teachers and staff members who work on six campuses in the school district also face a potential risk of medical difficulties that stop children from being socially distant.
In addition, the transmission in the Special School District was limited and only two of 103 students who were confined for school exposure detected two positive cases. The individuals were interviewed and just one positive incidence of COVID-19 was related to school transmission. In some other cases, the source of the virus was unknown due to infections in a household and school. Exposures of family members before or during large meetings such as parties or sports events became more usual.
