Stepping Back to School

What do we already know? Closing schools early in the COVID‐19 pandemic has been associated with significant reductions in dis‐ ease transmission at the community level, yet K‐12 schools that have returned to in‐person learning have reported few outbreaks. Modeling suggests that this discrepancy can be largely explained by school‐ based countermeasures that were not in place when schools closed. Guidance from CDC and state departments of health, including Washington, agree on the importance of these countermeasures. But we also know that schools are not islands: COVID‐19 burden in the community is an important deter‐ minant of school‐based risk. And while diagnostic testing of symptomatic individuals and contacts of known positives is essential, our testing the waters report found that “asymptomatic” testing of all stu‐ dents and staff added little value on top of other countermeasures. Even with vaccines soon available to staff, substantial uncertainties remain and no zero‐risk scenarios are available.