Khan assures safe return to in-person classes

Medical epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan, center right, presents to CNMI Public School System stakeholders his key messages regarding the safety and importance of reopening schools for in-person learning. The virtual meeting was held on Tuesday through Zoom. This screengrab is from a recording uploaded by PSS on its Facebook page. Also in photo is Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Muña and Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred B. Ada.
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Multiple studies conducted in 191 countries show that opening schools thus far has not been associated with community transmission of COVID-19. In fact, COVID-19 superspreading events has not been seen in school-aged children from kindergarten to ninth grade, especially in schools with spread mitigation strategies in place.

Medical epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan cited these key points Tuesday during a collaborative meeting between the CNMI Public School System and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. to highlight the safety and importance of reopening schools for in-person learning.

Citing a review brief compiled by UNICEF and UNESCO on several studies, Khan said that schools are not main drivers of community transmission in CNMI. He said it is possible for schools to safely reopen for in-person learning and stay open with public health and social measures.

“For parents who may be concerned that sending kids back to school may lead to increased transmission within the community, we do know that does not happen,” said Khan.

The event was held online and was attended by CHCC and PSS leadership and PSS’ stakeholders. A download link to the brief compiled by UNICEF and UNESCO can be found at https://www.unicef.org/documents/in-person-schooling-covid-19-transmission-review-of-evidence.

Other key takeaways from Khan’s presentation on Tuesday are that when school mitigation measures are in place, children are more likely to get the virus outside of school settings; school staff are at lower risk of infection in school settings compared to the general adult population; and vaccination of students should not be a prerequisite for schools to reopen.

Khan said that, along with being a medical epidemiologist, he is also a pediatrician. As a pediatrician, he said he will never say that children are zero to no risk to a disease; children can still get infected. However, in terms of COVID-19, children are less likely to be infected and the symptoms experienced by infected children will likely be much milder than what infected adults may experience.

By global COVID-19 infection percentages, Khan said children under 14 years old make up 8%. By global COVID-19 death percentages, children within this age group make 0.2% to 0.4%.

Khan also said that when mitigation measures are in place, such as making sure face coverings are worn, maintaining social distancing, and washing/ sanitizing hands, children are less likely to get infected in school.

Khan said that reopening schools with “a layered set of protection measures” has been advocated by health leaders even before COVID-19 vaccines were publicly available. As such, he said that COVID-19 vaccinations should not be thought of as a prerequisite to reopening schools for in-person classes, but rather an additional layer of protection on top of mitigation measures that are and have already been in place.

“Having a certain number of kids vaccinated is not a reason to keep schools closed, I see [a high vaccination rate] as a bonus. It means we already knew we had all these measures to protect our kids and teachers, and now we have one more measure on top of those that will protect them even more,” said Khan.

He said it takes a community effort to keep schools open and further minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Khan said it is crucial for schools to enforce and observe mitigation measures and test children and staff for COVID-19. For parents and guardians living in the same households as students, Khan urged getting vaccinated.

“To make this happen requires a whole-community approach, and kudos to the community and [CHCC] for their work that they are doing. …It will require work within schools to make sure that you’re thinking about hygiene, cleaning schools, cohorting schools, social distancing, masking, all measures that are necessary. …Especially for parents, grandparents, teachers and others, get vaccinated. Protect yourself, protect your kids, protect your community,” said Khan.

“There’s lots of layers of protection for kids to go back to school, and to do it very safely,” he added.

A question-and-answer session with Khan immediately followed his presentation.