Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Aug 23, 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

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×