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Masked, Vaccinated Students Didn’t Catch Covid in Classrooms

Kenneth Griffin

HR Legend
Jan 13, 2012
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Masked, Vaccinated Students Didn’t Catch Covid in Classrooms​


Carey Goldberg

3 minutes



Vaccinated and masked college students had virtually no chance of catching Covid-19 in the classroom last fall, according to a sweeping study of 33,000 Boston University students that bolsters standard prevention measures.
The researchers screened the college’s health records to find nine sets of students who developed Covid at about the same time, were in class together without social distancing and had no known contact outside school, suggesting that they might have transmitted it in the classroom. However, genome analysis of coronavirus samples from the groups showed that all of them more likely were infected in other places.
“When we looked at the genomes and compared them to one another, they were cousins but not closer than that,” said Boston University School of Medicine virologist John Connor, a co-author. He said the study in the journal JAMA Network Open provides an answer to a nervous question common last fall: “I just walked into a class with 80 people in it. How do I know I’m not going to catch disease from them?”

The university was able to perform the study because of its comprehensive, in-house testing program that includes DNA analysis of virus samples. The semester under study included 140,000 class meetings with a mean size of 31 students, virtually all of whom were vaccinated as required. Classrooms were well ventilated, the researchers said.
In-class masking was mandatory at the time the samples were taken, in contrast to this coming fall, when many colleges will have lifted requirements. Another difference between then and now: the delta variant dominated last fall, while more contagious omicron variants like BA.5 now reign.

Those differences surely matter, Connor said, but the study’s finding that in-class transmission among masked and vaccinated students was negligible can still inform future decisions about measures to take during outbreaks.
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Masked, Vaccinated Students Didn’t Catch Covid in Classrooms​


Carey Goldberg

3 minutes



Vaccinated and masked college students had virtually no chance of catching Covid-19 in the classroom last fall, according to a sweeping study of 33,000 Boston University students that bolsters standard prevention measures.
The researchers screened the college’s health records to find nine sets of students who developed Covid at about the same time, were in class together without social distancing and had no known contact outside school, suggesting that they might have transmitted it in the classroom. However, genome analysis of coronavirus samples from the groups showed that all of them more likely were infected in other places.
“When we looked at the genomes and compared them to one another, they were cousins but not closer than that,” said Boston University School of Medicine virologist John Connor, a co-author. He said the study in the journal JAMA Network Open provides an answer to a nervous question common last fall: “I just walked into a class with 80 people in it. How do I know I’m not going to catch disease from them?”

The university was able to perform the study because of its comprehensive, in-house testing program that includes DNA analysis of virus samples. The semester under study included 140,000 class meetings with a mean size of 31 students, virtually all of whom were vaccinated as required. Classrooms were well ventilated, the researchers said.
In-class masking was mandatory at the time the samples were taken, in contrast to this coming fall, when many colleges will have lifted requirements. Another difference between then and now: the delta variant dominated last fall, while more contagious omicron variants like BA.5 now reign.

Those differences surely matter, Connor said, but the study’s finding that in-class transmission among masked and vaccinated students was negligible can still inform future decisions about measures to take during outbreaks.
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Move on.
 
Never get sick if you never leave your basement.... But won't get laid either 😉

rodney-dangerfield-rodney.gif
 
This is a study of masked/vaccinated students that all got Covid purporting to prove the effectiveness of masks and vaccinations.😂 I think we’ve effectively jumped the shark. I think the study actually confirms why masking is so stupid. It doesn’t prevent the spread, at best it changes where you get it. And even that actually can’t be concluded from this study because there’s no control group (unmasked/unvaccinated or masked/unvaccinated). Even the most compliant people have to take off their masks to eat, sleep, bathe, have sex. And realistically masks are being taken off all the time when they shouldn’t be. There’s no possible way in the real world to mask effectively enough to control Covid spread. And then there’s the adverse outcomes associated with masking which is another topic entirely. Japan and Australia are 95+% fully vaccinated, with extremely high rates of compliance with masking and extreme lockdown policies, yet they are getting hammered with Covid right now. How does one explain this?
 
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So, they all got Covid anyway, just not in the classroom. And there’s no control cohort to compare to (unmaske/unvaccinated or masked/unvaccinated). I think the study actually confirms why masking is so stupid. It doesn’t prevent the spread, at best it changes where you get it. Even the most compliant people have to take off their masks to eat, sleep, bathe, have sex. And realistically masks are being taken off all the time when they shouldn’t be. There’s no possible way in the real world to mask effectively enough to control Covid spread. And then there’s the adverse outcomes associated with masking which is another topic entirely. Japan and Australia are 95+% fully vaccinated, with extremely high rates of compliance with masking and extreme lockdown policies, yet they are getting hammered with Covid right now. How does one explain this?
Japan was never locked down.
 
This is a study of masked/vaccinated students that all got Covid purporting to prove the effectiveness of masks and vaccinations.
You seem to not understand the "genetic tracking" used.
The ones who got Covid did not catch it from strains "on campus". I realize these technical concepts are difficult for you to understand, but they are "basic science".
 
This is a study of masked/vaccinated students that all got Covid purporting to prove the effectiveness of masks and vaccinations.😂 I think we’ve effectively jumped the shark. I think the study actually confirms why masking is so stupid. It doesn’t prevent the spread, at best it changes where you get it. And even that actually can’t be concluded from this study because there’s no control group (unmasked/unvaccinated or masked/unvaccinated). Even the most compliant people have to take off their masks to eat, sleep, bathe, have sex. And realistically masks are being taken off all the time when they shouldn’t be. There’s no possible way in the real world to mask effectively enough to control Covid spread. And then there’s the adverse outcomes associated with masking which is another topic entirely. Japan and Australia are 95+% fully vaccinated, with extremely high rates of compliance with masking and extreme lockdown policies, yet they are getting hammered with Covid right now. How does one explain this?
This is a giant word salad with almost no grasp of reality. Your first sentence is idiotic.
 
How about the people they might have transmitted it to? Last I heard, it’s highly contagious.

Pretty much common knowledge that vaccines (or prior infections) can increase the viral inoculum levels necessary to induce infection/illness.

And that wearing masks lowers the viral inoculum you'll be exposed to (OR expose others to, if you are shedding active viral particles).

Thus, it's unsurprising that these two things, working in tandem, reduce the spread. It is surprising, a bit, that in this study, they effectively eliminated the spread.
 
Limitations

“Limitations of our analysis included some inherent subjectivity (who doesn’t love subjectivity in their science experiments?) in traditional epidemiologic investigations that center on an individual remembering (or lying, maybe, due to all the societal hysteria and paranoia) all relevant interactions. This study occurred during a phase of the pandemic when the only circulating variants were associated with Delta sublineages, and the findings may not apply to other SARS-CoV-2 variants.“ (And to not include enhanced air-exchange & filtration effects on transmission but to infer the results were due to masking/jabbing only is a bit, uhhh, subjective.)
 
Limitations

“Limitations of our analysis included some inherent subjectivity (who doesn’t love subjectivity in their science experiments?) in traditional epidemiologic investigations that center on an individual remembering (or lying, maybe, due to all the societal hysteria and paranoia) all relevant interactions. This study occurred during a phase of the pandemic when the only circulating variants were associated with Delta sublineages, and the findings may not apply to other SARS-CoV-2 variants.“ (And to not include enhanced air-exchange & filtration effects on transmission but to infer the results were due to masking/jabbing only is a bit, uhhh, subjective.)
Well, I’m going to guess that shutting down the air circulation in order to eliminate that as a variable would be ethically challenged. But what do I know about good science. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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Limitations

“Limitations of our analysis included some inherent subjectivity (who doesn’t love subjectivity in their science experiments?) in traditional epidemiologic investigations that center on an individual remembering (or lying, maybe, due to all the societal hysteria and paranoia) all relevant interactions. This study occurred during a phase of the pandemic when the only circulating variants were associated with Delta sublineages, and the findings may not apply to other SARS-CoV-2 variants.“ (And to not include enhanced air-exchange & filtration effects on transmission but to infer the results were due to masking/jabbing only is a bit, uhhh, subjective.)
Any study has "limitations"

Still, rather amazing that NO infections occurred with the use of masks and vaccines in the areas people congregated in.
 
I also read that wild sex orgies are a sure way to get monkeypox but apparently it’s homophobic and offensive to suggest they close down “sex saunas” for a few weeks to avoid the spread. But schools because of the air vents? Fine. Shut em down.

What a world!
 
I understand that, the point is they ALL got Covid anyway. Is your chance of surviving Covid better if you contract in outside a classroom vs in a classroom. If not, who cares WHERE you catch it. Show me a study where masking students decreases the overall incidence of Covid vs unmasked students and you’ll have my attention. The problem with this study is that it doesn’t prove what many (not necessarily the authors) are saying it proves.
 
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So?

NONE of them transmitted it in their classrooms.
Which demonstrates that vaccines + masking were VERY effective mitigations.

EDIT: And no, they "did not ALL get Covid, anyway".
This is a study of patients WITH covid so yes, they all DID get covid. If they did't get covid how did they determine what genome of covid they had?
Is it possible that another factor prevented them from getting covid in the classroom? Is it possible covid wasn't transmitted in the classroom because kids with covid don't go to class? Perhaps there was covid screening performed on all students before entering the building (symptom and temperature check). Maybe that measure prevented transmission and masks had nothing to do with it. There are many other possibilities. From this study we simply don't know because it's a pure observational study with no control group. If one believes this proves the effectiveness of masks it's because they have a preconceived belief that this is true. This is called the "God of the gaps" fallacy." When a religious person sees something they can't explain it's " God", when you see an effect on covid it's "masks". What if a similarly designed study of UNmasked students also showed that they didn't get covid in the classroom. What if you do that study and find that unmasked students are more likely to get covid in the classroom but there is no overall decrease in the risk of contracting covid and both groups have the same outcomes? By jumping to unwarranted conclusions one could potentially attribute the observed effect to one cause and totally miss the REAL cause and miss an opportunity to effect outcomes.
I actually love this discussion because this is a CLASSIC example of how good science can be used to promote bad public policy. My only point is that this type of study is useful for prompting further study...i.e.a study comparing masked and unmasked, comparing overall outcomes in these two groups, etc. The problem is, throughout the pandemic this kind of data has been used to direct public policy in the name of "science" and that has led to all kinds of crap policy. The real question is why haven't well designed, well controlled trials been done 2 1/2 years into this pandemic. All the answers to that question are bad.
 
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This is a study of patients WITH covid so yes, they all DID get covid.
NOT ALL OF THE STUDENTS GOT COVID.

The ones they tested here had their variants GENETICALLY SEQUENCED. Since ALL of those infections were unrelated variants, they KNOW they caught them off campus, spud.

Jeebus.
 
This is a study of patients WITH covid so yes, they all DID get covid. If they did't get covid how did they determine what genome of covid they had?
Is it possible that another factor prevented them from getting covid in the classroom? Is it possible covid wasn't transmitted in the classroom because kids with covid don't go to class? Perhaps there was covid screening performed on all students before entering the building (symptom and temperature check). Maybe that measure prevented transmission and masks had nothing to do with it. There are many other possibilities. From this study we simply don't know because it's a pure observational study with no control group. If one believes this proves the effectiveness of masks it's because they have a preconceived belief that this is true. This is called the "God of the gaps" fallacy." When a religious person sees something they can't explain it's " God", when you see an effect on covid it's "masks". What if a similarly designed study of UNmasked students also showed that they didn't get covid in the classroom. What if you do that study and find that unmasked students are more likely to get covid in the classroom but there is no overall decrease in the risk of contracting covid and both groups have the same outcomes? By jumping to unwarranted conclusions one could potentially attribute the observed effect to one cause and totally miss the REAL cause and miss an opportunity to effect outcomes.
I actually love this discussion because this is a CLASSIC example of how good science can be used to promote bad public policy. My only point is that this type of study is useful for prompting further study...i.e.a study comparing masked and unmasked, comparing overall outcomes in these two groups, etc. The problem is, throughout the pandemic this kind of data has been used to direct public policy in the name of "science" and that has led to all kinds of crap policy. The real question is why haven't well designed, well controlled trials been done 2 1/2 years into this pandemic. All the answers to that question are bad.
Yes it’s possible that another factor prevented them from getting covid in the classroom.

“All BU buildings were inspected, received upgraded filtration when applicable, and had settings adjusted to increase frequency of fresh air exchanges. All mechanically ventilated classrooms had MERV-13 (minimum efficiency reporting values) filter upgrades and settings maximized to allow for increased fresh air and a minimum of 2 to 4 air circulations per hour. Non–mechanically ventilated classrooms had windows open when outdoor temperatures allowed and commercial-grade HEPA (high-efficiency particulate absorbing) filters placed within the rooms.”
 
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