COVID Outbreaks at Schools Often Originate from Teachers, CDC Study Says

Students and teacher wearing masks in classroom.Photo: Getty A new study fromCenters for Disease Control and Preventionhas foundCOVID-19outbreaks at schools often originate with teachers. The findings, published Monday, said “that educators play an important role in in-school transmission,” citing “an investigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a Georgia school district during Dec. 1, 2020 to Jan. 22, 2021.” The investigation, researchers say, “identified nine clusters of COVID-19 cases involving 13 educators and 32 students at six elementary schools” which, according toCNN, were located in Atlanta suburbs.

COVID Pod Pals: Taylor Swift Helped Zoë Kravitz with London Photoshoot While She Was Filming 'The Batman'

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Cindy Ord/Getty ImagesLooks likeTaylor SwiftandZoë Kravitzshared a COVID-19 social pod last year.The pals were both in London when Kravitz was set to be photographed forTheNew York Times Magazine’s “Great Performers” issue and she needed help with a socially distanced photoshoot. In stepped Swift, who the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jake Silverstein revealed was part of Kravitz safe COVID pod.“Zoe was being very strict about [social distancing guidelines] anyway because she’s shooting a movie [The Batman], andTaylor Swiftwas in her pod and willing to assist,” Silversteinsaid in a WWDinterview in December, revealing the photographer directed Swift over Zoom from Paris.

COVID Safety Negotiations in Chicago Leave Classes Canceled for Fourth Straight Day

Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Opening schools during the COVID pandemic has been no easy task in Illinois, where talks between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have led to the fourth day of canceled classes. “Out of fairness and consideration for parents who need to prepare, classes will be canceled again Monday,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in astatementposted over the weekend. “Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow,” he explained.

COVID Separated Their Family for Weeks, So They Couldn't Wait to Enroll Their Toddler in the Vaccine Trial

Photo: courtesy Kathleen McAllister New motherhood is challenging, even before Dad leaves to fight an unknown virus. Parenting a newborn during a pandemic lockdown meant no mommy-and-me yoga or playgroups — all the socialization that help keep new moms sane.“The pandemic was really hard for parents,” McAllister recalls. When the family moved to Atlanta in the summer of 2021, her husband Stephen Russell overheard a parent at the playground talking about the Pfizer trial for children’s vaccines.

COVID Subvariant BA.2 Will Likely Cause an 'Uptick in Cases' in the Next Few Weeks, Says Fauci

COVID-19 test.Photo: Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Another rise in COVID-19 casesis likely coming to the U.S. in the next few weeks as BA.2,a more contagious subvariant of omicron, hits more of the country. The subvariant, which has already become the dominant strain in Europe, is around 50 to 60% more transmissible than omicron, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert,said Sunday onThis Week. But on the positive side, it does not appear to cause more severe infections, andvaccines are still effective against BA.