NPR

6 Strategies To Make Classrooms Safer As Delta Spreads

Research shows increasingly that layering one strategy on top of another can help minimize the spread of the coronavirus in classrooms.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 23: Students at the Xavier Academy, like many schools around Houston, are required to wear masks. Staff and faculty have been vaccinated and 90% of students in attendance have also been vaccinated. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

It's the kind of news story that keeps parents of school-age children up at night: Kids go to school, dutifully wear masks, and still half the class ends up infected with the coronavirus.

That's what happened this past spring at an elementary school in Marin County, Calif. The school seemed to be taking all the right precautions against COVID-19 transmission. Teachers and students were required to be masked while indoors. Student desks were spaced 6 feet apart. Doors and windows were left open.

Still, when an unvaccinated teacher who had mild allergy-like symptoms briefly removed their

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