PSA: a COVID-19 case at schools is not the same as a school outbreaks.
Important difference!
If a student tests +, their contacts are traced and tested. If cases are found among contacts or if there are more cases at school within a period of time an outbreak is called... /1

An “outbreak” therefore is about school based transmission. Understanding what happened - whether measures weren’t taken/iweren’t strong enough-is important. We will find some + tests at schools because there are community based cases but (this is important) a positive test.../2

...+ PCR can occur before symptoms are present by 1-2 days, during inapparent/mild symptoms, during moderate and severe symptoms AND in some people for 6 weeks or more after.
MOST transmission is in the first week of and essentially these long late positives do not spread.../3

So a “asymptomatic” pos may be infectious but based on timing is more likely is postinfectious.
Factoids
- In a study 0.3% of contacts of asymptomatic cases were positive versus 6% of very sick contacts
- household transmission occurs to 10-15% of contacts not 100%.../3

So: superspreader events -which is what everyone assumes when they hear “COVID-19 in XYZ school” - happen, but are rare and we need to understand them better: index cases, environment, type of contacts=outbreak investigation.

So
A case in a school means they are evaluating.../4

...and is not an outbreak unless evidence of school based spread- a few linked cases through to a 15% attack rate like in a superspreader event.

An “outbreak” can be 2 mild cases.

The problem is that in incorrect terminology spreads panic and we don’t need more of that. /fin