School Health News

The national vaccine exemption rate among children entering kindergarten in the 2019-2020 school year was 2.5% from at least one vaccine, the same rate as the previous year, new data published in MMWR showed.

According to an online survey of U.S. summer camp leaders, 80% agreed that all campers should be fully immunized but only 50% reported that their camps had a written immunization policy.

The weekly percentages of positive COVID-19 tests among children and adolescents paralleled trends in adults, including during months when schools were open for in-person learning, data published in MMWR showed.

An analysis of data from 22 U.S. states demonstrated a more than eightfold increase in the hospitalization rate of children with COVID-19 over the course of 6 months, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Counties in the United States with large colleges or universities that held in-person learning experienced a more than 50% increase in cases of COVID-19, whereas those with remote learning saw a decline in cases, researchers reported.

CDC researchers estimated that the average school district would need to invest between $55 and $442 per student to safely return to in-person learning, according to a report published in MMWR.

Nonfatal drug-related overdoses are rising among children aged younger than 15 years, findings published in Pediatrics showed.

In 2020, 23.6% of high school students and 6.7% of middle school students reported using any tobacco product, although the number of users declined by 1.73 million from 2019 to about 4.45 million, according to data published in MMWR.

Nearly three in four American teenagers reported exposure to loud sounds at school for more than 15 minutes per day, according to results published in MMWR.

The AAP now says that children should wear masks while participating in most sports.