Free Union COVID-19 Task Force
Health Team Recommendations Sources
Policy Papers, Letters, & Articles
State of Virginia Plans and Guidelines for Reopening
- June 2, 2020 - VA governor on considerations for opening child care and school for students to 13 years
- June 10, 2020 - VA governor updated phased plan for schools
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Background and Context
- Guidelines for Opening Schools and Childcare Centers
- Face covering guidelines for all, not only schools
- Further excellent reading on maintaining health in schools
- Cleaning and disinfecting school spaces
- Handwashing with a link to the science behind their recommendations
Instructional videos on hand cleaning, good for the entire family
- How to wash hands with hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available -- short video
- How to wash with soap and water (World Health Organization)
Guidance from other states
Professional opinions
- Considerations for reopening childcare and K-12 (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)
- NY Times article: How 132 epidemiologists feel about sending their children back to school
- Meta-analysis on the effectiveness of physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection
- Non-pharmaceutical measures for mitigating risk and impact… (literature review, WHO)
- WSJ article: How Exactly Do You Catch COVID-19? There is a Growing Consensus
Scientific journal articles and letters
- Brainard, J., Jones, N., Lake, I., Hooper, L., Hunter, P. (2020, April) Facemasks and similar barriers to prevent respiratory illness such as COVID-19: A rapid systematic review.
- Chu, D., Akl, E.,Duda, S., Solo, K., Yaccoub, S., Schunemann, H. (2020,June) Physical distancing, face masks and eye protection to prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-19 and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet.
- Cruz, A., Zeichner, S. (2020, June). COVID-19 in Children: Initial Characterization of the Pediatric Disease. Pediatrics. Retrieved June 7, 2020
- Howard, Jeremy & Huang, Austin & Li, Zhiyuan & Tufekci, Zeynep & Ždímal, Vladimír & Westhuizen, Helene-Mari & Delft, Arne & Price, Amy & Fridman, Lex & Tang, Li-Han & Tang, Viola & Watson, Gregory & Jenco, M. (2020, May) Experts Shed More Light on COVID-19 related Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. AAP News. Retrieved June 7, 2020
- Lee, B. (2020, June) COVID-19 Transmission and Children: The Child is Not to Blame. American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved June 7, 2020
- MacIntyre, C. R., & Chughtai, A. A. (2020). A rapid systematic review of the efficacy of face masks and respirators against coronaviruses and other respiratory transmissible viruses for the community, healthcare workers and sick patients. International journal of nursing studies, 108, 103629. Advance online publication.
- Nardell, E. (2020, June). Airborne Spread of SARS-CoV-2 and a Potential Role for Air Disinfection. Retrieved June 7, 2020
- Qian,H. Miao,T., Liu,L., Zheng, X., Luo,D., Li,Y. (2020, January) Indoor Transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Retrieved June 7, 2020
- Smieszek, T., Lazzari, G. & Salathé, M. Assessing the Dynamics and Control of Droplet- and Aerosol-Transmitted Influenza Using an Indoor Positioning System. Sci Rep 9, 2185 (2019) and Nature February 2019. Comment from Free Union Task Force Health Team: This article shows the impact of ventilation on mitigating airborne spread of disease using influenza.
- Zhang, R., Li, Y., Zhang, A., Wang, Y., Molina, M. (2020, June) Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19. Retrieved June 14. Comment from Free Union Task Force Health Team: This article shows a significant effect of masking in changing transmission; shows differences with and without masking.