(HealthDay)—Nearly half of all school employees meet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition for increased or potentially increased risk for severe COVID-19, according to a study published online Sept. 17 in Health Affairs.

Thomas M. Seldon, Ph.D., from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues used prepandemic household data to examine how often persons at risk for severe COVID-19 were connected to schools. Connections included being school employees or living in the same household as school employees or school-aged children.

The researchers found that of all school employees, 42.0 to 51.4 percent met the CDC definition for having or potentially having an increased risk for severe COVID-19, respectively. Between 33.9 and 44.2 million of all adults with CDC risk factors for severe COVID-19 had direct or within-household connections to schools.

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