Common cold outbreaks to be expected as schools reopen, CDC warns

Outbreaks of the common cold could become more commonplace as schools reopen for in-person learning, according to a new report from the Centers for Diease Control and Prevention. 

However, when the schools and child care centers reopened in October, cases of the common cold surged among children — despite the mandatory use of face masks and other measures in place to curb the spread of COVD-19.  The researchers suspect that the children were more susceptible to common-cold-causing rhinoviruses once they returned to in-person learning because they had spent the majority of the year away from others outside their household, decreasing the number of chances they had to be exposed to rhinoviruses and ultimately build up immunity.