Does school attendance facilitate greater SARS-CoV-2 spread? Eurosurveillanc hpscireland school covid COVID19 SARSCoV2 spread attendance childrenshealth childshealth health publichealth
By Neha MathurApr 17 2023Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM In a recent study published in the Eurosurveillance Journal, researchers performed a descriptive cross-sectional study in Ireland during the academic year 2020–21.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic impacted around 168 million children worldwide; it led to the closure of schools for up to a year in nearly 200 countries between March 2020 and February 2021. Notably, all studies assessing the SARS-CoV-2 spread observed its transmission was lower in schools than in the general population.
They referred all COVID-19 cases found to be infectious while attending school to the regional 'Schools Teams' for a public health risk assessment , who assigned them a unique school identification number. They also established COVID-19 testing pathways for students and staff on priority during 2020-2021. They considered all close contacts who tested SARS-CoV-2-positive as secondary cases. Close contacts could return to school only after testing RT-PCR-negative and turning asymptomatic.
The researchers expressed categorical variables as percentages, estimating inter-group differences using chi-squared tests and considering p<0.05 statistically significant. Compared to people with COVID-19 between March 2020 and July 2021 across all age bands in Ireland, those aged five-to–18 years comprised only 13.3% of all cases. However, these case numbers among children aged five-to–18 years old increased over the three terms of the academic year 2020–21, from 15.5% of 58,148 cases in term one to 17.5% of 31,069 cases and 23.9% of 30,423 cases in term two & three, respectively.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Study explores the possible link between body temperature and autism spectrum disorderStudy explores the possible link between body temperature and autism spectrum disorder Autism Brain CircadianRhythm ASD AutismSpectrumDisorder BodyTemperature Neurophysiology Autistic Research ScienceNews SciReports
Read more »
Phenotype-tailored lifestyle interventions show promising weight loss results in obese adultsPhenotype-tailored lifestyle interventions show promising weight loss results in obese adults obesity weightloss lifestyleinterventions phenotype clinicaltrial healthresearch cardiometabolic behaviorchange nutrition physicalactivity eClinicalMed
Read more »
Understanding the environmental interactions of the drug-resistant pathogenic yeast Candida aurisUnderstanding the environmental interactions of the drug-resistant pathogenic yeast Candida auris PLOSPathogens StirUni drugresistance candida auris fugal fungi infection pathogenic yeast
Read more »
Substituting processed or red meat with plant-based foods may reduce risk of type 2 diabetesSubstituting processed or red meat with plant-based foods may reduce risk of type 2 diabetes Diabetes Meat DiabetesMellitus Diet Food Insulin Obesity PhysicalActivity Type2Diabetes Vegetables SciReports
Read more »
COVID rules: Global study reveals stronger hazard avoidance in traditionalistsCOVID rules: Global study reveals stronger hazard avoidance in traditionalists Coronavirus COVID Traditionalism Hazards Precautions Pathogen PublicHealth CrossCultural HumanBehavior Evolutionary Psychology SciReports UCLA AarhusUni uofg…
Read more »
Pregnant women show unique immune response to COVID-19Researchers compare the adaptive, innate, and humoral immune responses between pregnant and non-pregnant women with COVID-19.
Read more »