Impact of COVID-19 on foodservice operations within urban Kansas childcare centers

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected foodservice operations within urban Kansas childcare centers. METHODS: Three COVID-19-related questions were added to an online survey of Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) participating childcare centers located throughout Kansas. Responses were collected from July through August, 2020. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of open-ended responses were used to identify common concerns. RESULTS: Seventy-nine of the 138 childcare centers invited to complete the COVID-19-related questions responded (57.2% participation rate). The majority (n=56, 70.1%) reported decreased enrollment, whereas a small number (n=9, 11.4%) reported an increase. Approximately twothirds of the centers (n=49, 62.0%) reported foodservice operation modifications owing to COVID-19-related challenges. Three overarching themes were discovered within the centers' responses: (a) procurement challenges including decreased availability and increased cost of foods, (b) changes in meal service including shifting to disposable tableware and ceasing familystyle meal service, and (c) menu and production changes in response to enrollment changes and product availability issues. APPLICATION TO CHILD NUTRITION PROFESSIONALS: Future consideration for CACFP participants include shifting to more shelf-stable foods when faced with food availability issues and utilizing more cost-effective food purchasing options, which might be attained through group purchasing organizations. Well-developed emergency plans such as emergency menus should include plans for procurement challenges. Resources and training to increase understanding and knowledge of CACFP meal pattern guidelines may make menu changes based on availability easier or less challenging. Best practice guidelines, such as family-style meals, may have to take health and safety measures into consideration. As centers continue to experience COVID-19-related issues and plan for a "return to normal", child nutrition professionals can fulfill an important role in helping centers adapt their foodservice operations to meet the challenge.

Norovirus outbreaks in German day care centers - interim results of the noroprevent study and comparison of hygiene measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Improved hygiene practices, such as handwashing, surface cleaning, the use of disposable paper towels, and the use of separate bathrooms for the ill and the healthy, are essential for controlling norovirus outbreaks. However, nothing is understood about how well they work to stop the spread of norovirus infections. During a 2004 international scouting jamboree in the Netherlands, norovirus outbreaks were examined in 7 camps. The number of reproductions decreased by 84.8% (95% prediction interval: 81.2% to 86.6%) when cleanliness measures were put in place. Although unexpectedly substantial, this decrease was still below the level required to stop a norovirus outbreak. To stop the spread of the norovirus, further stricter control measures are needed. The effectiveness of improved hygiene practices in limiting a norovirus epidemic was quantitatively quantified in this study. The use of hygiene measures was insufficient to successfully break the chain of person-to-person transmission of the norovirus during this epidemic since the reproduction number did not decrease below the threshold value of 1. More stringent measures are needed to control a norovirus epidemic. These might include stricter isolation of case-patients and quarantining of their contacts, as well as improved adherence to hygiene measures. To offer the essential justification for the usage of current hygiene practices during outbreaks and to guide the development of improved intervention strategies, they advise evaluating the efficacy of interventions against norovirus. Although such quantifying would require analysis of more norovirus outbreaks with different sets of intervention measures, it would enable identification of the best possible intervention strategies to control the spread of one of the most common pathogens of humans.

Hygienic aspects for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in institutions with multidimensional, special education opportunities for handicapped children

This article discusses efforts and challenges concerning the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in specialized schools or daycare facilities for handicapped children and adolescents. In this heterogeneous group, a relevant proportion may face an increased risk of a complicated infection due to underlying chronic conditions. Their capability to adhere to the rules of physical distance, hand hygiene, face masks plus aeration may be limited. In addition, wearing a mask and keeping distance impaires necessary contacts concerning nursing care and nonverbal/visual communication between children and their caregivers.

Special Issue: Aktuelles zu COVID-19. (Special Issue: Aktuelles zu COVID-19.)

This special issue contains eight selected manuscripts on the subject of COVID-19. The selected manuscripts consist of case reports (one each from Germany and Austria), a report on "contact tracing" and the role of children in the spread of infection, and a description of the lockdown consequences in the private sector. K. Farber et al.from Rosenheim report on a 10-week-old infant who is admitted to hospital with suspected sepsis. S. Samueli et al.from Vienna describe the course of the disease in a 9-year-old boy with PIMS. U. Heudorffrom Frankfurt am Main reports on a project on "contact tracing" in Frankfurt day-care centers and schools. K. Theiss et al.from Homburg an der Saar describe the effects of the lockdown during the first COVID-19 wave on 34 pediatric and adolescent medical practices in Saarland. T. Heimann et al.from Hamburg, Ulm and Lucerne raise the question of whether and in what form the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns affect child protection. S. Schwarz et al. from Witten/Herdecke, Mainz and T..bingen present data from a Germany-wide register on the use of facemasks.

Symptomatic infants have higher nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral loads but less severe disease than older children. (COVID special issue #2.)

This study reports NP viral load in infants, children, and adolescents hospitalised and discharged from 14 March to 24 April, 2020. Of the 57 patients who tested positive counted with SARS-CoV-2, 20 (35.1%) were infants 12 months of age or younger. Older children and adolescents range from 1 year old to 21 years old. The mean NP viral load in neonates was significantly higher than in older children and adolescents. However, the proportion of neonates with severe illness is significantly lower than in older patients. The mean time to positive test from onset of symptoms is shorter in neonates than in older children. Rates were similar in both groups examined within 7 days of symptom onset. The report suggests that symptomatic infants have higher NP viral loads at the time of presentation, but develop less severe disease than older children and adolescents. Whether this is due to a slightly earlier presentation to clinical care related to host biology is investigated. These data have implications for mitigating the spread, especially in collective settings (e.g. day care centers) or hospital units (e.g., primary care units) for infants that serve this group.

[Children and COVID-19-Data from mandatory reporting and results of contact person testing in daycare centers and schools in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, August-December 2020]. / Kinder und COVID-19: Kontaktpersonen-Surveillance in Frankfurter Kitas und Schulen (August bis Dezember 2020).

BACKGROUND: In face of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the question that children are also drivers of this pandemic and that groups, classes, or the entire facility should be closed when severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) occurs in schools or daycare centers is always implied. These questions were investigated using the mandatory reporting data in Frankfurt am Main and the extensive testing of contact persons (CP) in schools and daycare centers after the occurrence of an index case. METHOD: The reporting data were taken from SurvStat. The index cases from daycare centers and schools were isolated and the CPs were offered PCR testing for SARS-CoV­2 on a voluntary basis, regardless of whether symptoms suggestive of SARS-CoV­2 had occurred or not. Deep nasal/pharyngeal swabs were collected by paramedics on behalf of the public health department of the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and tested according to established standards at two accredited institutes. RESULTS: From March to 31 December 2020, 22,715 COVID-19 cases were reported in Frankfurt, including 1588 (7.6%) SARS-CoV­2 detections in children 14 years and younger. Thus, approximately half as many SARS-CoV­2 detections were reported in children up to 14 years of age than would have corresponded to their proportion in the population. In autumn 2020, the increase in incidence in children over the weeks followed the increase in incidence in the general population, the age-related incidence of children remained below the incidence in the general population.From week 35 to week 52, index cases were reported from 143 daycare centers and 75 schools. As a result, 7915 CPs were tested. In daycare centers, SARS-CoV­2 was detected in 4.5% of adult CPs and 2.5% of child CPs and in schools SARS-CoV­2 was detected in 0.9% of adult CPs and 2.5% of student CPs tested. On average, less than 1 CP tested positive per index case. The rate of positive findings increased with increasing incidence in the overall population. No major outbreak occurred. DISCUSSION: Regarding the level and timing of age-related incidences among children in Frankfurt am Main, there was no evidence that children were the drivers of the pandemic. Only a small percentage of the examined CPs in schools and daycare centers tested positive for SARS-CoV­2. In the absence of evidence of intense transmission in the facilities, CP attendance can/should continue under hygiene conditions and there is no need to close entire groups, classes, or even facilities.