The impact of school opening model on SARS-CoV-2 community incidence and mortality.
Nat Med
; 27(12): 2120-2126, 2021 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1493152
ABSTRACT
The role that traditional and hybrid in-person schooling modes contribute to the community incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections relative to fully remote schooling is unknown. We conducted an event study using a retrospective nationwide cohort evaluating the effect of school mode on SARS-CoV-2 cases during the 12 weeks after school opening (July-September 2020, before the Delta variant was predominant), stratified by US Census region. After controlling for case rate trends before school start, state-level mitigation measures and community activity level, SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates were not statistically different in counties with in-person learning versus remote school modes in most regions of the United States. In the South, there was a significant and sustained increase in cases per week among counties that opened in a hybrid or traditional mode versus remote, with weekly effects ranging from 9.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.7-16.1) to 21.3 (95% CI = 9.9-32.7) additional cases per 100,000 persons, driven by increasing cases among 0-9 year olds and adults. Schools can reopen for in-person learning without substantially increasing community case rates of SARS-CoV-2; however, the impacts are variable. Additional studies are needed to elucidate the underlying reasons for the observed regional differences more fully.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Schools
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Humans
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Nat Med
Journal subject:
Molecular Biology
/
Medicine
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41591-021-01563-8
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