Cargando…
Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year
BACKGROUND: The role of schools in SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been a debated topic since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: To examine SARS-CoV-2 transmission in all schools in Ireland during the 2020–21 school year. METHODS: In a national descriptive cross-sectional study, we investigate...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10103549/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37052681 http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.15.2200554 |
_version_ | 1785025875477004288 |
---|---|
author | Kelly, Ciara White, Philippa Kennedy, Elizabeth O’Flynn, Dearbhail Colgan, Aoife Ward, Mary O’Sullivan, Margaret B Buckley, Claire M Cosgrove, Breda Canny, Melissa Harkin, Katharine McGuire, Fiona Lynch, Catherine Ryan, Aidan Denyer, Sean Kelleher, Kevin Collins, Abigail |
author_facet | Kelly, Ciara White, Philippa Kennedy, Elizabeth O’Flynn, Dearbhail Colgan, Aoife Ward, Mary O’Sullivan, Margaret B Buckley, Claire M Cosgrove, Breda Canny, Melissa Harkin, Katharine McGuire, Fiona Lynch, Catherine Ryan, Aidan Denyer, Sean Kelleher, Kevin Collins, Abigail |
author_sort | Kelly, Ciara |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The role of schools in SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been a debated topic since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: To examine SARS-CoV-2 transmission in all schools in Ireland during the 2020–21 school year. METHODS: In a national descriptive cross-sectional study, we investigated PCR-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among students (aged < 20 years) and staff (aged ≥ 20 years) who attended school during their infectious period to identify school close contacts. SARS-CoV-2 PCR test results of all school close contacts were pooled to obtain an overall positivity rate and to stratify positivity rate by school setting and role (i.e. student or staff). RESULTS: In total, 100,474 individuals were tested as close contacts in 1,771 schools during the 2020–21 school year. An overall close contact positivity rate of 2.4% was observed across all schools (n = 2,373 secondary cases). The highest positivity rate was seen in special schools (3.4%), followed by primary (2.5%) and post-primary schools (1.8%) (p < 0.001). Of the close contacts identified, 90.5% (n = 90,953) were students and 9.5% (n = 9,521) were staff. Overall, students had a significantly higher positivity rate than staff (2.4% vs 1.8%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that a low level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurred in Irish schools during the 2020-21 academic year. In the event of future pandemics, and as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is a need to carefully weigh up the harms and benefits associated with disrupted education to mitigate infectious disease transmission before reflexively closing classes or schools. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10103549 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101035492023-04-15 Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year Kelly, Ciara White, Philippa Kennedy, Elizabeth O’Flynn, Dearbhail Colgan, Aoife Ward, Mary O’Sullivan, Margaret B Buckley, Claire M Cosgrove, Breda Canny, Melissa Harkin, Katharine McGuire, Fiona Lynch, Catherine Ryan, Aidan Denyer, Sean Kelleher, Kevin Collins, Abigail Euro Surveill Research BACKGROUND: The role of schools in SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been a debated topic since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: To examine SARS-CoV-2 transmission in all schools in Ireland during the 2020–21 school year. METHODS: In a national descriptive cross-sectional study, we investigated PCR-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among students (aged < 20 years) and staff (aged ≥ 20 years) who attended school during their infectious period to identify school close contacts. SARS-CoV-2 PCR test results of all school close contacts were pooled to obtain an overall positivity rate and to stratify positivity rate by school setting and role (i.e. student or staff). RESULTS: In total, 100,474 individuals were tested as close contacts in 1,771 schools during the 2020–21 school year. An overall close contact positivity rate of 2.4% was observed across all schools (n = 2,373 secondary cases). The highest positivity rate was seen in special schools (3.4%), followed by primary (2.5%) and post-primary schools (1.8%) (p < 0.001). Of the close contacts identified, 90.5% (n = 90,953) were students and 9.5% (n = 9,521) were staff. Overall, students had a significantly higher positivity rate than staff (2.4% vs 1.8%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that a low level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurred in Irish schools during the 2020-21 academic year. In the event of future pandemics, and as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is a need to carefully weigh up the harms and benefits associated with disrupted education to mitigate infectious disease transmission before reflexively closing classes or schools. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) 2023-04-13 /pmc/articles/PMC10103549/ /pubmed/37052681 http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.15.2200554 Text en This article is copyright of the authors or their affiliated institutions, 2023. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Licence. You may share and adapt the material, but must give appropriate credit to the source, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | Research Kelly, Ciara White, Philippa Kennedy, Elizabeth O’Flynn, Dearbhail Colgan, Aoife Ward, Mary O’Sullivan, Margaret B Buckley, Claire M Cosgrove, Breda Canny, Melissa Harkin, Katharine McGuire, Fiona Lynch, Catherine Ryan, Aidan Denyer, Sean Kelleher, Kevin Collins, Abigail Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year |
title | Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year |
title_full | Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year |
title_fullStr | Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year |
title_full_unstemmed | Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year |
title_short | Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020–2021 school year |
title_sort | limited transmission of sars-cov-2 in schools in ireland during the 2020–2021 school year |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10103549/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37052681 http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.15.2200554 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT kellyciara limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT whitephilippa limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT kennedyelizabeth limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT oflynndearbhail limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT colganaoife limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT wardmary limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT osullivanmargaretb limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT buckleyclairem limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT cosgrovebreda limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT cannymelissa limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT harkinkatharine limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT mcguirefiona limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT lynchcatherine limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT ryanaidan limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT denyersean limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT kelleherkevin limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear AT collinsabigail limitedtransmissionofsarscov2inschoolsinirelandduringthe20202021schoolyear |