SARS-CoV-2 transmission in educational settings during an early summer epidemic wave in Luxembourg, 2020.
Journal
BMC infectious diseases
ISSN: 1471-2334
Titre abrégé: BMC Infect Dis
Pays: England
ID NLM: 100968551
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
04 May 2021
04 May 2021
Historique:
received:
14
10
2020
accepted:
20
04
2021
entrez:
5
5
2021
pubmed:
6
5
2021
medline:
18
5
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Following a first wave in spring and gradual easing of lockdown, Luxembourg experienced an early second epidemic wave of SARS-CoV-2 before the start of summer school holidays on 15th July. This provided the opportunity to investigate the role of school-age children and school settings for transmission. We compared the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in school-age children, teachers and the general working population in Luxembourg during two epidemic waves: a spring wave from March-April 2020 corresponding to general lockdown with schools being closed and May-July 2020 corresponding to schools being open. We assessed the number of secondary transmissions occurring in schools between May and July 2020 using routine contact tracing data. During the first wave in March-April 2020 when schools were closed, the incidence in pupils peaked at 28 per 100,000, while during the second wave in May-July 2020 when schools were open, incidence peaked 100 per 100,000. While incidence of SARS-CoV-2 was higher in adults than in children during the first spring wave, no significant difference was observed during the second wave in early summer. Between May and July 2020, we identified a total of 390 and 34 confirmed COVID-19 cases among 90,150 school-age children and 11,667 teachers, respectively. We further estimate that 179 primary cases caused 49 secondary cases in schools. While some small clusters of mainly student-to-student transmission within the same class were identified, we did not observe any large outbreaks with multiple generations of infection. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within Luxembourg schools was limited during an early summer epidemic wave in 2020. Precautionary measures including physical distancing as well as easy access to testing, systematic contact tracing appears to have been successful in mitigating transmission within educational settings.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Following a first wave in spring and gradual easing of lockdown, Luxembourg experienced an early second epidemic wave of SARS-CoV-2 before the start of summer school holidays on 15th July. This provided the opportunity to investigate the role of school-age children and school settings for transmission.
METHODS
METHODS
We compared the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in school-age children, teachers and the general working population in Luxembourg during two epidemic waves: a spring wave from March-April 2020 corresponding to general lockdown with schools being closed and May-July 2020 corresponding to schools being open. We assessed the number of secondary transmissions occurring in schools between May and July 2020 using routine contact tracing data.
RESULTS
RESULTS
During the first wave in March-April 2020 when schools were closed, the incidence in pupils peaked at 28 per 100,000, while during the second wave in May-July 2020 when schools were open, incidence peaked 100 per 100,000. While incidence of SARS-CoV-2 was higher in adults than in children during the first spring wave, no significant difference was observed during the second wave in early summer. Between May and July 2020, we identified a total of 390 and 34 confirmed COVID-19 cases among 90,150 school-age children and 11,667 teachers, respectively. We further estimate that 179 primary cases caused 49 secondary cases in schools. While some small clusters of mainly student-to-student transmission within the same class were identified, we did not observe any large outbreaks with multiple generations of infection.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within Luxembourg schools was limited during an early summer epidemic wave in 2020. Precautionary measures including physical distancing as well as easy access to testing, systematic contact tracing appears to have been successful in mitigating transmission within educational settings.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33947340
doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-06089-5
pii: 10.1186/s12879-021-06089-5
pmc: PMC8093902
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
417Subventions
Organisme : Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg
ID : COVID-19/2020-1/14701707/REBORN
Organisme : Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg
ID : COVID-19/14863306/PREVID
Organisme : H2020 European Research Council
ID : ERC-CoG 863664
Références
Euro Surveill. 2020 Sep;25(38):
pubmed: 32975186
Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020 Nov;4(11):796-797
pubmed: 32758452
Lancet Infect Dis. 2021 Mar;21(3):344-353
pubmed: 33306981
N Engl J Med. 2020 Sep 3;383(10):981-985
pubmed: 32726550
Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020 Nov;4(11):807-816
pubmed: 32758454
Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2021 May;4:100056
pubmed: 33997830
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020 Oct 02;69(39):1410-1415
pubmed: 33001869
Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Dec 16;73(12):2265-2275
pubmed: 33460434
Euro Surveill. 2020 May;25(21):
pubmed: 32489179
Euro Surveill. 2021 Jan;26(1):
pubmed: 33413743
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020 Aug 28;69(34):1170-1172
pubmed: 32853185
Euro Surveill. 2020 Jul;25(29):
pubmed: 32720636
Pediatrics. 2021 Apr;147(4):
pubmed: 33419869
Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Oct;26(10):2465-2468
pubmed: 32673193
PLoS One. 2020 Aug 6;15(8):e0237128
pubmed: 32760114