COVID-19 in schools: Mitigating classroom clusters in the context of variable transmission.

ABSTRACT: Widespread school closures occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because closures are costly and damaging, many jurisdictions have since reopened schools with control measures in place. Early evidence indicated that schools were low risk and children were unlikely to be very infectious, but it is becoming clear that children and youth can acquire and transmit COVID-19 in school settings and that transmission clusters and outbreaks can be large. We describe the contrasting literature on school transmission, and argue that the apparent discrepancy can be reconciled by heterogeneity, or "overdispersion" in transmission, with many exposures yielding little to no risk of onward transmission, but some unfortunate exposures causing sizeable onward transmission. In addition, respiratory viral loa

SUBMITTER: Tupper P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8266060 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature