Concept
A Modeling Study on the Impact of School Closures in the UK on COVID-19
- The only study in the review that examined the effect of school closures separately to other social distancing measures.
- Ferguson and colleagues used UK population and schools data was used with data on transmission dynamics reported from the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.
- Using data from previous influenza outbreaks, they assumed that per-capita contacts within schools were double those in households, workplaces, or the community.
- They concluded that approximately ⅓ of COVID-19 transmission occurred in schools.
- The scenario modeled proposed a closure of all schools and 25% of universities remain open. This resulted in household contact rates for student families increasing by 50% during closure. Contacts in the community increase by 25% during closure.
- School closure as an isolated measure was predicted to reduce total deaths by 2-4% during a COVID-19 outbreak in the UK.
- Concluded that school closure alone would be insufficient to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and a combination of measures would be most effective in suppressing the spread of COVID-19.
0
1
Updated 2020-08-08
Tags
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
Biomedical Sciences