SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Belgian French-Speaking Primary Schools: An Epidemiological Pilot Study

Schools have been a point of attention during the pandemic, and their closure one of the mitigating measures taken. A better understanding of the dynamics of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in elementary education is essential to advise decisionmakers. We conducted an uncontrolled non-interventional prospective study in Belgian French-speaking schools to describe the role of attending asymptomatic children and school staff in the spread of COVID-19 and to estimate the transmission to others. Each participant from selected schools was tested for SARS-CoV-2 using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Julie Frère
Olga Chatzis
Kelly Cremer
Joanna Merckx
Mathilde De Keukeleire
Florence Renard
Nathalie Ribesse
Frédéric Minner
Jean Ruelle
Benoit Kabamba
Hector Rodriguez-Villalobos
Bertrand Bearzatto
Marie-Luce Delforge
Coralie Henin
Fabrice Bureau
Laurent Gillet
Annie Robert
Dimitri Van der Linden
Dokumenttyp: Text
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Verlag/Hrsg.: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Schlagwörter: SARS-CoV-2 / schools / children / COVID-19 / saliva testing / transmission
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27312661
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/v14102199

Schools have been a point of attention during the pandemic, and their closure one of the mitigating measures taken. A better understanding of the dynamics of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in elementary education is essential to advise decisionmakers. We conducted an uncontrolled non-interventional prospective study in Belgian French-speaking schools to describe the role of attending asymptomatic children and school staff in the spread of COVID-19 and to estimate the transmission to others. Each participant from selected schools was tested for SARS-CoV-2 using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis on saliva sample, on a weekly basis, during six consecutive visits. In accordance with recommendations in force at the time, symptomatic individuals were excluded from school, but per the study protocol, being that participants were blinded to PCR results, asymptomatic participants were maintained at school. Among 11 selected schools, 932 pupils and 242 school staff were included between January and May 2021. Overall, 6449 saliva samples were collected, of which 44 came back positive. Most positive samples came from isolated cases. We observed that asymptomatic positive children remaining at school did not lead to increasing numbers of cases or clusters. However, we conducted our study during a period of low prevalence in Belgium. It would be interesting to conduct the same analysis during a high prevalence period.