Evaluating the Effectiveness of School Closure in COVID-19-Related Syndromes From Community-Based Syndromic Surveillance: Longitudinal Observational Study.

IF 1.9 Q3 MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL
Ping-Chen Chung, Kevin J Chen, Hui-Mei Chang, Ta-Chien Chan
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a school closure policy was adopted to prevent cluster transmission in schools and subsequent household transmission. However, the effectiveness of school closure is not consistent in studies conducted in different countries.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the association between school closure and the daily standardized incidence of COVID-19-related syndromes in an outpatient syndromic surveillance system.

Methods: We calculated the incidence of COVID-19-related syndromes derived from a community-based syndromic surveillance system between the first week of January and the second or fourth weeks after school closure in 2021 and 2022 in Taipei City, Taiwan. The effect of school closure on the standardized incidence of COVID-19-related syndromes was evaluated by interrupted time series analysis using an autoregressive integrated moving average with a distributed lag function. The exogenous variables were changes in human mobility measured by Google COVID-19 community mobility reports. Furthermore, the models quantified the influence of different age groups and the hierarchy of medical facilities, such as clinics or community hospitals.

Results: School closure was only negatively and significantly associated with the overall standardized incidence of COVID-19-related syndromes in 2021 for 2 weeks after the intervention (coefficient -1.24, 95% CI -2.40 to -0.08). However, in different age groups, school closure had a significantly negative association with the standardized incidence among people aged 13-18 years and ≥65 years for 2 weeks after the intervention in clinics in 2021. In community hospitals, school closure was significantly positively associated with the standardized incidence among people aged 19-24 years in 2021. In 2022, 2 weeks after the intervention, school closure had a significantly negative association with the standardized incidence among people aged 0-6, 7-12, and 19-24 years in community hospitals and aged >45 years in clinics. Furthermore, the standardized incidence was positively associated with movement change toward grocery and pharmacy stores in all age groups in 2022. In addition, movement changes toward residences were significantly positively associated with the standardized incidence among all age groups.

Conclusions: Overall, school closure effectively suppresses COVID-19-related syndromes in students owing to the reduction of physical contact. In addition, school closure has a spillover effect on elderly people who stay at home.

从社区综合症监测评估关闭学校对 COVID-19 相关综合症的影响:纵向观察研究。
背景:在 COVID-19 大流行期间,采取了关闭学校的政策,以防止学校的集群传播和随后的家庭传播。然而,在不同国家进行的研究中,学校关闭的效果并不一致:本研究旨在探讨学校关闭与门诊病人综合征监测系统中 COVID-19 相关综合征每日标准化发病率之间的关系:我们计算了台湾台北市 2021 年和 2022 年 1 月第一周至学校停课后第二周或第四周期间基于社区的症候群监测系统得出的 COVID-19 相关症候群的发病率。通过使用具有分布式滞后函数的自回归综合移动平均法进行间断时间序列分析,评估了学校停课对 COVID-19 相关综合征标准化发病率的影响。外生变量是由谷歌 COVID-19 社区流动性报告衡量的人类流动性变化。此外,模型还量化了不同年龄组和医疗设施等级(如诊所或社区医院)的影响:结果:学校关闭仅与干预后 2 周内 2021 年 COVID-19 相关综合征的总体标准化发病率呈显著负相关(系数为-1.24,95% CI 为-2.40 至-0.08)。然而,在不同年龄组中,学校关闭与 2021 年诊所干预后 2 周内 13-18 岁和≥65 岁人群的标准化发病率呈显著负相关。在社区医院,2021 年学校关闭与 19-24 岁人群的标准化发病率呈明显正相关。2022 年,在社区医院,学校关闭与 0-6 岁、7-12 岁和 19-24 岁人群的标准化发病率呈明显负相关;在诊所,学校关闭与大于 45 岁人群的标准化发病率呈明显负相关。此外,在 2022 年,标准化发病率与所有年龄组向杂货店和药店的移动变化呈正相关。此外,在所有年龄组中,向住宅的移动变化与标准化发病率呈显著正相关:总体而言,由于减少了身体接触,学校关闭可有效抑制学生中与 COVID-19 相关的综合征。此外,学校停课对留在家中的老人也有溢出效应。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Interactive Journal of Medical Research
Interactive Journal of Medical Research MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL-
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45
审稿时长
12 weeks
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