Abstract
Background: After the initial school closure by the COVID-19 pandemic, school reopening in Marin County, California on 8 September 2020 was made possible by strict implementation of safety measures to mitigate widespread disease transmission. Since the reopening of schools, members of the community, school administration, staff and teachers became concerned about the contagion spreading in the classroom at a higher rate than in the community. We conducted an analysis to compare in-school versus community-based transmission events in children grades K-8th.
Methods: Data used in the analysis was made available in collaboration with Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) and Marin County Department of Health and Human Services (Marin HHS) Epidemiology COVID-19 Surveillance and the Contact Tracing teams. A descriptive analysis was performed to determine whether there was a correlation between increases in the in-person school student days and in-school COVID-19 transmission in children K-8th in Marin County over the fall 2020 term.
Results: Since 8 September 2020 through 18 December 2020, there were 8,443 in-person school students, on average per day, which is 52% of the overall 16, 339 student enrollment. A total of 573,051 student days and 72 in-person school days have been recorded during this period. Since school reopening, the cumulative number of cases of suspected in-school transmission was 6, as compared to 88 suspected community-based transmission among children K-8th through 18 December 2020. Overall percent positivity in Marin County declined as low as 0.80% during the same time period.
Discussion: The in-person school setting may be a protective factor for students, given stringent implementation of safety measures to mitigate the widespread transmission of COVID-19 while on school grounds. We plan to further investigate this difference and attempt to explain the stark contrast.
Methods: Data used in the analysis was made available in collaboration with Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) and Marin County Department of Health and Human Services (Marin HHS) Epidemiology COVID-19 Surveillance and the Contact Tracing teams. A descriptive analysis was performed to determine whether there was a correlation between increases in the in-person school student days and in-school COVID-19 transmission in children K-8th in Marin County over the fall 2020 term.
Results: Since 8 September 2020 through 18 December 2020, there were 8,443 in-person school students, on average per day, which is 52% of the overall 16, 339 student enrollment. A total of 573,051 student days and 72 in-person school days have been recorded during this period. Since school reopening, the cumulative number of cases of suspected in-school transmission was 6, as compared to 88 suspected community-based transmission among children K-8th through 18 December 2020. Overall percent positivity in Marin County declined as low as 0.80% during the same time period.
Discussion: The in-person school setting may be a protective factor for students, given stringent implementation of safety measures to mitigate the widespread transmission of COVID-19 while on school grounds. We plan to further investigate this difference and attempt to explain the stark contrast.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| State | Published - 2021 |
| Event | Annual Meeting of the Society of Epidemiological Research - Virtual Duration: Jun 22 2021 → Jun 25 2021 Conference number: 54 |
Conference
| Conference | Annual Meeting of the Society of Epidemiological Research |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | SER |
| Period | 6/22/21 → 6/25/21 |
Keywords
- COVID-19
- Marin County
Disciplines
- Public Health