January 14, 2021

What Is the Evidence for Transmission of COVID-19 by Children in Schools? A Living Systematic Review

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

Keywords (Tags): schools

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 studies from Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America indicate that the overall SARS-CoV-2 attack rate and positivity rate in school environments are low. Data from 5 cohort studies (n=3,345 contacts and 8 transmissions) found a pooled attack rate of 0.15% for students and 0.7% for staff. Across 6 cross-sectional studies (n=639 positive cases among 6,682 participants tested), the proportion of positivity was 8% among students and 14% among staff. Authors note that overall study quality was judged to be poor and at risk of performance and attrition bias.

Xu et al. (Dec 10, 2020). What Is the Evidence for Transmission of COVID-19 by Children in Schools? A Living Systematic Review. Journal of Global Health. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.10.021104