Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

April 14, 2021

School Closures Reduced Social Mixing of Children during COVID-19 with Implications for Transmission Risk and School Reopening Policies

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  • A modeling study using data on children’s social contacts found that closures of elementary schools in spring 2020 in the Bay Area of California averted comparatively fewer cases than closures of middle and high schools and workplaces. The authors hypothesize this relatively smaller reduction in averted cases may be due to elementary school children having a higher proportion of social contacts outside of school as a result of requirements to accompany family members on essential activities or attend daycare. The study also found that reopening elementary schools with universal masking protocols and classroom cohorts could avert most in-school transmissions.

Head et al. (Apr 14, 2021). School Closures Reduced Social Mixing of Children during COVID-19 with Implications for Transmission Risk and School Reopening Policies. Journal of The Royal Society Interface. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2020.0970