Query: school closure

title: School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID 19: a rapid systematic review
abstract: In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic, 107 countries had implemented national school closures by March 18, 2020. It is unknown whether school measures are effective in coronavirus outbreaks (eg, due to severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS] Middle East respiratory syndrome, or COVID 19) We undertook a systematic review by searching three electronic databases to identify what is known about the effectiveness of school closures and other school social distancing practices during coronavirus outbreaks. We included 16 of 616 identified articles. School closures were deployed rapidly across mainland China and Hong Kong for COVID 19. However, there are no data on the relative contribution of school closures to transmission control. Data from the SARS outbreak in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore suggest that school closures did not contribute to the control of the epidemic. Modelling studies of SARS produced conflicting results. Recent modelling studies of COVID 19 predict that school closures alone would prevent only 2 4% of deaths, much less than other social distancing interventions. Policy makers need to be aware of the equivocal evidence when considering school closures for COVID 19, and that combinations of social distancing measures should be considered. Other less disruptive social distancing interventions in schools require further consideration if restrictive social distancing policies are implemented for long periods.

title: Association Between Statewide School Closure and COVID 19 Incidence and Mortality in the US.
abstract: Importance In the US, states enacted nonpharmaceutical interventions, including school closure, to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019   To determine if school closure and its timing were associated with decreased COVID 19 incidence and mortality.  US population based observational study conducted between March 9, 2020, and May 7, 2020, using interrupted time series analyses incorporating a lag period to allow for potential policy associated changes to occur. To isolate the association of school closure with outcomes, state level nonpharmaceutical interventions and attributes were included in negative binomial regression models. States were examined in quartiles based on state level COVID 19 cumulative incidence per 100 000 residents at the time of school closure. Models were used to derive the estimated absolute differences between schools that closed and schools that remained open as well as the number of cases and deaths if states had closed schools when the cumulative incidence of COVID 19 was in the lowest quartile compared with the highest quartile.  Closure of primary and secondary schools.  19 daily incidence and mortality per 100 000 residents.  COVID 19 cumulative incidence in states at the time of school closure ranged from 0 to 14.75 cases per 100 000 population. School closure was associated with a significant decline in the incidence of COVID 19 (adjusted relative change per week, 62% [95% CI, 71% to 49% and mortality (adjusted relative change per week, 58% [95% CI, 68% to 46% Both of these associations were largest in states with low cumulative incidence of COVID 19 at the time of school closure. For example, states with the lowest incidence of COVID 19 had a 72% (95% CI, 79% to 62% relative change in incidence compared with 49% (95% CI, 62% to 33% for those states with the highest cumulative incidence. In a model derived from this analysis, it was estimated that closing schools when the cumulative incidence of COVID 19 was in the lowest quartile compared with the highest quartile was associated with 128.7 fewer cases per 100 000 population over 26 days and with 1.5 fewer deaths per 100 000 population over 16 days.  2020, and May 7, 2020, school closure in the US was temporally associated with decreased COVID 19 incidence and mortality; states that closed schools earlier, when cumulative incidence of COVID 19 was low, had the largest relative reduction in incidence and mortality. However, it remains possible that some of the reduction may have been related to other concurrent nonpharmaceutical interventions.

title: Adapting to online teaching during COVID 19 school closure: teacher education and teacher competence effects among early career teachers in Germany
abstract: As in many countries worldwide, as part of the consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown schools in Germany closed in March 2020 and only partially re opened in May. Teachers were confronted with the need to adapt to online teaching. This paper presents the results of a survey of early career teachers conducted in May and June 2020. First, we analysed the extent to which they maintained social contact with students and mastered core teaching challenges. Second, we analysed potential factors (school computer technology, teacher competence such as their technological pedagogical knowledge, and teacher education learning opportunities pertaining to digital teaching and learning) Findings from regression analyses show that information and communication technologies (ICT) tools, particularly digital teacher competence and teacher education opportunities to learn digital competence, are instrumental in adapting to online teaching during COVID 19 school closures. Implications are discussed for the field of teacher education and the adoption of ICT by teachers.

title: School Closure During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19) Pandemic: An Effective Intervention at the Global Level?
abstract: In most countries, attempts to reduce severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV 2) circulation and new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) development have been mainly based on restrictive measures, including the avoidance of social interactions, the prohibition of movements within the national territory, and the closure of all nonessential activities, including schools. While the closure of factories and the avoidance of other social interaction together with proper hand washing remain the best measures to reduce the total burden of COVID 19, the usefulness of school closure can be debated. It is highly likely that the most important reason leading governments to close schools was the evidence that the early introduction of this restrictive measure had been effective in reducing influenza incidence rates and related clinical, social, and economic problems during both seasonal and pandemic influenza  However, it is not at all certain that the same advantages can be expected in the case of the COVID 19 pandemic. It is even possible that school closure may have negative effects and lead to greater medical, economic, and social problems. Modeling studies seem to indicate that school closure can be significantly effective for infection control only when the outbreaks are due to viruses with low transmissibility and attack rates are higher in children than in adults. This applies to influenza viruses and influenza infection but does not seem valid for coronaviruses, including SARS CoV 2, which have different transmission dynamics, or for COVID 19, which affects mainly adults and elderly individuals. It has been calculated that the expected number of cases directly generated by 1 case of SARS CoV 2 infection (R0) is high and not lower than 2.5.2 Moreover, children younger than 10 years account for only 1% of COVID 19 cases,3 and although a certain number of them can experience an asymptomatic infection, the total number of children with SARS CoV 2 infection seems lower than expected. Although no official data are available, to our knowledge, on the effectiveness of school closure during the COVID 19 epidemic, the poor relevance of this restrictive measure seems confirmed by the evidence that in Taiwan, the spread of COVID 19 was minimized without widespread planned school closures.4 On the other hand, using UK population and school data together with data on SARS CoV 2 transmission dynamics calculated in the early COVID 19 pandemic in China, it was predicted that school closure would be insufficient to mitigate the pandemic. Finally, the poor effect of school closure during coronavirus epidemics has already been evidenced in some studies carried out during the SARS epidemic. In China, it was found that school closure for 2 months was not significantly effective for disease prevention mainly because of the very low incidence of symptomatic disease among school aged children.5 Moreover, in Taiwan, it was evidenced that the risk of transmission of infection among children in a classroom was very low, with an R0 less than 1, clearly highlighting that school closure could be only marginally  In a 2020 systematic review, Viner et al6 showed that there are no data on the relative contribution of school closures to SARS CoV 2 transmission control. Data from the SARS outbreak in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore suggest that school closures did not contribute to the control of the epidemic. Recent modeling studies of COVID 19 from the United Kingdom using data from the Wuhan province, China, outbreak predicted that school closures alone would prevent only 2% to 4% of deaths, much less than other social distancing interventions.7 While the efficacy of school closure is debatable, the potential negative consequences of this measure cannot be ignored. Some consequences regard the family. To take care of the youngest children when daycares and schools are closed, parents must remain at home, with inevitable economic consequences. In addition, when parents are health care workers, this can have relevant medical effects. In the US, it has been calculated that the absence from work of 15% of health care workers may be associated with a significant increase in COVID 19 mortality.8 If parents must work and grandparents must become the primary caretakers of children, the risk significantly increases that these persons, who are per se at the greatest risk of serious illness, may become infected, and this is what happened in Italy in the first 2 weeks when school closure was decided but other work activities were not stopped. Moreover, school closure can cause risks of deepening social, economic, and health inequities, particularly in limited income countries. In the countries where the Ebola epidemic took place in 2014 to 2016, school closure was associated with increased child labor, violence, and socioeconomic  Finally, the distance learning through digital technologies that has been planned by several countries to replace traditional school can be difficult to implement even in some industrialized countries. In Italy, a 2015 survey carried out by the National Institute of Statistics9 showed that in the poorest areas of the country, 41% of the households did not have a tablet or a personal computer and that among families with at least 1 child, only 14.3% could guarantee distance learning. This means that a relevant group of children may remain substantially excluded not only from learning but also from any form of socialization with peers and with the surrounding world.

title: COVID 19 School Closure Related Changes to the Professional Life of a K 12 Teacher
abstract: The COVID 19 pandemic forced K 12 school closures in spring 2020 to protect the well being of society. The unplanned and unprecedented disruption to education changed the work of many teachers suddenly, and in many aspects. This case study examines the COVID 19 school closure related changes to the professional life of a secondary school teacher in rural Alaska (United States) who had to teach his students online. A descriptive and explanatory single case study methodology was used to describe subsequent impacts on instructional practices and workload. Qualitative and quantitative data sources include participant observations, semi structured interviews, artifacts (e.g. lesson plans, schedules, online time) and open ended conversations. The results of this study demonstrate an increase and change in workload for the teacher and that online education can support learning for many students but needs to be carefully designed and individualized to not deepen inequality and social divides. The forced move to online learning may have been the catalyst to create a new, more effective hybrid model of educating students in the future. Not one single model for online learning will provide equitable educational opportunities for all and virtual learning cannot be seen as a cheap fix for the ongoing financial crisis in funding education.

title: Considering inequalities in the school closure response to COVID 19

title: Mental health and its correlates among children and adolescents during COVID 19 school closure: The importance of parent child discussion
abstract: School closures due to the COVID 19 outbreak have affected 87% of the world's students physically, socially, and psychologically, yet rigorous investigation into their mental health during this period is still lacking.  A cross sectional online survey of 4,342 primary and secondary school students from Shanghai, China was conducted during March 13 23, 2020. Besides demographic information, psychological distress (including depression, anxiety, and stress) life satisfaction, perceived impact of home quarantine, and parent child discussions on COVID 19 were assessed.  The three most prevalent symptoms were: anxiety (24.9% depression (19.7% and stress (15.2% Participants were generally satisfied with life and 21.4% became more satisfied with life during school closures. Senior grades were positively correlated with psychological symptoms and negatively associated with life satisfaction, whereas the perceived benefit from home quarantine and parent child discussions on COVID 19 were negatively correlated with psychopathological symptoms and positively correlated with life satisfaction. Among participants who perceived no benefit from home quarantine, those who had discussions with their parents about COVID 19 experienced less depression, anxiety, and stress.  Limitations included the inability to infer the casual relationship, no parental report for mental health of children aged 6 to 9, and the inadequate measurement of parent child discussion.  Mental health problems and resilience co existed in children and adolescents during the COVID 19 outbreak. Given the important role of parent child discussions, open communication between parents and children about the pandemic should be encouraged to help children and adolescents cope with mental health problems in public health crisis.

title: Simulating the effect of school closure during COVID 19 outbreaks in Ontario, Canada
abstract: The province of Ontario, Canada, has instituted indefinite school closures (SC) as well as other social distancing measures to mitigate the impact of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic. We sought to evaluate the effect of SC on reducing attack rate and the need for critical care during COVID 19 outbreaks, while considering scenarios with concurrent implementation of self isolation (SI) of symptomatic cases.  We developed an age structured agent based simulation model and parameterized it with the demographics of Ontario stratified by age and the latest estimates of COVID 19 epidemiologic characteristics. Disease transmission was simulated within and between different age groups by considering inter and intra group contact patterns. The effect of SC of varying durations on the overall attack rate, magnitude and peak time of the outbreak, and requirement for intensive care unit (ICU) admission in the population was estimated. Secondly, the effect of concurrent community based voluntary SI of symptomatic COVID 19 cases was assessed.  SC reduced attack rates in the range of 7.2 12.7% when the duration of SC increased from 3 to 16 weeks, when contacts among school children were restricted by 60 80% and in the absence of SI by mildly symptomatic persons. Depending on the scenario, the overall reduction in ICU admissions attributed to SC throughout the outbreak ranged from 3.3 to 6.7% When SI of mildly symptomatic persons was included and practiced by 20% the reduction of attack rate and ICU admissions exceeded 6.3% and 9.1% (on average) respectively, in the corresponding scenarios.  Our results indicate that SC may have limited impact on reducing the burden of COVID 19 without measures to interrupt the chain of transmission during both pre symptomatic and symptomatic stages. While highlighting the importance of SI, our findings indicate the need for better understanding of the epidemiologic characteristics of emerging diseases on the effectiveness of social distancing measures.

title: School closure during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic Impact on children's sleep.
abstract: To evaluate the sleep habits of school going children before and during school closure in the national lockdown period (called 'Circuit Breaker' or CB in Singapore) due to the COVID 19 pandemic.  Cross sectional, anonymous, online, population based survey questionnaire was administered to parents aged 21 years and above with children aged between 3 and 16 years attending pre school, primary or secondary school (equivalent to kindergarten, middle and high school) and residing in Singapore. Sleep duration in relation to various daily activities including academic activities, physical exercise, and screen time was evaluated pre CB and during CB.  Data from 593 participants were analyzed. Pre CB, the overall mean (SD) sleep duration of the study population was 9.01 (1.18) hours on weekdays and 9.99 (0.94) hours on weekends. During CB, mean (SD) sleep duration overall was 9.63 (1.18) hours. Although children generally went to bed later (mean 0.65 h later) they woke up even later during CB (mean 1.27 h later) resulting in longer sleep duration (mean increase of 0.35 h) This was most evident in secondary school children (mean increase of 0.70 h) Children attending private schools (which had later start times) had increased sleep duration (mean 10.01 (SD 0.89) hours pre CB and 10.05 (SD 0.93) hours during CB) compared to public schools (mean 9.05 (SD 0.91) pre CB and 9.49 (SD 1.22) hours during CB)  School closure from the COVID 19 pandemic resulted in longer sleep duration in school going children. Early school/academic activity start times had a significant impact on limiting children's sleep duration.

title: Do suicide rates in children and adolescents change during school closure in Japan? The acute effect of the first wave of COVID 19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health
abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) has severely impacted the lives of children and adolescents. School closure, one of the critical changes during the first COVID 19 wave, caused decreases in social contacts and increases in family time for children and adolescents. This can have both positive and negative influences on suicide, which is one of the robust mental health outcomes. However, the impact of the COVID 19 crisis on children and adolescents in terms of suicide is unknown.  This study investigates the acute effect of the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic on suicide among children and adolescents during school closure in Japan.  Total number of suicides per month among children and adolescents under 20 years old between January 2018 and May 2020.  Poisson regression was used to examine whether suicide increased or decreased during school closure, which spanned from March to May 2020, compared with the same period in 2018 and 2019. Robustness check was conducted using all data from January 2018 to May 2020. Negative binomial regression, a model with overdispersion, was also performed.  We found no significant change in suicide rates during the school closure (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81 to 1.64) We found the main effect of month, that is, suicides significantly increased suicides in May (IRR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.78) compared to March, but the interaction terms of month and school closure were not significant (p 0.1)  As preliminary findings, this study suggests that the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic has not significantly affected suicide rates among children and adolescents during the school closure in Japan.