IN ITALY most of the schools have just been closed due to the increase in infections. About 6 million students, more than 70% are at home and are taking lessons in Dad. A figure that could increase. The role of the school in the dissemination of coronavirus it has been much discussed, but it is still difficult to establish if and where the infectious children actually occurred and the analyzes do not lead to clear results. What is certain is that by correctly adopting the protective measures the risks for everyone, teachers and children are reduced. A US study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reveals that by adding together several anti Covid measures and in particular by applying at least 7 at the same time, intra-school diffusion is reduced to almost zero. The research, still in the publication phase, is available in preprint on medRxiv.
Coronavirus, Andreoni: “Close schools or put the vaccination campaign at risk”
by Viola Rita
Teen ager more affected than children
The scholars analyzed the data of over 2 million families in the United States. Among these, more than 576 thousand have at least one child between 0 and 19 years (from kindergarten to high school), who in the pandemic attended school in the presence, full time, as in the pre-pandemic era, or with fewer hours. The data showed that the risk increases substantially when children go to school full-time. Furthermore the greatest number of infections concerns the adolescent age group and especially high school kids. On the contrary, there is hardly any association between infection in the family and school attendance in nursery and nursery school children.
Covid, how to recognize it in children
by Giuliano Aluffi
The result is also in line with Italian data from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità which indicate that at the end of January 2021, when the infection in school-age children was highest, teenagers were most affected, followed by middle school children. and then by the children. “This – he explains Paolo D’Ancona, epidemiologist at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità – it may be partly due to the fact that the children were less susceptible to contagion and, in the case of infection, to relevant symptoms “.
The measures promoted
The study focuses on protective measures adopted in US schools during the pandemic. The survey showed that the most common ones in the USA are: masks for students and teachers, limited number entrances and spaced desks. While the choices that have statistically shown to reduce the risks most are the daily monitoring of symptoms together with the use of masks by teachers and the blocking of extracurricular activities. Among others there are: classes with few students and with the same teacher, as far as possible, the closure of any internal bars and refreshment points, outdoor lessons.
Covid: will the school be able to save the children?
by Valeria Pini
The analysis showed that when at least 7 restrictions are applied, the probability of the spread of the virus is very small and if it reaches 10 or more the risk is practically zero. “” The study is interesting – comments D’Ancona – because it is one of the first to analyze, on a very large sample, the application of the measures at school and their impact in reducing the infection “. But adopting so many restrictions at school is not effective in itself and does not exclude that the infection can occur in moments of aggregation and meeting opportunities after school hours: the rules must always be respected.
Wash your hands and open the windows
In the list of the US study there are not two important elements, widely used during the pandemic in Italy and in many countries. “It’s about the frequent hand washing, one of the cardinal rules in combating the spread of the virus not only at school – comments D’Ancona – and the repeated ventilation of the rooms. “Keeping the windows open often is a strategy that, as shown by various studies, largely contrasts the infection via aerosol – that is, through the tiny virus particles that in some cases can remain suspended in the air.
Coronavirus: it is useless to sanitize everything, more important to open the windows
by Irma D’Aria
In summary, the rules to be followed at school (but also in other environments) are as follows: “the use of masks, spacing, hand washing and ventilation of classrooms and other closed places – concludes D’Ancona. – Obviously, the more measures are adopted, even beyond these, the better. ” It being understood that a zero risk does not exist.
.