Secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in educational settings in Northern Italy from September 2020 to April 2021: a population-based study

Abstract Background We aimed to quantify the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the school setting by type of school, characteristics of the index case and calendar period in the Reggio Emilia province (RE), Italy. The secondary aim was to estimate the promptness of contact tracing.Methods A population-based analysis of surveillance data of all COVID-19 cases occurring in RE, Italy, from September 1, 2020, to April 4th, 2021, for which a school contact and/or exposure was suspected. Indicator of the delay in contact tracing was computed as the time elapsed since positivity of the index case and the date on which the swab for classmates was scheduled (or most were scheduled).Results Overall, 30,184 and 13,608 contacts among classmates and teachers/staff, respectively, were identified and received recommendation for testing; 43,214 (98.7%) performed the test. Secondary transmission occurred in about 40% of the investigated classes, and the overall secondary case attack rate was 4%, slightly higher when the index case was a teacher, but with almost no differences by type of school and stable during the study period. Promptness of contact tracing increased during the study period, reducing the time from index case identification and testing of contacts from 7 to 3 days, as well the ability to identify possible source of infection in the index case.Conclusions Despite the spread of the Alpha variant during the study period in RE, the secondary case attack rate remained stable from school reopening in September 2020 until the beginning of April 2021..

Medienart:

Preprint

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

bioRxiv.org - (2021) vom: 12. Nov. Zur Gesamtaufnahme - year:2021

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Djuric, Olivera [VerfasserIn]
Larosa, Elisabetta [VerfasserIn]
Cassinadri, Mariateresa [VerfasserIn]
Cilloni, Silvia [VerfasserIn]
Bisaccia, Eufemia [VerfasserIn]
Pepe, Davide [VerfasserIn]
Vicentini, Massimo [VerfasserIn]
Venturelli, Francesco [VerfasserIn]
Bonvicini, Laura [VerfasserIn]
Rossi, Paolo Giorgi [VerfasserIn]
Pezzotti, Patrizio [VerfasserIn]
Urdiales, Alberto Mateo [VerfasserIn]
Bedeschi, Emanuela [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext [kostenfrei]

doi:

10.1101/2021.09.03.21263061

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

XBI032533179