No evidence of secondary transmission of COVID-19 from children attending school in Ireland, 2020

Laura Heavey; Geraldine Casey; Ciara Kelly; David Kelly; Geraldine McDarby

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.21.2000903

No evidence of secondary transmission of COVID-19 from children attending school in Ireland, 2020

Euro Surveill. 2020 May;25(21):2000903. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.21.2000903.

Authors

Laura Heavey^{1

2}, Geraldine Casey^{1

2}, Ciara Kelly^{1

2}, David Kelly^{1

2}, Geraldine McDarby^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Public Health Medicine, Health Service Executive, Dublin, Ireland.
² These authors contributed equally to this article and share first authorship.

PMID: 32489179
PMCID: PMC7268273
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.21.2000903

Abstract

As many countries begin to lift some of the restrictions to contain COVID-19 spread, lack of evidence of transmission in the school setting remains. We examined Irish notifications of SARS-CoV2 in the school setting before school closures on 12 March 2020 and identified no paediatric transmission. This adds to current evidence that children do not appear to be drivers of transmission, and we argue that reopening schools should be considered safe accompanied by certain measures.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-Cov2; paediatric; school; transmission.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Betacoronavirus
COVID-19
Child
Coronavirus Infections* / diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections* / epidemiology
Coronavirus Infections* / transmission
Coronavirus*
Humans
Ireland
Pandemics / prevention & control*
Pneumonia, Viral* / epidemiology
SARS-CoV-2
Schools