Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May-Jun;22(4):667-670.
doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2021.09.006. Epub 2021 Sep 20.

Association of Elementary School Reopening Status and County COVID-19 Incidence

Kenneth A Michelson  1 , Margaret E Samuels-Kalow  2
Affiliations

Association of Elementary School Reopening Status and County COVID-19 Incidence

Kenneth A Michelson et al. Acad Pediatr. 2022 May-Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between elementary school opening status (ESOS) and changes in pediatric COVID-19 incidence.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of US counties with school districts with ≥500 elementary school students. The main exposure was ESOS in September, 2020. The outcome was county incidence of COVID-19. Age-stratified negative binomial regression models were constructed using county adult COVID-19 incidence.

Results: Among 3220 US counties, 618 (19.2%) were remote, 391 (12.1%) were hybrid, 2022 (62.8%) were in-person. In unadjusted models, COVID-19 incidence after school started was higher among children in hybrid or in-person counties compared with remote counties. After adjustment for local adult incidence, among children aged 0 to 9, the incidence rate ratio of COVID-19 (IRR) compared with remote counties was 1.01 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.93-1.08) in hybrid counties and 0.79 (95% CI 0.75-0.84) in in-person counties.

Conclusions: Counties with in-person learning did not have higher rates of COVID-19 after adjustment for local adult rates.

Keywords: COVID-19; in-person learning; school reopening; school safety.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Lessler J, Grabowski MK, Grantz KH, et al. Household COVID-19 risk and in-person schooling. Science. 2021;372:1092–1097. doi: 10.1126/science.abh2939. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Verlenden JV., Pampati S, Rasberry CN, et al. Association of Children's Mode of School Instruction with Child and Parent Experiences and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic — COVID Experiences Survey, United States, October 8–November 13, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70:369–376. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7011a1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Varma JK, Thamkittikasem J, Whittemore K, et al. COVID-19 infections among students and staff in New York City public schools. Pediatrics. 2021;147 doi: 10.1542/peds.2021-050605. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Munday JD, Sherratt K, Meakin S, et al. Implications of the school-household network structure on SARS-CoV-2 transmission under school reopening strategies in England. Nat Commun. 2021;12:1942. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22213-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. CDC. CDC COVID-19 Case Surveillance Restricted Access Detailed Data. Available at: https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/COVID-19-Case-Surveillance-Restri.... Accessed August 24, 2021.

Publication types