Health behavior and policy review | 2021
An Evidence Base for School Health Policy during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
Objective: Children represent a small fraction of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a low case fatality rate (CFR) In this paper, we lay out an evidence-based policy for reopening schools Methods: We gathered age-specific COVID-19 case counts and identified mortality data for 14 countries Dose-response meta-analysis was used to examine the relationship of the incremental case fatality rate (CFR) to age In addition, an evidence-to-decision framework (EtD) was used to correlate the dose-response data with other epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in childhood Results: In the dose-response analysis, we found that there was an almost negligible fatality below age 18 CFR rose little between ages 5 to 50 years The confidence intervals were narrow, suggesting relative homogeneity across countries Further data suggested decreased childhood transmission from respiratory droplets and a low viral load among children Conclusions: Opening up schools and kindergartens is unlikely to impact COVID-19 case or mortality rates in both the child and adult populations We outline a robust plan for schools that recommends that general principles not be micromanaged, with authority left to schools and monitored by public health authorities © 2021, Paris Scholar Publishing All rights reserved