What is the evidence for transmission of COVID-19 by children in schools? A living systematic review
Wei Xu, Xue Li, Marshall Dozier, Yazhou He, Amir Kirolos, Zhongyu Lang, Catherine Mathews, Nandi Siegfried, Evropi Τheodoratou
Abstract
BACKGROUND: It is of paramount importance to understand the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools, which could support the decision-making about educational facilities closure or re-opening with effective prevention and control measures in place. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the extent of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools. We performed risk of bias evaluation of all included studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). RESULTS: = 0.36) in schools. Fever, cough, dyspnea, ageusia, anosmia, rhinitis, sore throat, headache, myalgia, asthenia, and diarrhoea were all associated with the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (based on two studies). Overall, study quality was judged to be poor with risk of performance and attrition bias, limiting the confidence in the results. CONCLUSIONS: There is limited high-quality evidence available to quantify the extent of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools or to compare it to community transmission. Emerging evidence suggests lower IAR and SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate in students compared to school staff. Future prospective and adequately controlled cohort studies are necessary to confirm this finding.