Screening and vaccination against COVID-19 to minimise school closure: a modelling study
The Lancet Infectious Diseases·
- DOI
- 10.1016/s1473-3099(22)00138-4
- PMID
- 35378075
- PMCID
- PMC8975262
- OpenAlex
- W4223911497
- Study type
- Mathematical modelling
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Publication version
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Open linked preprint →Why this research matters now
The modelling exercise suggests that combining extended student vaccination coverage with regular testing at high adherence could help maintain in-person schooling when highly transmissible variants circulate.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study evaluates how school-specific transmissibility estimates can inform the costs and benefits of different SARS-CoV-2 control protocols in schools, with the aim of minimizing school closure.
Study design
An agent-based modelling study using empirical contact data from one primary and one secondary school, combined with empirical data from pilot screenings across 683 schools during the alpha variant wave in France, with model fitting to observed school prevalence and cost-benefit analyses of interventions.
Population and setting
Primary and secondary schools in France, drawing on contact data from individual schools and screening data from 683 schools during the alpha variant wave (March–June 2021), with subsequent modelling applied to delta variant scenarios using mid-September 2021 European vaccination coverage.
Main findings
Estimated school effective reproductive numbers were higher than community estimates for the alpha variant (R alpha 1·40 in primary and 1·46 in secondary schools) and varied for delta (R delta 1·66 in primary and 1·10 in secondary schools). Under modelled conditions, weekly testing of 75% of unvaccinated students alongside symptom-based testing was projected to reduce cases by 34% in primary and 36% in secondary schools, and to reduce student-days lost up to 80% versus reactive class closures. Even with 50% student vaccination, weekly testing of unvaccinated students was projected to reduce cases by 23% in primary schools versus symptom-based testing alone. Pilot screening adherence was reported as low, with a median of ≤53%.
Public-health relevance
The modelling exercise suggests that combining extended student vaccination coverage with regular testing at high adherence could help maintain in-person schooling when highly transmissible variants circulate.
Important limitations
Limitations explicitly noted include insufficient adherence observed in pilot screening (median ≤53%). Additionally, this summary is restricted to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata and therefore does not capture methodological detail, uncertainty beyond reported CIs, or external validity considerations present in the full paper; decision-grade interpretation requires the original article.
GIDS interpretation
The article addresses discoverability of school-based SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics and intervention impact using empirical screening and contact data from France; this summary does not connect the paper to any live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 12 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.