School closures may not have been necessary to prevent spread of COVID-19, researchers at McMaster find
CTV
An “extensive,” two-year review of COVID-19 in schools and daycares has revealed that these settings were not a significant source of transmission of the virus when infection prevention and control measures were used, researchers at McMaster University have found.
An “extensive,” two-year review of COVID-19 in schools and daycares has revealed that these settings were not a significant source of transmission of the virus when infection prevention and control measures were used, researchers at McMaster University have found.
The review was published Thursday in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health and examined more than 34,000 references, including databases, websites, and studies, related to transmission in child-care settings and schools across the globe.
The results of the review appear to cast doubt on the necessity of the repeated interruptions to in-person learning during the pandemic.
In Ontario, schools were closed for a minimum of 135 days to prevent the spread of COVID-19, with disruptions in three successive school years.
“We found that after that initial shutdown where everything was locked down, schools did not appear to have much impact on community level transmission when infection prevention control measures were in place,” Sarah Neil-Sztramko, an assistant professor at the university and the lead author of the review, said in a written statement.
The review, which was updated 18 times over the past two years, was launched in response to a need for “timely, up-to-date access to scientific evidence to guide decision making,” the authors said.
“The role of schools and daycares in COVID-19 transmission, from a growing number of studies, were reported in several reviews; the overall findings were mixed, and these reviews became quickly outdated as new and often higher-quality evidence emerged,” the authors wrote.
