They compile studies on the epidemiological impact of school attendance – Télam

The director of the School of Education at the University of San Andrs, Alex Rivas, posted various surveys on Twitter, based on a compilation made by a team of public health specialists linked to the University of Cambridge, led by Sebastin Walsh, with the intention – later – to contribute to the debate on whether the closure and reopening of schools is affecting community transmission of COVID-19.

Through a thread on his Twitter account (@ arivas7), Rivas, who works as a researcher in comparative education policies and systems, warned in a first conclusion that “studies show different results. It is not true that the literature agrees on this ‘closure schools do not reduce contagion’ and neither is the reverse ”.

In one of his tweets, Rivas noted: “I have not found any national or subnational education system that has kept schools open with more than a thousand cases per 100,000 people per week (as is the case at CABA now).”

After quoting the team led by Walsh, the director of the University of San Andrs indicated that “of the 40 studies reviewed, the biggest problem is isolating the variable ‘school closures’ from the other measures. (However,) the one that did this best shows a strong impact on reducing contagion and death “; and, among the most recent, he cited a study which” indicates that the opening of schools in England has generated a sharp increase in infections “.

“In general, in addition to the complete lockdowns, three interventions had the greatest impact: the closure of schools, the closure of bars and the wearing of masks: a message easily understandable by the public”, concludes the “pre-print From the study “Strong impact of closing schools, closing bars and wearing masks during the Covid-19 pandemic: results of a simple and revealing analysis”, published by the US National Library of Medicine.

In terms of academic publication, a pre-print of the publication of a research before peer review, which certifies – or not – its formal publication in a specialized journal; this may be a preview or an incomplete version, but it is usually a final version.

In another of his tweets, Rivas says that, “with regard to measures to fight COVID in more than 200 countries, (the) closing of schools is the second most effective measure to reduce contagion”, according to the Classification of the effectiveness of COVID interventions – 19 governments around the world, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

Rivas also cited the article published by The Lancet, based on a study in 131 countries, which “shows that (the) closing and (the) opening of schools has a significant impact on the decrease and increase in Covid.”

This article, written by epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani of Queen Mary University in London and his team, cited data from the University of Warwick and Imperial College London, suggesting at least 30,000 additional deaths from Covid- 19 as part of the proposed reopenings.

According to these specialists, opening schools in places with high community transmission and without adequate mitigation measures “will likely contribute to an infection rate (of coronavirus) greater than one in almost all scenarios”.

“There is a lot of evidence indicating that in contexts of high circulation of the virus, there is more risk of schools spreading contagion and vice versa: low risk when there are no strong waves of contagion,” tweeted Rivas in another passage from his thread, before citing the study. To what extent does face-to-face schooling contribute to the spread of Covid-19? Michigan and Washington evidence.

However, Rivas said that “there are also studies which show that contagion decreases a lot with strong mitigation and surveillance policies” and, in that sense, he said, “many studies indicate that the contagion is more important outside the school than inside the school. ”, citing the research factors associated with the positive results of the SARS-CoV-2 test in outpatient health centers and wards. emergency in children and adolescents under 18. Mississippi, September – November 2020.

“This is why – after Rivas – strong global quarantines seem to be more effective than closing schools isolated from other measures.

And he continued, “That’s what almost every country that has seen new waves has done: closing schools with strong quarantines to end a critical intensive care occupation. In 2021: France, England, Germany, Portugal, Chile, Uruguay, among others. Other countries have maintained almost constant closures since 2020 such as Mexico or Brazil and almost all of Latin America currently has closed schools (except Nicaragua and of Cuba). “