AUTHOR=Buja Alessandra , Paganini Matteo , Cristofori Vittorio , Baldovin Tatjana , Fusinato Riccardo , Boccuzzo Giovanna , Cocchio Silvia , Coretti Silvia , Rebba Vincenzo , Parpinel Maria TITLE=Opening Schools and Trends in SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in European Countries JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health VOLUME=66 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2021.1604076 DOI=10.3389/ijph.2021.1604076 ISSN=1661-8564 ABSTRACT=

Objectives: Benefits of school attendance have been debated against SARS-CoV-2 contagion risks. This study examined the trends of contagion before and after schools reopened across 26 countries in the European Union.

Methods: We compared the average values of estimated R_t before and after school reopening, identifying any significant increase with a one-sample t-test. A meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis were performed to calculate the overall increase in R_t for countries in the EU and to search for relationships between R_t before schools reopened and the average increase in R_t afterward.

Results: The mean reproduction number increased in 16 out of 26 countries. The maximum increase in R_t was reached after a mean 28 days. We found a negative relationship between the R_t before school reopening and its increasing after that event. By 45 days after the first day of school reopening, the overall average increase in R_t for the European Union was 23%.

Conclusion: We observed a significant increase in the mean reproduction number in most European countries, a public health issue that needs strategies to contain the spread of COVID-19.