Risk of virus spreading in schools is ‘extremely low’
Major study shows negligible transmission of Covid-19 among pupils and teachers as WHO plays down threat
CORONAVIRUS does not spread widely in schools, according to a major study being considered by government advisers.
The research looked at 18 infected students and teachers in 15 schools, and found that despite them being in close contact with 863 people at the schools, only two caught the virus.
It is the only major study of trans- mission among children and teachers, and shows that the virus’s spread is “limited” in classrooms.
Previous studies have suggested that younger children are likely to only contract a mild form of Covid-19 and do not play a major role in its transmission, but this is the first time the spread of coronavirus has been directly studied in primary and secondary schools.
It comes with the Government locked in a battle with teaching unions over plans for primary school pupils in Reception and Years 1 and 6 in England to return from June 1. Union bosses insist classrooms will not be safe and have ordered their members not to “engage” with the plans, while some Labour councils have said they will refuse to reopen schools.
Yesterday, Michael Gove sought to reassure teachers and parents, insisting the “clear scientific and clinical advice” was that it was safe for schools to reopen with social distancing enforced.
“Children only have one chance at education. Over the last decade we have made significant strides in closing the gap between the richest and poorest in our schools. This lockdown has put that at risk,” the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One. “If progressive countries like Denmark can be teaching children and have them back in schools, then so should we.”
Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the World
Health Organisation’s chief scientist, said yesterday “there have not been big outbreaks in schools” and the early results of studies were “very reassuring”.
She said “the risks to children are extremely low with this infection, and there have not been many cases described of children transmitting it to others, particularly within school settings”. Dr Swaminathan added that from what is currently known, it appears that “children are less capable of spreading it, even if they get the infection and certainly are at very low risk of getting ill from the disease”.
The latest study, carried out in Australia, is being analysed by government advisers as they consider how to get children back into schools safely.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph yesterday, a senior member of the expert Sage subcommittee on schools confirmed the Australian study had been looked at by Government scientific advisers. They described it as a “very useful and interesting piece of research”.
This newspaper also understands that the Sage advisory group is preparing to publish its own evidence in the coming days that will set out the thinking behind its recommendation that schools reopen gradually.
The Australian study was cited by the country’s officials when they announced that children should return to classrooms and found schools had a “very limited” role in transmission.
Its authors concluded that the data “suggest that children are not the primary drivers of Covid-19 spread in schools or in the community. This is consistent with data from international studies showing low rates of disease in children and suggesting limited spread among children and from children to adults.”
Hayley Dixon
AS THE debate about the reopening of schools rages, a growing body of evidence shows classrooms do not play a major role in the spread of Covid-19.
Studies have consistently shown that children are less likely to suffer a severe form of coronavirus and play little, if any, role in its transmission.
Because of the rapid closure of schools worldwide, largely driven by modelling based on the spread of influenza, there has been little opportunity to study the role classrooms play.
The only major study of the transmission of coronavirus in primary and secondary schools, conducted by Australia’s National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, found “very limited” spread in schools.
The study looked at transmission rates from nine students and nine staff who tested positive for Covid-19 from 15 schools in New South Wales.
Despite 735 students and 128 staff being in close contact with the initial 18 cases, only two children were found to have contracted the virus, one from two other students and one from a teacher. They found no evidence of transmission from pupils to teachers.
Researchers concluded: “SARSCOV-2 transmission in children in schools appears considerably less than seen for other respiratory viruses, such as influenza.”
The evidence to date has led to the conclusion in an article for The BMJ that “Governments worldwide should allow all children back to school”.
Dr Alasdair Munro, a paediatric infectious disease expert at University
Hospital Southampton, and Prof Saul Faust, from the University of Southampton, wrote that “at the current time, children do not appear to be super spreaders”.
It comes after a review led by Prof Russell Viner of UCL, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health who sits on the Government’s advisory panel on schools, found closures did not appear to have a significant effect on the virus’s spread.
A study of a nine-year-old British boy who contracted coronavirus in the French Alps found that he did not pass it on despite having contact with more than 170 people at three schools.
Countries which implemented widespread testing have found lower prevalence of coronavirus among children, especially those of primary school age.
In Vò, Italy, where 2.4 per cent of the population was infected, no cases were found among 374 under-10s tested.
In one French secondary school, around 40 per cent of pupils and staff were infected but the pupils were aged between 15 and 17 and showed similar disease characteristics to adults.
Scientists are now looking to the experience of countries which have begun to reopen their schools.
Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organisation chief scientist, said the evidence so far is “very reassuring”. Both Michael Gove, the
‘SARS-COV-2 transmission in children in schools appears considerably less than for other viruses’
‘If the opening had a negative effect we would have begun to see that in increased infections’
Cabinet Office minister, and Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, have cited Denmark as justification for reopening places of education.
The country, one of the first in Europe to lock down and the first to reopen schools, saw its R number rise briefly from 0.7 to 0.9 after schools and kindergartens reopened on April 15. It has since fallen back and Denmark marked its first day without a single reported coronavirus death on Friday.
Officials confirmed they had not seen a spike in deaths among staff.
Norway followed suit on April with Frode Forland, of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, telling a press briefing on Friday: “If the opening would have had a negative effect we would have begun to see that in an increased number of infections.”
Questions remain over how schools can implement social distancing guidelines, particularly for young children.
In Germany, classes are split into two and alternate between teaching days at home and in classrooms.
Similar measures could be considered in England where the Government has limited classes to 15 pupils.
In the Netherlands, where childcare reopened fully last week and primary schools began teaching half the pupils at a time, authorities have relaxed the 1.5m social distancing rules for young children noting they are “not possible”.
The country’s National Institute for Public Health explained: “This is because children play a smaller role in the spread of Covid-19 than adults. Ongoing research suggests that the transmission of the virus from one child to another or from children to adults is less common. So going to school and playing outside is therefore possible.”