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Quantifying pupil-to-pupil SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the impact of lateral flow testing in English secondary schools
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Leng, Trystan, Hill, Edward M., Holmes, Alexander, Southall, Emma, Thompson, Robin N., Tildesley, Michael J., Keeling, Matt J. and Dyson, Louise (2022) Quantifying pupil-to-pupil SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the impact of lateral flow testing in English secondary schools. Nature Communications, 13 (1). 1106. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28731-9 ISSN 2041-1723.
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WRAP-quantifying-pupil-to-pupil-SARS-CoV-2-transmission-impact-lateral-flow-testing-English-secondary-schools-2022.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (1372Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28731-9
Abstract
A range of measures have been implemented to control within-school SARS-CoV-2 transmission in England, including the self-isolation of close contacts and twice weekly mass testing of secondary school pupils using lateral flow device tests (LFTs). Despite reducing transmission, isolating close contacts can lead to high levels of absences, negatively impacting pupils. To quantify pupil-to-pupil SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the impact of implemented control measures, we fit a stochastic individual-based model of secondary school infection to both swab testing data and secondary school absences data from England, and then simulate outbreaks from 31st August 2020 until 23rd May 2021. We find that the pupil-to-pupil reproduction number, Rschool, has remained below 1 on average across the study period, and that twice weekly mass testing using LFTs has helped to control pupil-to-pupil transmission. We also explore the potential benefits of alternative containment strategies, finding that a strategy of repeat testing of close contacts rather than isolation, alongside mass testing, substantially reduces absences with only a marginal increase in pupil-to-pupil transmission.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||||||||
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Subjects: | L Education > L Education (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Mathematics |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | COVID-19 (Disease) -- Transmission -- Great Britain, School children -- Health and hygiene -- Great Britain, COVID-19 (Disease) -- Patients -- Treatment -- Great Britain, High schools -- Great Britain, Education, Secondary , COVID-19 (Disease) -- Patients -- Vaccination -- Great Britain | |||||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Nature Communications | |||||||||||||||
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group | |||||||||||||||
ISSN: | 2041-1723 | |||||||||||||||
Official Date: | 1 March 2022 | |||||||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 13 | |||||||||||||||
Number: | 1 | |||||||||||||||
Article Number: | 1106 | |||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-022-28731-9 | |||||||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 15 March 2022 | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 18 March 2022 | |||||||||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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