COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in transmission - first update

Abstract

The aim of this document is to provide an update on the knowledge surrounding the role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the role of schools in the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the experience in the EU from August–December, 2020. This document also addresses transmission to and from staff in school settings, school-related mitigation measures including risk communication, testing, contact tracing and the efficacy of partial and full school closures. This document draws upon and updates evidence presented in the previous report from ECDC on this topic, which was published on August 6, 2020 [3]. This report does not consider educational settings related to young adults or adults, such as universities or vocational schools or any school with overnight stays, such as boarding schools. This report does not consider the epidemiology of COVID19 in relation to new variants of SARS-CoV-2, for which robust evidence on the potential impact in school settings is not yet available, such as one recently observed in the United Kingdom [4].