TY - JOUR
T1 - SARS-CoV-2 infection, antibody positivity and seroconversion rates in staff and students following full reopening of secondary schools in England
T2 - A prospective cohort study, September–December 2020
AU - Ladhani, Shamez N.
AU - Ireland, Georgina
AU - Baawuah, Frances
AU - Beckmann, Joanne
AU - Okike, Ifeanyichukwu O.
AU - Ahmad, Shazaad
AU - Garstang, Joanna
AU - Brent, Andrew J.
AU - Brent, Bernadette
AU - Walker, Jemma
AU - Aiano, Felicity
AU - Amin-Chowdhury, Zahin
AU - Letley, Louise
AU - Flood, Jessica
AU - Jones, Samuel E.I.
AU - Kall, Meaghan
AU - Borrow, Ray
AU - Linley, Ezra
AU - Zambon, Maria
AU - Poh, John
AU - Lackenby, Angie
AU - Ellis, Joanna
AU - Amirthalingam, Gayatri
AU - Brown, Kevin E.
AU - Ramsay, Mary E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This surveillance was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the schools, headteachers, staff, families and their very brave children who took part in the sKIDsPLUS surveillance. The authors would also like to thank the staff in the Immunisation Department and in the Virus Reference Department (VRD) at PHE Colindale, as well as Sero-epidemiology Unit (SEU) at PHE Manchester for supporting the sKIDS surveillance.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Background: Older children have higher SARS-CoV-2 infection rates than younger children. We investigated SARS-CoV-2 infection, seroprevalence and seroconversion rates in staff and students following the full reopening of all secondary schools in England.Methods: Public Health England (PHE) invited secondary schools in six regions (East and West London, Hertfordshire, Derbyshire, Manchester and Birmingham) to participate in SARS-CoV-2 surveillance during the 2020/21 academic year. Participants had nasal swabs for RT-PCR and blood samples for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at the beginning (September 2020) and end (December 2020) of the autumn term. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess independent risk factors for seropositivity and seroconversion.Findings: Eighteen schools in six regions enrolled 2209 participants, including 1,189 (53.8%) students and 1,020 (46.2%) staff. SARS-CoV-2 infection rates were not significantly different between students and staff in round one (5/948; [0.5356] vs. 2/876 [0.23%]; p = 0.46) or round two (10/948 [1.05%] vs. 7/886 [0.79%]; p = 0.63), and similar to national prevalence. None of four and 7/15 (47%) sequenced strains in rounds 1 and 2 were the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant. In round 1, antibody seropositivity was higher in students than staff (114/893 [12.8%] vs. 79/861 [9.2%]; p = 0.016), but similar in round 2 (117/893 [13.1%] vs.117/872 [13.3%]; p = 0.85), comparable to local community seroprevalence. Between the two rounds, 8.7% (57/652) staff and 6.6% (36/549) students seroconverted (p = 0.16).Interpretation: In secondary schools, SARS-CoV-2 infection, seropositivity and seroconversion rates were similar in staff and students, and comparable to local community rates. Ongoing surveillance will be important for monitoring the impact of new variants in educational settings. Crown Copyright (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
AB - Background: Older children have higher SARS-CoV-2 infection rates than younger children. We investigated SARS-CoV-2 infection, seroprevalence and seroconversion rates in staff and students following the full reopening of all secondary schools in England.Methods: Public Health England (PHE) invited secondary schools in six regions (East and West London, Hertfordshire, Derbyshire, Manchester and Birmingham) to participate in SARS-CoV-2 surveillance during the 2020/21 academic year. Participants had nasal swabs for RT-PCR and blood samples for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at the beginning (September 2020) and end (December 2020) of the autumn term. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess independent risk factors for seropositivity and seroconversion.Findings: Eighteen schools in six regions enrolled 2209 participants, including 1,189 (53.8%) students and 1,020 (46.2%) staff. SARS-CoV-2 infection rates were not significantly different between students and staff in round one (5/948; [0.5356] vs. 2/876 [0.23%]; p = 0.46) or round two (10/948 [1.05%] vs. 7/886 [0.79%]; p = 0.63), and similar to national prevalence. None of four and 7/15 (47%) sequenced strains in rounds 1 and 2 were the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant. In round 1, antibody seropositivity was higher in students than staff (114/893 [12.8%] vs. 79/861 [9.2%]; p = 0.016), but similar in round 2 (117/893 [13.1%] vs.117/872 [13.3%]; p = 0.85), comparable to local community seroprevalence. Between the two rounds, 8.7% (57/652) staff and 6.6% (36/549) students seroconverted (p = 0.16).Interpretation: In secondary schools, SARS-CoV-2 infection, seropositivity and seroconversion rates were similar in staff and students, and comparable to local community rates. Ongoing surveillance will be important for monitoring the impact of new variants in educational settings. Crown Copyright (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
KW - COVID-19
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107803863&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100948
DO - 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100948
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107803863
SN - 2589-5370
VL - 37
JO - EClinicalMedicine
JF - EClinicalMedicine
M1 - 100948
ER -
