COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean: what is known about the status of school reopening?

Abstract

Since December 2019, the world has been facing a rapid increase in cases and deaths from the new coronavirus (COVID-19), forcing a response from countries all over the world to stop its transmission. Thus, at the beginning of April, 172 nations closed their schools, affecting >84.8% (~1484 million) of students enrolled worldwide, aiming to reduce the exposure to the virus, a social measure previously used to control the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

It is difficult to assess the impact of schools closures on the incidence and mortality from COVID-19, given that it is not easy to carry out experimental studies, there is no scientific support confirms its effectiveness. However, during the influenza outbreaks, this strategy turned out to be a potentially useful intervention, despite not being able to determine the optimal moment to start and end this strategy, because of the concomitant use of other measures during the influenza outbreak; however, in mathematical models, where the school closure was considered as an isolated measure, a reduction between 2 and 4% of the total deaths was calculated during the virus outbreak.

Desde diciembre de 2019, el mundo se enfrenta a un rápido aumento de casos y muertes por el nuevo coronavirus (COVID-19), lo que obliga a países de todo el mundo a responder para detener su transmisión. Así, a principios de abril, 172 naciones cerraron sus escuelas, afectando a >84,8% (~1484 millones) de estudiantes matriculados en todo el mundo, con el objetivo de reducir la exposición al virus, una medida social utilizada anteriormente para controlar la pandemia de influenza H1N1.

Es difícil evaluar el impacto del cierre de escuelas en la incidencia y mortalidad por COVID-19, dado que no es fácil realizar estudios experimentales, no hay respaldo científico que confirme su efectividad. Sin embargo, durante los brotes de influenza, esta estrategia resultó ser una intervención potencialmente útil, a pesar de no poder determinar el momento óptimo para iniciar y finalizar esta estrategia, debido al uso concomitante de otras medidas durante el brote de influenza; sin embargo, en modelos matemáticos, donde se consideró el cierre de la escuela como una medida aislada, se calculó una reducción entre el 2 y el 4% del total de muertes durante el brote del virus.