Study of the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Ontario elementary and secondary school education workers: an interim analysis following the first school year

Abstract

Objective To estimate the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in education workers and the factors associated with infection between March 2020 and July 2021. Methods A prospective cohort study of education workers working ≥8 h per week in Ontario, Canada. Participants self-reported results of tests for SARS-CoV-2 and completed online surveys about demographic information, exposures, and vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2. Participants submitted self-collected dried blood spots. Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike, the receptor binding domain of spike, and nucleocapsid were assessed. Multivariable regression was used to assess risk factors for infection. Results Of 2834 participants, 85% were female, 81% were teaching staff, and 86% had received at least one dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Of the 1983 who had been tested via a respiratory specimen, 4.9% reported a positive test. Five additional participants had serologic testing suggestive of a previous infection (3.6% overall incidence). In multivariable regression analysis, risk factors for infection included exposure to a SARS-CoV-2 infected adult (adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) 13.6; 95% confidence interval 8.6, 21.3) or child (aIRR 2.3; 1.3, 4.2) in the household, or school student (aIRR 1.9; 1.2, 3.2), or travel outside the province within 14 days of testing (aIRR 6.0; 1.5, 23.6). Conclusion In the first 18 months of the pandemic, education workers had a similar risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 as other Ontario residents. Practicing protective measures whenever any household member has been exposed to a possible case and at all times when exposed to anyone from outside the home would help reduce the risk of infection.

SARS-CoV-2 cross-sectional seroprevalence study among public school staff in Metro Vancouver after the first Omicron wave in British Columbia, Canada

“…To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report seroprevalence estimates among school staff after the emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variants. Findings are in keeping with other Canadian data19 23 and with a systematic review and meta-analysis performed in May 2021, of screening, contact tracing and seroprevalence studies from other areas of the world,24 before the emergence of more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants. A major strength of this study is that it used sensitive antibody testing to account for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections that may not have come to clinical attention, using N-based serology testing,25 in a large, representative Canadian sample of school staff.…”

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among public school staff in Metro Vancouver after the first Omicron wave in British Columbia, Canada

“…To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report seroprevalence estimates among school staff after the emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variants. Findings are in keeping with data from Canada 17 18 , and other areas of the world 20 before the emergence of more transmissible variants. A major strength of this study is that it utilized sensitive antibody testing that detects asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections that may not have come to clinical attention, using an N-based serology assay that identifies cases for up to a year 19 .…”

“…While SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks have occurred, contact tracing studies while mitigation measures were in place (e.g., masking, symptoms checks) have generally shown that the majority of student and staff cases originate from the community rather than within schools 2-12 , and that the overall risk of infection among school staff remains very low 13-16 . Supporting these data, SARS-CoV-2 infections within schools in Canada 11 17 18 as well as the UK and Europe 13 19 20 have also been reported to be low overall during the 2020-2021 school year. However, most of these studies were conducted before the emergence of highly transmissible variants.…”

Risk factors of COVID-19 disease confirmed cases in Solok District

“…Furthermore, the results of multivariate statistics revealed that gender and age had no significant effect on COVID-19. The result is uniform that gender has nothing to do with COVID-19 [7], [20]. In contrast to other studies, gender and age group have statistically significant values [21].…”