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Clinical Trial
. 2022 Feb 28;17(2):e0264023.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264023. eCollection 2022.

COVID-19 mitigation measures in primary schools and association with infection and school staff wellbeing: An observational survey linked with routine data in Wales, UK

Emily Marchant  1   2 , Lucy Griffiths  1 , Tom Crick  3 , Richard Fry  1   2 , Joe Hollinghurst  1 , Michaela James  1   2 , Laura Cowley  2   4 , Hoda Abbasizanjani  1 , Fatemeh Torabi  1 , Daniel A Thompson  1 , Jonathan Kennedy  1   2 , Ashley Akbari  1 , Michael B Gravenor  1 , Ronan A Lyons  1 , Sinead Brophy  1   2
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

COVID-19 mitigation measures in primary schools and association with infection and school staff wellbeing: An observational survey linked with routine data in Wales, UK

Emily Marchant et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: School-based COVID-19 mitigation strategies have greatly impacted the primary school day (children aged 3-11) including: wearing face coverings, two metre distancing, no mixing of children, and no breakfast clubs or extra-curricular activities. This study examines these mitigation measures and association with COVID-19 infection, respiratory infection, and school staff wellbeing between October to December 2020 in Wales, UK.

Methods: A school staff survey captured self-reported COVID-19 mitigation measures in the school, participant anxiety and depression, and open-text responses regarding experiences of teaching and implementing measures. These survey responses were linked to national-scale COVID-19 test results data to examine association of measures in the school and the likelihood of a positive (staff or pupil) COVID-19 case in the school (clustered by school, adjusted for school size and free school meals using logistic regression). Linkage was conducted through the SAIL (Secure Anonymised Information Linkage) Databank.

Results: Responses were obtained from 353 participants from 59 primary schools within 15 of 22 local authorities. Having more direct non-household contacts was associated with a higher likelihood of COVID-19 positive case in the school (1-5 contacts compared to none, OR 2.89 (1.01, 8.31)) and a trend to more self-reported cold symptoms. Staff face covering was not associated with a lower odds of school COVID-19 cases (mask vs. no covering OR 2.82 (1.11, 7.14)) and was associated with higher self-reported cold symptoms. School staff reported the impacts of wearing face coverings on teaching, including having to stand closer to pupils and raise their voices to be heard. 67.1% were not able to implement two metre social distancing from pupils. We did not find evidence that maintaining a two metre distance was associated with lower rates of COVID-19 in the school.

Conclusions: Implementing, adhering to and evaluating COVID-19 mitigation guidelines is challenging in primary school settings. Our findings suggest that reducing non-household direct contacts lowers infection rates. There was no evidence that face coverings, two metre social distancing or stopping children mixing was associated with lower odds of COVID-19 or cold infection rates in the school. Primary school staff found teaching challenging during COVID-19 restrictions, especially for younger learners and those with additional learning needs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Cohort flow diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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