Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
Epidemiol Infect. 2021 Oct 26;149:e233. doi: 10.1017/S0950268821002351.
School lockdowns have been widely used to control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these lockdowns may have a significant negative impact on the lives of young people. In this study, we have evaluated the impact of closing lower secondary schools for COVID-19 incidence in 13-15-year-olds in Finland, in a situation where restrictions and recommendation of social distancing were implemented uniformly in the entire country. COVID-19 case numbers were obtained from the National Infectious Disease Registry (NIDR) of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in which clinical microbiology laboratories report all positive SARS-CoV-2 tests with unique identifiers in a timely manner. The NIDR is linked to population data registry, enabling calculation of incidences. We estimated the differences in trends between areas with both restaurant and lower secondary school closures and areas with only restaurant closures in different age groups by using joinpoint regression. We also estimated the differences in trends between age groups. Based on our analysis, closing lower secondary schools had no impact on COVID-19 incidence among 13-15-year-olds. No significant changes on COVID-19 incidence were observed in other age groups either.
学校封锁已被广泛用于控制 COVID-19 大流行。然而，这些封锁可能会对年轻人的生活产生重大负面影响。在本研究中，我们评估了在整个国家统一实施限制和建议保持社交距离的情况下，芬兰为控制 13-15 岁青少年的 COVID-19 发病率而关闭初中的影响。COVID-19 病例数从芬兰卫生与福利研究所的国家传染病登记处（NIDR）获得，临床微生物学实验室及时使用唯一标识符报告所有阳性 SARS-CoV-2 检测结果。NIDR 与人口数据登记处相关联，可计算发病率。我们使用连接点回归来估计餐厅和初中均关闭地区与仅餐厅关闭地区之间不同年龄组的趋势差异，并估计了不同年龄组之间的趋势差异。基于我们的分析，关闭初中对 13-15 岁青少年的 COVID-19 发病率没有影响。其他年龄组也没有观察到 COVID-19 发病率的显著变化。
