Institute for Biosecurity, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, St Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
President's Office, Saint Louis University, St Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 16;18(3):e0283050. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283050. eCollection 2023.
The objective of this study was to assess COVID-19 classroom transmission in the university setting when physical distancing was eliminated. Data was collected in fall 2021 at a private university. Universal masking, robust contact tracing, vaccination requirement, and enforced testing were in place. Exposures were classified as classroom versus non-classroom. ANOVA and chi-squared tests were used to identify significant relationships between predictors and COVID-19 test result. Logistic regression was conducted to investigate the relationship between exposure type and test result. A total of 162 student cases were identified with 1,658 associated close contacts. One-third of contacts (31.1%, n = 516) only had a non-classroom exposure, 63.8% (n = 1,057) only had a classroom exposure, and 5.1% (n = 85) had both. Close contacts were significantly more likely to test positive if they had a non-classroom exposure (60 of 601; 10.0%) compared to a classroom exposure (1 of 1057; 0.1%) (OR 58.8, CI 18.5-333.3, p < 0.001). Removing physical distancing in classrooms that had universal masking did not result in high rates of COVID-19 transmission. This has policy implications because eliminating physical distancing does not greatly increase transmission risk when universal masking is in place.
本研究旨在评估在取消物理距离的大学校园环境中 COVID-19 的课堂传播情况。数据于 2021 年秋季在一所私立大学收集。当时普遍佩戴口罩、进行强有力的接触者追踪、疫苗接种要求和强制检测都已到位。暴露被分为课堂暴露和非课堂暴露。采用方差分析和卡方检验来确定预测因素与 COVID-19 检测结果之间的显著关系。采用逻辑回归来调查暴露类型与检测结果之间的关系。共确定了 162 例学生病例，有 1658 例相关密切接触者。三分之一的接触者（31.1%，n=516）只有非课堂暴露，63.8%（n=1057）只有课堂暴露，5.1%（n=85）两者都有。如果密切接触者有非课堂暴露（60 例/601；10.0%），而不是课堂暴露（1 例/1057；0.1%），则他们检测呈阳性的可能性显著更高（OR 58.8，95%CI 18.5-333.3，p<0.001）。在普遍佩戴口罩的情况下，取消课堂中的物理距离并未导致 COVID-19 传播率升高。这一结果具有政策意义，因为当普遍佩戴口罩时，取消物理距离不会大大增加传播风险。
