Secondary severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission from childcare workers versus teachers in school-associated screening events, Okinawa, Japan, January-March 2022

Résumé fourni par la source

Objectives To compare secondary severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission detected through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) screening in childcare and school-aged settings during the Omicron wave. Methods We analyzed Okinawa School PCR Project events from January 1 to March 11, 2022, in which secondary cases were ascertained through school-based RT-PCR screening conducted after the last exposure. Index cases were classified as child/student or teacher/staff. Secondary cases were defined as RT-PCR-confirmed infections detected through school-based screening. We estimated the proportion of events with ≥1 secondary case and the mean number of secondary cases per event ( R event ). Results Among 897 events with known index case role, 73.1% detected no secondary cases. In nurseries/kindergartens, secondary cases were detected in 32.3% of teacher/staff-index events ( R event : 0.62; 95% confidence interval: 0.53–0.72), compared with 12.8% in elementary and secondary schools ( R event : 0.15; 95% confidence interval: 0.06–0.33). No secondary infections were detected after teacher/staff-index events in junior high ( n = 11) or high schools ( n = 6). Conclusions Childcare worker-index events in nurseries and kindergartens generated secondary cases in ≈30% of events, whereas teacher/staff-index events in elementary and secondary schools infrequently generated secondary cases under mitigation measures. Prioritizing screening and prevention resources toward childcare workers may improve efficiency when diagnostic capacity is constrained.

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