Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the role of childcare facilities in the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a longitudinal study to gain further knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence, transmission, and spread among preschool children, their parents, and their caregivers.
Study design: Children aged 1-6 years, their parents, and their caregivers in 14 childcare facilities in Dresden, Saxony/Germany were invited to participate in the KiTaCoviDD19-study between July 2020 and January 2021. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was assessed up to 4 times during the study period in all participating adults, and demographic characteristics, as well as epidemiologic information on personal SARS-CoV-2 history were obtained. Samples for stool virus shedding of SARS-CoV-2 were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction every 2-4 weeks in all participating children.
Results: In total, 318 children, 299 parents and 233 childcare workers were enrolled. By January 2021, 11% of the participating adults were found to be seropositive, whereas the percentage of children shedding SARS-CoV-2 was 6.8%. Overall, we detected 17 children with SARS-CoV-2 virus shedding in 8 different childcare facilities. In 4 facilities, there were a maximum of 3 connected cases in children. Approximately 50% of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the children could not be connected to a secondary case in our study population.
Conclusions: This study does not provide evidence of relevant asymptomatic (“silent”) spread of SARS-CoV-2 in childcare facilities in both low- and high-prevalence settings. Our findings add to the evidence that childcare and educational settings do not have a crucial role in driving the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Keywords: children; coronavirus; covid-19; infection; preschool.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus, children, Infection, preschool., 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, pandemic, knowledge, SARS-COV-2 infection, SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Seroprevalence, SARS-CoV-2 virus, Transmission, virus, Spread, Prevalence, polymerase chain reaction, Adults, Stool, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, SARS-CoV-2 antibody, Asymptomatic, longitudinal study, information, SARS-CoV-2 infections, seropositive, Evidence, demographic characteristics, evidence of, Chain Reaction, parents, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, study population, study period, maximum, parent, driving, participating children, secondary case, Preschool, polymerase chain, enrolled, analyzed, Sample, evaluate, the SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 coronavirus, respiratory, longitudinal, Type,