School Closures and Student Contact Patterns | CDC EID - Volume 17, Number 2–February 2011

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Volume 17, Number 2–February 2011
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School Closures and Student Contact Patterns



Charlotte Jackson, Comments to Author Punam Mangtani, Emilia Vynnycky, Katherine Fielding, Aileen Kitching, Huda Mohamed, Anita Roche, and Helen Maguire

Author affiliations: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK (C. Jackson, P. Mangtani, K. Fielding); Health Protection Agency, London (E. Vynnycky, A. Kitching, A. Roche, H. Maguire); and Health Protection Agency, Birmingham, UK (H. Mohamed)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
To determine how school closure for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 affected students' contact patterns, we conducted a retrospective questionnaire survey at a UK school 2 weeks after the school reopened. School closure was associated with a 65% reduction in the mean total number of contacts for each student.

During pandemic (H1N1) 2009, several countries closed schools (1–6) to slow virus transmission. The effects of such school closures on student contact patterns have not been directly quantified. We report these effects for students from a UK secondary school.

The Study

We retrospectively surveyed 128 students at a coeducational, state secondary school in an urban area of West Midlands, UK, where attack rates for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 were high and (as of March 2010) levels of unemployment were among the highest in Great Britain (7). The head teacher selected 1 class from each of years 7–10 (equivalent to US grades 6–9, student ages 11–15 years) to participate. The school had closed for 1 week in mid-June 2009, reopened for 2 days, then closed for another week. Questionnaires were completed during class ≈2 weeks after the school reopened the second time. An electronic version of a similar questionnaire pilot tested at another school had been found comprehensible and acceptable to participants. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine ethics committee approved the study; the Health Protection Agency approved it as part of wider outbreak investigations not requiring additional approval.

Students reported how many times they visited specified public places before the school closure and how many times they visited these places during closure (children had been advised to not visit public places only if they were symptomatic). Students also provided information about persons who looked after them during closure.

For typical school days before and during closure, students reported the number of different persons spoken to (contacted) in the following groups: contacts who attended their school (contacts from the same class [classmates], the same year but a different class [yearmates], and the same school but a different year [schoolmates]) and others (age stratified to reflect the UK school system). Students were asked whether they were ill during closure and whether being ill affected their contact patterns.

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School Closures and Student Contact Patterns | CDC EID


Suggested Citation for this Article

Jackson C, Mangtani P, Vynnycky E, Fielding K, Kitching A, Mohamed H, et al. School closures and student contact patterns. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 Feb [date cited].
http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/17/2/245.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1702.100458

Comments to the Authors

Please use the form below to submit correspondence to the authors or contact them at the following address:

Charlotte Jackson, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London WC1E 7HT, UK; email: charlotte.jackson@lshtm.ac.uk