Login Register Cart 0
Generic placeholder image

Current Pediatric Reviews

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1573-3963
ISSN (Online): 1875-6336

Back
Journal Home About Journal Editorial Board Journal Insight Current Issue Volumes/Issues
Subscribe
Perspective

The Emerging Omicron Variant, Children and School

Author(s): Jennifer F. Ha*

Volume 19, Issue 3, 2023

Published on: 08 September, 2022

Page: [213 - 217] Pages: 5

DOI: 10.2174/1573396318666220806152458

conference banner
Abstract

Many publications have demonstrated the detrimental effects of school closures on children, families and communities in the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, there is a surge of Omicron cases as children prepare to return to school around the world. While many children are asymptomatic or have mild disease, it is nevertheless an important problem. As we focus on vaccinations in the 5-12-year-old group, we should consider other risk mitigation factors to keep school open, and children safe.

Keywords: COVID 19, school, children, risk mitigation, management, mask, social distancing, vaccination.

Next »
Graphical Abstract

[1]
Hacımustafaoğlu M. COVID-19 and re-opening of schools: Opinions with scientific evidence. Turk Pediatri Ars 2020; 55(4): 337-44.
[PMID: 33414650]
[2]
Russell F. COVID-19 in Victorian schools: An analysis of childcare and school outbreak data and evidence-based recommendations for opening schools and keeping them open. Melbourne: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and University of Melbourne 2020.Available from:. https://www.mcri.edu.au/sites/default/files/media/documents/covid-19_in_victorian_schools_report.pdf
[3]
National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Covid-19 hospital surveillance update: Week 48. 2021.Available from. https://www. nicd.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-19-HOSPITAL-SURVEILLANCE-UPDATE_WEEK-48-2021_rev.pdf
[4]
Children and covid-19: State-level data report American. Academy of Pediatrics 2022.
[5]
Wang L, Berger NA, Kaelber DC, Davis PB, Volkow ND, Xu R. Covid infection severity in children under 5 years old before and after omicron emergence in the US. medRxiv 2022. Epub ahead of print
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.12.22269179]
[6]
Wang L, Berger NA, Kaelber DC, Davis PB, Volkow ND, Xu R. Comparison of outcomes from covid infection in pediatric and adult pa-tients before and after the emergence of omicron. medRxiv 2022; 2021.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.30.21268495]
[7]
Cloete J, Kruger A, Masha M, et al. Paediatric hospitalisations due to covid-19 during the first sars-cov-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) variant wave in South Africa: A multicentre observational study. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2022; 6(5): 294-302.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00027-X] [PMID: 35189083]
[8]
Tagarro A, Coya O-N, Pérez-Villena A, et al. Features of covid-19 in children during the omicron wave compared with previous waves in Madrid, Spain. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2022; 41(5): e249-51.
[9]
Belay ED, Godfred-Cato S. SARS-CoV-2 spread and hospitalisations in paediatric patients during the omicron surge. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2022; 6(5): 280-1.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00060-8] [PMID: 35189084]
[10]
Hyde Z. COVID-19, children and schools: Overlooked and at risk. Med J Aust 2020; 213(10): 444-446.e1.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50823] [PMID: 33099775]
[11]
Tupper P, Colijn C. Covid-19 in schools: Mitigating classroom clusters in the context of variable transmission. PLOS Comput Biol 2021; 17(7): e1009120.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009120] [PMID: 34237051]
[12]
Ludvigsson JF. Children are unlikely to be the main drivers of the covid-19 pandemic - a systematic review. Acta Paediatr 2020; 109(8): 1525-30.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apa.15371] [PMID: 32430964]
[13]
Munro APS, Faust SN. Children are not covid-19 super spreaders: Time to go back to school. Arch Dis Child 2020; 105(7): 618-9.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-319474] [PMID: 32371442]
[14]
Stein-Zamir C, Abramson N, Shoob H, et al. A large covid-19 outbreak in a high school 10 days after schools’ reopening, Israel, May 2020. Euro Surveill 2020; 25(29): 2001352.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.29.2001352] [PMID: 32720636]
[15]
Emergencies, SAGf, Children’s Task and Finish Group: Update to 4 November 2020 paper on children, schools and transmission. United Kingdom: Government of the United Kingdom 2020.
[16]
Singanayagam A, Singanayagam A, Hakki S, et al. Community transmission and viral load kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 delta (B.1.617.2) variant in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in the UK: A prospective, longitudinal, cohort study. Lancet Infect Dis 2022; 22(2): 183-95.
[PMID: 34756186]
[17]
Wanga V, Gerdes ME, Shi DS, et al. Characteristics and clinical outcomes of children and adolescents aged <18 years hospitalized with covid-19 - six hospitals, United States, July-August 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021; 70(5152): 1766-72.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm705152a3] [PMID: 34968374]
[18]
UNICEF Child mortality and covid-19: Covid-19 confirmed cases and deaths UNICEF Data. 2022.Available from. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/covid-19/
[19]
Marks KJ, Whitaker M, Agathis NT, et al. Hospitalization of infants and children aged 0-4 years with laboratory-confirmed covid-19 - COVID-net, 14 states, March 2020-February 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022; 71(11): 429-36.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7111e2] [PMID: 35298458]
[20]
Marks KJ, Whitaker M, Anglin O, et al. Hospitalizations of children and adolescents with laboratory-confirmed covid-19 - COVID-net, 14 states, July 2021-January 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022; 71(7): 271-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7107e4] [PMID: 35176003]
[21]
Pfizer. Pfizer and biontech provide update on ongoing studies of covid-19 vaccine. 2021, Available from: https://www.pfizer.com/news/announcements/pfizer-and-biontech-provide-update-ongoingstudies-covid-19-vaccine
[22]
Juthani PV, Gupta A, Borges KA, et al. Hospitalisation among vaccine breakthrough covid-19 infections. Lancet Infect Dis 2021; 21(11): 1485-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00558-2] [PMID: 34506735]
[23]
Smane L, Roge I, Pucuka Z, Pavare J. Clinical features of pediatric post-acute covid-19: A descriptive retrospective follow-up study. Ital J Pediatr 2021; 47(1): 177.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13052-021-01127-z] [PMID: 34446085]
[24]
Osmanov IM, et al. Risk factors for long covid in previously hospitalised children using the ISARIC global follow-up protocol: A pro-spective cohort study. Eur Respir J 2021; 2021: 2101341.
[25]
Say D, Crawford N, McNab S, Wurzel D, Steer A, Tosif S. Post-acute covid-19 outcomes in children with mild and asymptomatic disease. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2021; 5(6): e22-3.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00124-3] [PMID: 33891880]
[26]
Wise J. Long covid: One in seven children may still have symptoms 15 weeks after infection, data show. BMJ 2021; 374(n2157)
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2157] [PMID: 34470745]
[27]
Antonelli M, Penfold RS, Merino J, et al. Risk factors and disease profile of post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection in UK users of the COVID symptom study app: A prospective, community-based, nested, case-control study. Lancet Infect Dis 2022; 22(1): 43-55.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00460-6] [PMID: 34480857]
[28]
Taquet M, Dercon Q, Harrison P. Six-month sequelae of post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection: A retrospective cohort study of 10,024 breakthrough infections. medRxiv 2021; 2021; 21265508.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.26.21265508]
[29]
Stephenson T, Shafran R, De Stavola B, et al. Long covid and the mental and physical health of children and young people: National matched cohort study protocol (the clock study). BMJ Open 2021; 11(8): e052838.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052838] [PMID: 34446502]
[30]
Hampshire A, Trender W, Chamberlain SR, et al. Cognitive deficits in people who have recovered from COVID-19. EClinicalMedicine 2021; 39: 101044.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101044] [PMID: 34316551]
[31]
LaRovere KL, Riggs BJ, Poussaint TY, et al. Neurologic involvement in children and adolescents hospitalized in the united states for covid-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome. JAMA Neurol 2021; 78(5): 536-47.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2021.0504] [PMID: 33666649]
[32]
Curatola A, Ferretti S, Gatto A, Chiaretti A. Will cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome rise with the greater spread of the omicron variant amongst children? Acta Paediatr 2022; 111(6): 1207-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apa.16304] [PMID: 35181917]
[33]
Schober ME, Robertson CL, Wainwright MS, Roa JD, Fink EL. Covid-19 and the pediatric nervous system: Global collaboration to meet a global need. Neurocrit Care 2021; 35(2): 283-90.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12028-021-01269-2] [PMID: 34184177]
[34]
Talic S, Shah S, Wild H, et al. Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality: Systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2021; 375: e068302.
[PMID: 34789505]
[35]
Ha JF. The covid-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment and respirator: A narrative review. Int J Clin Pract 2020; 74(10): e13578.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.13578] [PMID: 32511834]
[36]
Gettings J, Czarnik M, Morris E, et al. Mask use and ventilation improvements to reduce covid-19 incidence in elementary schools - Georgia, November 16-December 11, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021; 70(21): 779-84.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7021e1] [PMID: 34043610]
[37]
Chen PZ, Bobrovitz N, Premji Z, Koopmans M, Fisman DN, Gu FX. Heterogeneity in transmissibility and shedding SARS-CoV-2viadroplets and aerosols. eLife 2021; 10: 10.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.65774] [PMID: 33861198]
[38]
Tupper P, Boury H, Yerlanov M, Colijn C. Event-specific interventions to minimize COVID-19 transmission. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2020; 117(50): 32038-45.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2019324117] [PMID: 33214148]
[39]
Peng Z, Rojas AL, Kropff E. Practical indicators for risk of airborne transmission in shared indoor environments and their application to covid-19 outbreaks. Environ Sci Technol 2022; 56(2): 1125-37.
[40]
Conway Morris A, Sharrocks K, Bousfield R, et al. The removal of airborne SARS-CoV-2 and other microbial bioaerosols by air filtration on COVID-19 surge units. Clin Infect Dis 2021; 2021: ciab933.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab933] [PMID: 34718446]
[41]
Buising KL, Schofield R, Irving L, et al. Use of portable air cleaners to reduce aerosol transmission on a hospital coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ward. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2021; 2021: 284.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ice.2021.284] [PMID: 34266516]
[42]
Kimball S. Pfizer CEO says two covid vaccine doses aren’t 'enough for omicron. CNBC Health Science 2022. [Epub ahead of print
[43]
Dolci M, Signorini L, Cason C, et al. Circulation of sars-cov-2 variants among children from November 2020 to January 2022 in trieste (Italy). Microorganisms 2022; 10(3): 612.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10030612] [PMID: 35336187]
[44]
Haslak F, Gunalp A, Cebi MN, et al. Early experience of covid-19 vaccine-related adverse events among adolescents and young adults with rheumatic diseases: A single-center study. Int J Rheum Dis 2022; 25(3): 353-63.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1756-185X.14279] [PMID: 34978376]
[45]
Ha JF. Covid-19 in children: A narrative review. Curr Pediatr Rev 2021; 17(3): 212-9.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573396317666210526155313] [PMID: 34042036]
[46]
Crozier A, Rajan S, Buchan I, McKee M. Put to the test: Use of rapid testing technologies for covid-19. BMJ 2021; 372: n208.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n208] [PMID: 33536228]
[47]
Fantini MP, Reno C, Biserni GB, Savoia E, Lanari M. Covid-19 and the re-opening of schools: A policy maker’s dilemma. Ital J Pediatr 2020; 46(1): 79.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13052-020-00844-1] [PMID: 32517815]

Rights & Permissions Print Cite
Article Metrics
23
2
Wayfinder Image
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy