tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
ancet Reg Health Am
. 2024 Apr 15:34:100741.
doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2024.100741. eCollection 2024 Jun. School closures due to seasonal influenza: a prospective data collection-based study of eleven influenza seasons-United States, 2011-2022
Nicole Zviedrite[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ferdous Jahan[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Yenlik Zheteyeva[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hongjiang Gao[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Amra Uzicanin[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Background: While numerous studies explore pandemic-associated school closures, literature is scant regarding seasonal influenza-associated closures. We previously reported summaries on COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures in the United States (US), which affected virtually all schools in the nation. The current prospective study aims to address the knowledge gap for seasonal influenza-related closures in the United States.
Methods: We conducted systematic daily online searches from August 1, 2011 to June 30, 2022, to identify public announcements of unplanned school closures in the US lasting ≥1 day, selecting those that mentioned influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) as reason for school closure (ILI-SCs). We studied ILI-SC temporal patterns and compared them with reported outpatient ILI-related healthcare visits.
Findings: We documented that ILI-SCs occurred annually, with yearly totals ranging from 11 ILI-SCs in both the 2013-2014 and 2020-2021 school years to 2886 ILI-SCs in the 2019-2020 school year among more than 100,000 kindergarten through twelfth grade schools in the US. ILI-SCs occurred concurrently with widespread illness and the strongest correlations were observed during influenza A (H3N2)-dominant seasons, most notably in the 2016-2017 (Spearman rank correlation (r[SUB]s[/SUB]) = 0.83) and the 2017-2018 (r[SUB]s[/SUB] = 0.84) school years. ILI-SCs were heavily centered in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region 4 (states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) [60% (6040/9166, Region 4/Total school closures)] and disproportionately impacted rural and lower-income communities.
Interpretation: Outside of a pandemic, disease-related school closures are extreme and generally rare events for US schools and communities. Timely compilation of publicly available ILI-SC announcements could enhance influenza surveillance, particularly in severe influenza seasons or pandemics when ILI-SCs are prevalent.
Funding: This work was supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Co-authors (NZ, YZ, HG, AU) were or are US CDC employees, and FJ was a contractor through Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions, LLC, which supported FJ's salary, but had no additional role in the study.
Keywords: Community mitigation; Influenza; Nonpharmaceutical interventions; School closures.
. 2024 Apr 15:34:100741.
doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2024.100741. eCollection 2024 Jun. School closures due to seasonal influenza: a prospective data collection-based study of eleven influenza seasons-United States, 2011-2022
Nicole Zviedrite[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ferdous Jahan[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Yenlik Zheteyeva[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hongjiang Gao[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Amra Uzicanin[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 38654749
- PMCID: PMC11035104
- DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2024.100741
Background: While numerous studies explore pandemic-associated school closures, literature is scant regarding seasonal influenza-associated closures. We previously reported summaries on COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures in the United States (US), which affected virtually all schools in the nation. The current prospective study aims to address the knowledge gap for seasonal influenza-related closures in the United States.
Methods: We conducted systematic daily online searches from August 1, 2011 to June 30, 2022, to identify public announcements of unplanned school closures in the US lasting ≥1 day, selecting those that mentioned influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) as reason for school closure (ILI-SCs). We studied ILI-SC temporal patterns and compared them with reported outpatient ILI-related healthcare visits.
Findings: We documented that ILI-SCs occurred annually, with yearly totals ranging from 11 ILI-SCs in both the 2013-2014 and 2020-2021 school years to 2886 ILI-SCs in the 2019-2020 school year among more than 100,000 kindergarten through twelfth grade schools in the US. ILI-SCs occurred concurrently with widespread illness and the strongest correlations were observed during influenza A (H3N2)-dominant seasons, most notably in the 2016-2017 (Spearman rank correlation (r[SUB]s[/SUB]) = 0.83) and the 2017-2018 (r[SUB]s[/SUB] = 0.84) school years. ILI-SCs were heavily centered in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region 4 (states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) [60% (6040/9166, Region 4/Total school closures)] and disproportionately impacted rural and lower-income communities.
Interpretation: Outside of a pandemic, disease-related school closures are extreme and generally rare events for US schools and communities. Timely compilation of publicly available ILI-SC announcements could enhance influenza surveillance, particularly in severe influenza seasons or pandemics when ILI-SCs are prevalent.
Funding: This work was supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Co-authors (NZ, YZ, HG, AU) were or are US CDC employees, and FJ was a contractor through Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions, LLC, which supported FJ's salary, but had no additional role in the study.
Keywords: Community mitigation; Influenza; Nonpharmaceutical interventions; School closures.