Experiences with regular testing of students for SARS-CoV-2 in primary and secondary schools: results from a cross-sectional study in two Norwegian counties, autumn 2021

BMC Public Health

Research

Liz Ødeskaug¹  Mia Johansen¹  Umaer Naseer¹  Petter Heradstveit¹  Sara Stebbings¹  Emily MacDonald¹  Ragnhild Løken¹  Léa Franconeri² 

[1] Division for Infection Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;Division for Infection Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;ECDC Fellowship Programme, Field Epidemiology path (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Solna, Sweden;

关键词: SARS-Cov2;    COVID-19;    Educational settings;    Students;    Daily testing;    Repetitive screening;    Test-to-stay;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-023-16452-7

 received in 2023-01-17, accepted in 2023-08-03,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTo allow for normal school attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic, regular testing of students was introduced in the autumn 2021 in Norway to manage COVID-19 transmission. We mapped the experiences of five stakeholders (parents, students, school staff and administration, contact tracing teams) regarding the implementation of regular testing in primary and secondary schools in Oslo and Viken counties, to assess the acceptability through different indicators and improve future guidelines.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted between October and November 2021 to explore experiences of implementation, compliance, satisfaction, difficulties, concerns, confidence in regular testing, quality of teaching and school attendance. Five stakeholder groups were invited to participate: contact tracing teams; school administrators and employees in primary, lower secondary, and upper-secondary school; students in upper-secondary school and parents of primary and lower secondary students. Bivariate analyses were performed for students, parents, and school employees groups. Descriptive analyses were done for contact tracing teams and school administrators.ResultsFour thousand five hundred sixty-five participants were included in our study. School attendance increased for most of the students in primary and lower secondary schools in Oslo and Viken after the implementation of regular testing. Students across all school levels reported high testing compliance and satisfaction with the implementation. Compliance was significantly associated with an increasing number of weekly tests across all school levels up to two weekly tests. Contact tracing teams were less satisfied with the cooperation with the educational authorities compared to the school employees. Higher educational level of parents was significantly associated with decreased concern of their children getting infected at school after regular testing implementation. Concerned parents were more likely to keep children at home from school, to protect all household members from becoming infected. Lack of time and communication were reported as challenging factors to implementation.ConclusionCompliance, satisfaction, and confidence in regular testing of COVID-19 were high among stakeholders. An acceptable testing regime for a future regular testing implementation would be a home-based, bi-weekly test. Increased awareness of the importance of school attendance, safety of regular testing along with good communication and role clarification should be prioritized for stakeholders involved in regular testing.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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