Open AccessWithin and between classroom transmission patterns of seasonal influenza among primary school students in Matsumoto city, Japan
Author(s) -
Akira Endo,
Mitsuo Uchida,
Naoki Hayashi,
Yang Liu,
Katherine E. Atkins,
Adam J. Kucharski,
Sebastian Funk
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2112605118
Subject(s) - transmission (telecommunications) , seasonal influenza , primary (astronomy) , geography , demography , mathematics education , biology , psychology , medicine , covid-19 , sociology , physics , computer science , telecommunications , infectious disease (medical specialty) , astronomy , disease
Significance Empirical evidence on detailed transmission patterns of influenza among students within and between classes and grades and how they are shaped by school population structure (e.g., class and school sizes) has been limited to date. We analyzed a detailed dataset of seasonal influenza incidence in 29 primary schools in Japan and found that the reproduction number at school did not show any clear association with the size or the number of classes. Our findings suggest that the interventions that only focus on reducing the number of students in class at any moment in time (e.g., reduced class sizes and staggered attendance) may not be as effective as measures that aim to reduce within-class risk (e.g., mask-wearing and vaccines).