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Corona risk in school and daycare the same? Study provides inspiration for targeted hygiene concepts

2021-03-03T05:45:51.311Z


Many parents are fed up with home schooling and care at home. For fear of the possible "corona spreaders" school and day care center had to close. Wrongly?


Many parents are fed up with home schooling and care at home.

For fear of the possible "corona spreaders" school and day care center had to close.

Wrongly?

Heidelberg - On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states will meet for the next Corona summit.

The call for easing is getting louder and louder among many German citizens.

Many parents and educators also have this wish.

A new scientific study at least gives hope that if daycare centers and schools are opened, the risk of corona * will be limited.

A study by the State Investigation Office of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH) at the university there came to the result: With a value of 1.34 at daycare centers and schools, the corona transmission rate was lower than feared.

Coronavirus: Infection rate in daycare centers almost three times higher than in schools

However, it was also found that the infection rate in day-care centers is 2.9 times higher than in schools.

In the day-care centers, it was mainly the supervisors who took care of the corona infections *, in schools it was primarily the students who infected each other.

The infection occurred in compliance with the mask requirement *, distance rules and regular ventilation of the rooms.

As part of the HIGH study, the head of the project, Prof. Philipp Zanger, and his team examined a total of 784 corona cases in daycare centers and schools.

These coincided with the period since the end of the 2020 summer vacation from August to December.

The results of the Rhineland-Palatinate health authorities, which examined the contacts of those affected, served as the data basis.

Video: 1.3 million self-tests in schools and daycare centers

Corona infection in daycare centers: Researchers recommend a focus on educators

The scientists led by study leader Prof. Zanger concluded that hygiene concepts in day-care centers should pay particular attention to educators.

In the cases examined there, around half of the educators infected their colleagues and half of the children.

In contrast, the children rarely caused the spread or infection of the coronavirus *.

In schools, on the other hand, the infection tended to be the other way around among the students, who, however, only rarely transmitted the virus to the teaching staff.



Zanger and his team therefore come to the conclusion that when creating hygiene concepts in day-care centers, more attention should be paid to the contacts between the educators.

For this, there must also be appropriate concepts in break and meeting rooms.

In addition, targeted corona tests * and vaccinations * could help minimize new infections.

Corona infection in children: compliance with protective measures is crucial

However, it is questionable whether the Heidelberg study is enough to give the all-clear regarding the risk of infection in day-care centers and schools.

Because in other scientific studies on corona infection in children, there were different findings.

A study by the virologist Christian Drosten came to the conclusion that the viral load in children could not be significantly different from that of adults.

In contrast, the Munich virus guard study found that

Children in daycare centers and schools “do not contribute significantly to the spread of the pandemic” if “suitable measures are taken to protect against infection.” As in the HIGH study, it was shown that the presence of protective measures could be of decisive importance for the infection process.

(kh)

* Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-03-03

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