About this Research Topic
Educational systems, especially primary and secondary schools have been considered hotbeds for infectious diseases and their closure has been used as a major non-pharmaceutical intervention for the mitigation of infection risks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries closed down schools including universities to reduce mixing and human mobility that are contributing factors to infectious disease spread. UNICEF reports that about half of the world's population is affected by full or local school closures in more than 60 countries. One year has passed since WHO declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic, some countries have started or are considering lifting school closures as pandemic starts to slowly recede. Studying infectious disease epidemiology in the school context could contribute to the overall study of infectious disease spread.
The goal of this Research Topic is to collect and compile relevant research for the role of schools including universities in the spread and mitigation of infectious diseases such as the latest COVID-19 pandemic as well as the effect of infectious diseases on schools. First and foremost, school closures have been found effective during 1918, 1958, and 2009 flu pandemic. With more available data and technology as a scientific community, we have better tools and theoretical methodology to assess any kind of effect the schools might have on pandemics. As part of this Research Topic, we expect the researchers to showcase the utilization of different methods in exploring this topic. Schools’ effect on pandemics is a multifaceted problem that requires a multidisciplinary approach that we would like to emphasize in this research topic including not only infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists but also modelers and data scientists etc.
The Topic Editors are interested in manuscripts related to infectious diseases at schools and their role in the infectious disease spread from an epidemiological point of view. Specific subjects include but not limited to:
• The role of schools in the initial phase of the epidemic including their contribution to reproduction number and other epidemic statistics, etc.;
• The assessment of the effect of closing and reopening the schools in the overall spread and mitigation of the epidemic;
• The spread of infectious diseases at schools including tracking students and their social contact network through surveillance, surveys, wearable electronics, etc.;
• Any manuscripts relevant in the infectious disease and schools context.
The goal of this Research Topic is to collect and compile relevant research for the role of schools including universities in the spread and mitigation of infectious diseases such as the latest COVID-19 pandemic as well as the effect of infectious diseases on schools. First and foremost, school closures have been found effective during 1918, 1958, and 2009 flu pandemic. With more available data and technology as a scientific community, we have better tools and theoretical methodology to assess any kind of effect the schools might have on pandemics. As part of this Research Topic, we expect the researchers to showcase the utilization of different methods in exploring this topic. Schools’ effect on pandemics is a multifaceted problem that requires a multidisciplinary approach that we would like to emphasize in this research topic including not only infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists but also modelers and data scientists etc.
The Topic Editors are interested in manuscripts related to infectious diseases at schools and their role in the infectious disease spread from an epidemiological point of view. Specific subjects include but not limited to:
• The role of schools in the initial phase of the epidemic including their contribution to reproduction number and other epidemic statistics, etc.;
• The assessment of the effect of closing and reopening the schools in the overall spread and mitigation of the epidemic;
• The spread of infectious diseases at schools including tracking students and their social contact network through surveillance, surveys, wearable electronics, etc.;
• Any manuscripts relevant in the infectious disease and schools context.
Keywords: infectious diseases, public health, epidemiology, covid-19 pandemic, epidemiology in schools, social contact network
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
