Abstract
Introduction : In the era of data-driven decision-making, an
unacceptable haziness and inconsistency surrounds the yearlong
scientific and public debate on the school closure policy in the
COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts. Aim : The present
literature review stems out of the need for a clear scaffold collecting
in one place all current evidence, as well as helping organizing
incoming future evidence, concerning both the role of schools in driving
the Sars-CoV-2 community spread and the cost-effectiveness of school
closure in containing such spread. Methods : References for this
review were initially identified through searches of PubMed, Scopus and
Cochrane Library for articles published from March, 2020, to March, 2021
by use of the terms “Schools” “COVID-19” “pandemic” “clusters”
“outbreak” “seroprevalence”. Further search was undertaken through
Google Scholar and ResearchGate, and finally through Google.Results : School closure at times of high background prevalence
of COVID-19 should not be considered a measure implemented to protect
the health of children. Children had lower secondary attack rates than
adults and that they infrequently represented the index case. One year
of pandemic has been sufficient for the emergence of one indication of
concern: a potentially increased burden of paediatric mental health
disorders. Conclusions : A fact-based understanding of what is
currently known on such a consequential policy is required to provide a
basis of evidence for an advocacy of either school closure or school
opening at times of high intensity community transmission of Sars-CoV-2.