Published in:
01-02-2022 | SARS-CoV-2 | The Global Epidemic (S Vermund, Section Editor)
Adventures in COVID-19 Policy Modeling: Education Edition
Published in: Current HIV/AIDS Reports | Issue 1/2022
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Purpose of Review
To introduce readers to policy modeling, a multidisciplinary field of quantitative analysis, primarily used to help guide decision-making. This review focuses on the choices facing educational administrators, from K-12 to universities in the USA, as they confronted the COVID-19 pandemic. We survey three key model-based approaches to mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 spread in schools and on university campuses.
Recent Findings
Frequent testing, coupled with strict attention to behavioral interventions to prevent further transmission can avoid large outbreaks on college campuses. K-12 administrators can greatly reduce the risks of severe outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools through various mitigation measures including classroom infection control, scheduling and cohorting strategies, staff and teacher vaccination, and asymptomatic screening.
Summary
Safer re-opening of college and university campuses as well as in-person instruction for K-12 students is possible, under many though not all epidemic scenarios if rigorous disease control and screening programs are in place.