The association of opening K-12 schools with the spread of COVID-19 in the United States: County-level panel data analysis.

This paper empirically examines how the opening of K-12 schools is associated with the spread of COVID-19 using county-level panel data in the United States. As preliminary evidence, our event-study analysis indicates that cases and deaths in counties with in-person or hybrid opening relative to those with remote opening substantially increased after the school opening date, especially for counties without any mask mandate for staff. Our main analysis uses a dynamic panel data model for case and death growth rates, where we control for dynamically evolving mitigation policies, past infection levels, and additive county-level and state-week "fixed" effects. This analysis shows that an increase in visits to both K-12 schools and colleges is associated with a subsequent increase in case and death growth rates. The estimates indicate that fully opening K-12 schools with in-person learning is associated with a 5 (SE = 2) percentage points increase in the growth rate of cases. We also find that the association of K-12 school visits or in-person school openings with case growth is stronger for counties that do not require staff to wear masks at schools. These findings support policies that promote masking and other precautionary measures at schools and giving vaccine priority to education workers.

Interns' perceptions about the medical internship suspension during the COVID-19 quarantine. / Percepción de los internos sobre la suspensión del internado médico durante la cuarentena por la COVID-19.

The objective of the study was to describe the medical interns' (MI) perceptions about the internship suspension during the COVID-19 quarantine in Peru. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted by means of a virtual survey regarding the perception of the internship suspension, return conditions and academic activities during quarantine. A total of 353 MIs participated in the study; 54.9% agreed or totally agreed with returning to their hospital sites if biosecurity measures were guaranteed, more than 90% felt uncertain about the restart and end dates, and 85.6% participated in academic virtual classes. It is concluded that the intention to return to the hospital increases when biosecurity measures are guaranteed. Hospitals should guarantee these measures and ensure health coverage for the MIs, if their return to hospitals is intended.

El objetivo del estudio fue describir las percepciones de los internos de medicina (IM) sobre la suspensión del internado durante la cuarentena por la COVID-19 en el Perú. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal mediante una encuesta virtual sobre la percepción de la suspensión del internado, las condiciones de retorno y las actividades académicas durante la cuarentena. Participaron en el estudio 353 IM, el 54,9% estuvo de acuerdo o totalmente de acuerdo con retornar a sus sedes hospitalarias si se garantizaban las medidas de bioseguridad; más del 90% sentía incertidumbre sobre la fecha de reinicio y el fin de internado, y el 85,6% participaba de clases virtuales académicas. Se concluye que la intención de volver al internado aumenta cuando se garantizan las medidas de bioseguridad. Las sedes hospitalarias deberían garantizar estas medidas y la cobertura de salud de los IM si se propone su retorno a los hospitales.

When do adolescent mothers return to school? Timing across rural and urban South Africa.

While adolescent mothers' postpartum return to school offers long-term benefits, returning too early in the absence of sufficient support may impede the healthy development of their children. This study assessed the rates of adolescent mothers' return to school in South Africa (SA) and examined how many months after birth school-aged girls resumed schooling. Two independent studies recruited 1 114 adolescent mothers in Eastern Cape Province and Durban, respectively. Across the two studies, 64.7% (n=649) and 47.8% (n=53) of mothers, respectively, had returned to school at the time of the study. Of these mothers, the majority had returned to school within the first 2 months post partum (study 1: 67.6%; n=439; and study 2: 58.5%; n=31), fewer between 2 and 6 months (16.9%; n=110; and 22.6%; n=12), and after 12 months (2.0%; n=13; and unknown). Our findings indicate a mismatch between SA's national policy recommendations and actual return patterns, showing that a large proportion of mothers returned to school much earlier than advised. This study also highlights a particular need to amend school policies that support early-returners and their children. Additional research on the needs of mother-child dyads and studies on the impact of different timescales on educational and health outcomes are needed to further inform policy and practice regarding adolescent mothers' return to school.

Navigating School Reentry in Lung Transplant Recipients With Cystic Fibrosis.

In addition to medical and psychological support, social support plays a key role in the success of lung transplant recipients, especially in children. An important component of that social support for pediatric lung transplant recipients is school reentry. These children face daily challenges, which often have to be addressed by the transplant team with little existing guidance in the medical literature. In this article, we discuss relevant practice issues for pediatric lung transplant recipients with cystic fibrosis including heightened concern for infection risk, bullying, school performance, and body image concerns. In addition to discussing these important issues, we provide recommendations based on our experiences.

Time to return to school in child and adolescent burn patients from a sub-Saharan tertiary hospital.

BACKGROUND: Africa, with the largest number of paediatric burns needs to focus more attention on paediatric burn survivors. Burn injury truncates schooling in child and adolescent burn patients. The aim of this study was to determine the time to return to school and factors influencing this in child and adolescent burn patients. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study of child and adolescent patients aged one to nineteen years that had been managed for bun injuries. Demographic variables were obtained from archived computerized data. Phone interviews were conducted to obtain time to return to school variables using a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, students t test, fishers exact test and Chi square test were uses as appropriate for analysis on data on SPSS version 23. A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients were recruited for the study. There was a female preponderance, 19 (61.3%). The mean age of the patients was 7.2 (±5.3) years. Scald injuries were the commonest [N = 14 (45.2%)] cause of burn. The mean Total Burn Surface Area (TBSA) was 14.1 (±12.0)%. The mean length of hospital stay was 30 (±59) days. The mean time to return to school after discharge from the hospital was 8.4 (±8.7) weeks. The occurrence of burns on the trunk was significantly (p = 0.048) associated with an earlier time to return to school. CONCLUSION: Time to return to school from burn injury and from discharge in child and adolescent burn survivors in this study are at least three times longer than previous studies. The burn care team needs to consider school re-entry programs for these children.