Pediatric SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Arkansas Over the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroprevalence studies largely focus on adults, but little is known about spread in children. We determined SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in children and adolescents from Arkansas over the first year of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: We tested remnant serum samples from children ages 1-18 years who visited Arkansas hospitals or clinics for non-COVID-19-related reasons from April 2020 through April 2021 for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. We used univariable and multivariable regression models to determine the association between seropositivity and participant characteristics. RESULTS: Among 2357 participants, seroprevalence rose from 7.9% in April/May 2020 (95% CI, 4.9-10.9) to 25.0% in April 2021 (95% CI, 21.5-28.5). Hispanic and black children had a higher association with antibody positivity than non-Hispanic and white children, respectively, in multiple sampling periods. CONCLUSIONS: By spring 2021, most children in Arkansas were not infected with SARS-CoV-2. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, recognition of long-term effects of COVID-19, and the lack of an authorized pediatric SARS-CoV-2 vaccine at the time, these results highlight the importance of including children in SARS-CoV-2 public health, clinical care, and research strategies.

Building a community network for a cancer education/screening program: the process and lessons learned (or relearned).

Similar to many communities around the United States in the late 1990s, Muncie, Indiana, and the surrounding county created a year 2000 committee, called, "You and Year 2000, Inc.: The Muncie and Delaware County Millennium Project" to sponsor, plan, and conduct activities to celebrate the new millennium and ponder the community's past, present, and path to the future. Part of the Committee's planning was to create a legacy of the year-long celebration that would attack a community problem. Partnering with the local hospital, the Committee decided to attack the problem of cancer through a fund-raising campaign to build a cancer center and cancer education/screening program. The purpose of this article is to describe the application of a community organizing/building model used to create a community-wide cancer education/screening program and share the lessons learned (or relearned). The planning process used to develop the education/screening program is one that could be duplicated elsewhere.