Weekly SARS-CoV-2 Sentinel Surveillance in Primary Schools, Kindergartens, and Nurseries, Germany, June‒November 2020

• DOI: 10.3201/eid2708.204859
• Publication Date: 2021-08-02T14:26:43Z
• Authors: Martin Hoch; Sebastian Vogel; Laura Kolberg; Elisabeth Dick; Volker Fingerle; Ute Eberle; Nikolaus Ackermann; Andreas Sing; Johannes Huebner; Anita Rack-Hoch; Tilmann Schober; Ulrich von Both
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Schools; SARS-CoV-2; coronaviruses; 4. Education; R; Dispatch; COVID-19; Infant; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; coronavirus disease; Germany; Medicine; Humans; viruses; Child; Nurseries, Infant; Sentinel Surveillance; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

We investigated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections in primary schools, kindergartens, and nurseries in Germany. Of 3,169 oropharyngeal swab specimens, only 2 were positive by real-time reverse transcription PCR. Asymptomatic children attending these institutions do not appear to be driving the pandemic when appropriate infection control measures are used.