Journal Publication

COVID-19 Transmission in US Child Care Programs

Published: January 2021

Author(s): Walter Gilliam, Amyn Malik, Mehr Shafiq, Madeline Klotz, Chin Reyes, John Eric Humphries, Thomas Murray, Jad Elharake, David Wilkinson & Saad Omer

Researchers sought to understand the frequency of COVID-19 transmission between and among children, reaching conclusions that inform discussions around the safety of re-opening child care centers.

Central to the debate over school and child care reopening is whether children are efficient coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmitters and are likely to increase community spread when programs reopen. Researchers compared COVID-19 outcomes in child care providers who continued to provide direct in-person child care during the first 3 months of the US COVID-19 pandemic with outcomes in those who did not.

Abstract and Citation

Gilliam WS, Malik AA, Shafiq M, et al. COVID-19 Transmission in US Child Care Programs. Pediatrics. 2021;147(1):e2020031971

Abstract

Data were obtained from US child care providers (N = 57 335) reporting whether they had ever tested positive or been hospitalized for COVID-19 (n = 427 cases) along with their degree of exposure to child care. Background transmission rates were controlled statistically, and other demographic, programmatic, and community variables were explored as potential confounders. Logistic regression analysis was used in both unmatched and propensity score–matched case-control analyses. No association was found between exposure to child care and COVID-19 in both unmatched (odds ratio [OR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.82–1.38) and matched (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.73–1.21) analyses. In matched analysis, being a home-based provider (as opposed to a center-based provider) was associated with COVID-19 (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.14–2.23) but revealed no interaction with exposure.

Publication Link

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/10/12/peds.2020-031971

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