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Impact of COVID-19 Quarantine and School Cancelation on Other Common Infectious Diseases

Joseph A McBride1,2, Jens Eickhoff3, Ellen R Wald2

  • 1From the Department of Medicine.

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal
|October 8, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Quarantines for coronavirus disease 2019 reduced respiratory infections like strep throat but increased sexually transmitted gonorrhea in Dane County, Wisconsin. This highlights varied impacts on different disease transmission routes.

Area of Science:

  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health
  • Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated widespread public health interventions, including quarantines.
  • The effects of these non-pharmaceutical interventions on other infectious diseases are not fully understood.
  • Understanding these impacts is crucial for managing public health during pandemics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the impact of COVID-19-related quarantine measures on the incidence of specific non-coronavirus infectious diseases in Dane County, Wisconsin.
  • To compare the changes in incidence for diseases with different transmission routes (respiratory vs. sexual).

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of infectious disease surveillance data from Dane County, Wisconsin.
  • Comparison of disease incidence rates before and during the quarantine period.
  • Categorization of diseases based on primary transmission routes.

Main Results:

  • Incidence of streptococcal pharyngitis and acute otitis media (respiratory infections) significantly decreased during quarantine.
  • Incidence of gonorrhea (a sexually transmitted infection) significantly increased during quarantine.
  • Observed changes align with expected impacts on respiratory pathogens but show a contrasting effect on sexually transmitted pathogens.

Conclusions:

  • Quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic had differential effects on infectious diseases based on their transmission modes.
  • Respiratory infections decreased as expected due to reduced social contact and respiratory droplet transmission.
  • The increase in gonorrhea suggests altered sexual behaviors or reduced access to sexual health services during the quarantine period.

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