COVID-19 Transmission in US Child Care Programs

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Infectious Disease Transmission

Background:

• The reopening of schools and child care facilities hinges on understanding child transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
• Assessing the risk of COVID-19 transmission to child care providers is crucial for informed reopening policies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between direct child care exposure and COVID-19 outcomes in US child care providers.
• To determine if children are efficient transmitters of COVID-19 in child care settings.

Main Methods:

• A case-control study involving 57,335 US child care providers.
• Collected data on COVID-19 positive tests and hospitalizations among providers.
• Employed logistic regression, including propensity score matching, to control for confounders and background transmission rates.

Main Results:

• No significant association was found between exposure to child care and COVID-19 in providers.
• Home-based providers showed a higher association with COVID-19 compared to center-based providers, irrespective of child care exposure.
• Odds ratios (OR) for COVID-19 were 1.06 (unmatched) and 0.94 (matched) for child care exposure.

Conclusions:

• Exposure to child care during the early pandemic did not elevate COVID-19 risk for providers, given mitigation efforts.
• Findings are specific to the context of implemented infection control measures and background transmission rates.
• Further research may explore specific mitigation strategies' effectiveness.