The study shows that the circulation of the virus is similar at school and in the rest of the general population in Belgium.
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LSchools are not places where the virus circulates more or is more likely to spread than elsewhere in the community, according to a study on Tuesday by the Scientific Institute of Public Health, Sciensano. The percentage of students and school employees who have developed antibodies against SARS-Cov-2 is indeed similar to the percentage of antibodies found among the general Belgian population, as well as among front-line caregivers.
The study, carried out in collaboration with KU Leuven, follows the evolution of the number of antibodies against SARS-Cov-2 in pupils and school personnel. It includes three sampling phases: the first ran from December 2020 to January 2021, the second took place in March 2021 and a third sampling period is scheduled from mid-May to mid-June 2021.
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For each of the phases, the same 1,285 students and 818 school employees are tested in 44 primary schools and 40 secondary schools. This sample is representative for all pupils and school employees in Belgium.
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The results of the first tests show that slightly fewer pupils than school employees in primary education and the first level of secondary education in Belgium have developed antibodies against the coronavirus (12.4% of pupils and 14.8 from school staff). “These results are comparable to those of the general population,” says Sciensano, who points out that the differences between primary and secondary students and school staff are small and statistically irrelevant.
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Regional differences were observed in the presence of antibodies in students and staff but these should be consolidated in the third round of samples. Thus, in Brussels, 24% of pupils and 10.5% of staff developed antibodies, in Wallonia, 15.4% of pupils and 17.7% of staff, while in Flanders, antibodies were detected in 8.7% of students and 13.2% of staff. “These differences reflect the regional epidemiological situation during the second wave, which mainly affected the region of Brussels and Wallonia”, Sciensano analyzes.
“According to the results of a survey that was part of the study, only 2% of students and 10% of staff tested positive for Covid-19 before the study. No person in the sample was hospitalized due to Covid-19, ”further underlines the Institute of Public Health.
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