Researchers examined sociodemographic data and surveyed 450 individuals in Tomsk, Russia during the 2015-2016 influenza season to examine how the behavior of a population changes when schools are closed to mitigate influenza spread, and found that when schools are closed the average number of contacts made by students decreases by 53%; further, through computer simulations, the authors estimated a 33% increase in influenza cases in the absence of school closure policies.
Article #18-21298: "Reactive school closure weakens the network of social interactions and reduces the spread of influenza," by Maria Litvinova, Quan-Hui Liu, Evgeny S. Kulikov, and Marco Ajelli.
MEDIA CONTACT: Marco Ajelli, Northeastern University, Boston, MA; TEL: +39-3498349492; email: marco.ajelli@gmail.com
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences