ArticleEClinicalMedicine2021
The impact of the lockdown and the re-opening of schools and day cares on the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections in children - A nationwide register study in Finland.
Article in EClinicalMedicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of respiratory viruses in children with respiratory tract infections during the COVID-19 pandemic era: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of social distancing measures and lockdowns for reducing transmission of COVID-19 in non-healthcare, community-based settings.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Pooled it
- Leveraging perturbations to infer the population dynamics of human rhinovirus and interaction of influenza A virus.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Post-pandemic resurgence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and its emerging link with Rhinovirus in children.Infection · 2026Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lifestyle changes on early-life microbiome development.Genome medicine · 2026Article
- Leveraging perturbations to infer the population dynamics of human rhinovirus and interaction of influenza A virus.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Finnish Healthcare Professionals' Online Searches for Paediatric Oral Antibiotics: COVID-19 Impact, 2017-2023.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2026Article
- Shifting patterns of pediatric respiratory viruses during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a retrospective observational study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Observational
- Epidemiological analysis of six common respiratory pathogen infections in children in Chengdu from 2022 to 2024.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Ecological reshaping of pediatric respiratory pathogen profiles after COVID-19-related non-pharmaceutical interventions were lifted: a 5-year interrupted time-series study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Comprehensive study of community acquiredWorld journal of clinical pediatrics · 2025Article
- Increased Risk of Type 1 Diabetes in Boys Under the Age of 5 Years During COVID-19 Lockdowns in Finland, Sweden and Stanford, CA, USA-An Observational Multicenter Study.Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews · 2025Observational
- Leveraging Health Insurance Claims Data to Complement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance System for Birth Defects.Birth defects research · 2025Article
- Genotypic Characterization of Human Respiratory Syncytial Viruses Detected in Mexico Between 2021 and 2024.Viruses · 2025Article
- Changes in respiratory viruses in infancy during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a prospective cohort study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2025Observational
- Changes in Respiratory Viruses' Activity in Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Analysis ofJournal of thoracic disease · 2024Article
- Exploring the Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Rhinovirus Infection in Hospitalized Children Compared with Other Respiratory Viruses.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The epidemic characteristics ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNationwide restrictions started in Finland in March to prevent the spread of COVID-19, leading to school and day care closures. The aim of this study is to describe the effect of closures and re-openings on the respiratory pathogen epidemiology.
methodsLaboratory-confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2; respiratory syncytial virus (RSV); influenza (A & B); parainfluenza-, adeno-, and rhinoviruses; Mycoplasma pneumoniae; and Streptococcus pneumoniae in children were collected from the National Infectious Disease Register over the period of 2017-2020. Weekly incidences (weeks 1 to 35) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated per 100 000 children in 2020 and compared by incidence rate ratios (IRRs) to corresponding periods in 2017-2019.
findingsThe lockdown had immediate impact on the incidences of respiratory pathogens except SARS-CoV-2. Week after the lockdown began IRR was 0•3 (CI 0•3-0•4) and next week the IRR was 0•1 (0•1-0•2). The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 started to decline eight weeks after the lockdown began. The highest recorded weekly incidence of SARS-CoV-2 was 7•2/100 000 children. The effect of the lockdown lasted until late summer. Rhinovirus and SARS-CoV-2 began to increase before the schools or day cares opened in August. The re-opening of schools seemed to have no impact on the incidence of any pathogen.
interpretationOur results suggest that general social distancing, including school and day care closures, played a crucial role in reducing infections, and the effect lasted for several weeks. The re-opening of schools and day care centres seems to have had no immediate impact on the incidences of any respiratory pathogens.
fundingThis study had no funding source.
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