ReviewMedicine2021
School closures were over-weighted against the mitigation of COVID-19 transmission: A literature review on the impact of school closures in the United States.
Review in Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- From Ebola to H5N1: Strengthening the U.S. Special Pathogen Response System.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Trends in Adolescent Mental Wellbeing in an Italian sample from 2004 to 2022 (HBSC Study): Gender, Age, and Socioeconomic Difference.Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Article
- Physical activity levels and psychological parameters among university students following the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- COVID-19 outbreak investigations in a school in greater Gaborone, Botswana.The Pan African medical journal · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Pandemic and Hospitalizations due to Abortion among 10- to 14-Year-Old Girls in Brazil.Portuguese journal of public health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 Prevention Strategies for Victoria Students within Educational Facilities: An AI-Based Modelling Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Perceptions of Social-Emotional Learning Among K-12 Teachers in the USA During the COVID-19 Pandemic.School mental health · 2023Article
- When schools were open for in-person teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic - the nordic experience on control measures and transmission in schools during the delta wave.BMC public health · 2023Observational
- Test-to-Stay After SARS-CoV-2 Exposure: A Mitigation Strategy for Optionally Masked K-12 Schools.Pediatrics · 2022Article
- Risk factor assessment of digital eye strain during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey.Medical hypothesis, discovery & innovation ophthalmology journal · 2022Article
- [School Closures - an Ethical Challenge].Zeitschrift fur bildungsforschung · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread wildly across the world. In March of 2020, almost all kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) schools were closed in the United States in an urgent attempt to curb the pandemic in the absence of effective therapeutics or vaccination. Thirteen months since then, schools remain partially closed. Accumulated evidence suggests that children and adolescents are not the primary facilitators of transmission, limiting the restrictive effects of school closures on disease transmission. The negative effects of school closures on K-12 students need to be systematically reviewed.
methodsFollowing the guideline of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyzes, a comprehensive literature search from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of Science regarding school closures and its impact on K-12 students was conducted. The primary outcomes included the impact of school closures on the mitigation of the pandemic and the resulting public health concerns of K-12 students.
resultsProlonged school closures possessed negative effects on K-12 students' physical, mental, and social well-being and reduced the number of health and social workers, hindering the reopening of the country.
conclusionsSchool closures were over-weighted against the mitigation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission. A safe reopening of all K-12 schools in the United States should be of top priority.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.