Evolution of the COVID-19 Pandemic after the Introduction of School Referral Nurses in the Province of Granada-A Descriptive Study

Juan Carlos Sánchez-García; Ana Eugenia Marín-Jiménez; María Isabel Tovar-Gálvez; Jonathan Cortés-Martín; María Montiel-Troya; María José Menor-Rodríguez; Raquel Rodríguez-Blanque

doi:10.3390/children9111646

Evolution of the COVID-19 Pandemic after the Introduction of School Referral Nurses in the Province of Granada-A Descriptive Study

Children (Basel). 2022 Oct 28;9(11):1646. doi: 10.3390/children9111646.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation, CTS-1068, 18014 Granada, Spain.
² Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain.
³ Quantitative Methods for the Economics and Enterprise, Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
⁴ Department of Nursing Ceuta Campus, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, 51001 Ceuta, Spain.
⁵ Deputy Director of Humanization and Citizen Services, Santiago-Barbanza Health Area, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
⁶ San Cecilio University Clinical Hospital, 18071 Granada, Spain.

Abstract

The aim of this research is to describe the evolution of the pandemic in a school context, following the introduction of school nurses into the educational setting.

Background: The first wave of COVID-19 in Spain prevented social interaction by imposing lockdowns on the population. All non-essential activities, including face-to-face education, were interrupted, affecting the school-aged population during the second and third trimester of the 2019/2020 school year. Schools are places where prevention, identification and case management measures should be rapidly implemented.

Methods: This is a prospective and descriptive study using a quantitative method to study the school population of Granada and its province during the school year 2020/2021, from September 2020 to May 2021. The study participants were all schools under the jurisdiction of the Territorial Delegation of Education of Granada, whether public, private, state-subsidised or charter schools, including all educational stages.

Results: The confirmation rate in Granada city (11.2%), in contrast to the Andalusian average (6.9%), places Granada as the province with the highest incidence rate. The infection rates among teachers show the same confirmation rate as the general population of Granada (9%); however, among students this rate is lower (7%). There is a higher incidence of outbreaks taking place outside school and a lower incidence of outbreaks occurring within the school environment. Both partial and total outbreaks are more frequent in early childhood education.

Conclusion: The early identification and management of reported suspected cases of COVID-19 in schools is proving effective in preventing infection in the school population, achieving good pandemic control in schools, and reducing the number of outbreaks and people affected. Schools have been confirmed to be safe. Establishing screening for asymptomatic schoolchildren could be a tool to improve control in schools.

Keywords: COVID-19; children; health behaviour; nursing scholar; prevention; schools.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.