I worked on this review of the early evidence with my UNICEF colleague, Oscar Onam.

The brief is based on a review of twenty-six publications: reviews of literature, national surveillance studies of re-opened schools, ecological studies, transmission modelling simulation studies and case tracing studies. The authors include government agencies, academic researchers and independent research organizations. Most sources are focused on high-income countries. The preliminary findings thus far suggest that in-person schooling – especially when coupled with preventive and control measures – had lower secondary COVID-19 transmission rates compared to other settings and do not seem to have significantly contributed to the overall community transmission risks.

We had published an earlier version of this review in 2020.