COVID-19 has had major implications for childcare, with closures and other precautions being implemented for public health. However, with these closures came many challenges, and it became increasingly clear that childcare must reopen to some extent. However, how to reopen remains understudied and the proposed plans need evidence-based evaluation.
Dr. Browne and colleagues employ an agent-based modeling approach to generate predictions regarding COVID-19 risks and student-days lost within a hypothetical childcare centre hosting 50 children and educators, with multiple room configurations and family clustering based on existing proposals for reopening in Ontario, Canada. Overall, less students per classroom and the grouping of siblings resulted in less risk to public health.
If you are interested in learning more, we welcome you to read this article: Model Based Projections for COVID-19 outbreak size and student-days lost to closure in Ontario childcare centres and primary schools