Social distancing measures for COVID-19 are changing winter season

Amaddeo, Alessandro; Cason, Carolina; Cozzi, Giorgio; Ronfani, Luca; Comar, Manola

doi:10.1136/archdischild-2021-322004

Cited by 18 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…However, to our knowledge, this is the first study comparing the epidemiology and the role of viruses in LRTIs in children across three winter seasons at the turn of SARS-CoV-2 spread in Italy. Although these preliminary single-center findings need confirmation from a larger surveillance, they are consistent with emerging reports from Brazil (20), Alaska (34), Australia (35), Finland (36), New Zeland (19), France (37), US (38) and Italy (39).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Disappearance of Seasonal Respiratory Viruses in Children Under Two Years Old During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Monocentric Retrospective Study in Milan, Italy

et al. 2021

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Background: The containment measures adopted during COVID-19 pandemic have influenced the epidemiology of other respiratory viruses.Aim: We analyzed the modification of the incidence and etiology of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in young children during COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Case series of all children under 2 years old hospitalized at a tertiary care Hospital in the Center of Milan, Italy diagnosed with LRTIs in three consecutive winter seasons (from the 1st of November to the last day of February in 2018/2019, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021). We compared the number of hospitalizations and viral detections in the 2020/2021 with the average of 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 (pre-COVID-19) using the Poisson distribution.Results: we enrolled 178 patients (66 from 2018/2019, 96 from 2019/2020, 16 from 2020/2021) 94 males (53%) and 84 females (47%), with a median (IQR) age of 5 (2–13) months. The number of hospitalizations during the 2020/2021 season was 80% lower than the average of the pre-COVID-19 seasons (16 vs. 81, p<0.001). Overall, 171 (96%) patient's nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) detected at least one virus (110, 64%, single-detection, 61, 36%, co-detections). In 2020/2021 we observed the disappearance of Respiratory Syncytial virus (0 vs. 54, p < 0.001), Influenza virus (0 vs. 6.5, p = 0.002), Metapneumovirus (0 vs. 8, p < 0.001), Parainfluenza viruses (0 vs. 3.5, p = 0.03) and a significant reduction of Adenovirus (2 vs. 7, p = 0.03), Bocavirus (2 vs. 7.5, p = 0.02) and Enterovirus (1 vs. 5, p = 0.04). No significant difference was found for Rhinoviruses (14 cases vs. 17, p = 0.2), other Coronaviruses (0 vs. 2, p = 0.1), and Cytomegalovirus (1 vs. 1, p = 0.7).Conclusions: We observed a striking reduction in hospitalizations due to LRTIs and a modification of the etiology, with enveloped viruses mainly affected.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Disappearance of Seasonal Respiratory Viruses in Children Under Two Years Old During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Monocentric Retrospective Study in Milan, Italy

et al. 2021

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“…Previous studies have already shown that social distancing measures had a profound impact on the seasonality of winter paediatric respiratory infections in children. This led to marked limitation of the spread of respiratory syncytial virus and influenza infections 1‐3 …”

Section: –2019 2019–2020 2020–2021mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This led to marked limitation of the spread of respiratory syncytial virus and influenza infections. [1][2][3] COVID-19 has spread globally since the coronavirus that causes it was first detected in China. The Italian government established a national lockdown from 9 March to 4 May 2020.…”

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confidence: 99%

Social distancing during the COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in a marked decrease in hospitalisations for bronchiolitis

et al. 2021

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Bronchiolitis is the most common acute viral infection of the lower airways in infants and the main cause of hospitalisation and death from viral infections in western countries. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has led to most countries adopting social distancing measures and population movement restrictions to reduce transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. During the 2020-2021 winter season, social distancing and mask use altered the spread of common viral respiratory infections, reducing the incidence of winter epidemics. 1 The aim of this study was to investigate what impact social distancing measures had on the hospitalisations for bronchiolitis in two paediatric children's hospitals in Italy.

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“…For TA B L E 3 Distribution of the type of diagnosis according to the patients' ages in the two winters from the 1st of October to the 28th of February example, there was a lack of seasonal epidemic respiratory viruses, such as the syncytial respiratory virus and influenza viruses. 8,9 In Italy, preschool children were not required to wear face masks and their schools remained open. Our findings could contribute to the debate about how useful it is for children of certain ages to wear face masks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The first winter of social distancing improved most of the health indexes in a paediatric emergency department

et al. 2022

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Aim We compared visits to a tertiary level paediatric emergency department (PED) in Italy, during winter 2020–2021, when COVID‐19 social distancing measures were in place, with winter 2019–2020. Methods This was a retrospective analysis of an electronic database. We obtained the number of visits and the ages, main complaints, triage codes, discharge diagnoses and outcomes of patients who accessed the PED from the 1 October 2020 to 28 February 2021. These were compared to the same period in 2019–2021. Results Visits fell by 52%, from 10982 in 2019–2020 to 5317 in 2020–2021 (p < 0.0001). The reductions were 52% in neonates, 58% in infants, 53% in toddlers, 61% in preschool children, 48% in school children and 46% in adolescents. Non‐urgent and urgent triage codes declined. Respiratory and gastrointestinal infections fell by 72% and 71% respectively. Injuries declined by 42%, mainly among adolescents. Accidental intoxication, psychiatric symptoms and substance or alcohol abuse declined by 24%, 33% and 64%. Hospital admissions reduced by 8% and admissions to intensive care fell by 29%. Conclusion During the first winter of pandemic social distancing visits to an Italian PED fell by 52%, with higher reductions in younger children and infants, and hospital admissions fell by 8%.

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Social distancing measures for COVID-19 are changing winter season

Cited by 18 publications

References 4 publications

Disappearance of Seasonal Respiratory Viruses in Children Under Two Years Old During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Monocentric Retrospective Study in Milan, Italy

Disappearance of Seasonal Respiratory Viruses in Children Under Two Years Old During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Monocentric Retrospective Study in Milan, Italy

Social distancing during the COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in a marked decrease in hospitalisations for bronchiolitis

The first winter of social distancing improved most of the health indexes in a paediatric emergency department

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