Project

Enhancing the Utilisation of COVID-19 Testing in Schools Studies: The Joint Analysis of the ONS COVID-19 School Infection Survey and COVID-19 Mapping and Mitigation in Schools (CoMMinS) Study

The successfully awarded research project through a rapid funding call by Health Data Research UK, Office for National Statistics and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is led by Rachel Denholm (University of Bristol). The research project is building on existing UKRI and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) work to use national data to answer this key COVID-19 research question.

This project is bringing together two big studies that aim to find out the role of schools in the spread of COVID-19, and how schools can help to reduce the spread of the virus. The studies are the ‘Office for National Statistics School Infection Survey’ and the ‘COVID Mapping & Mitigation in Schools’. We will use data from these to compare results about how COVID-19 spreads in schools, and from schools to households.

We will also identify and develop research questions and a research plan to find out if there are long term consequences for health and education in children that get COVID-19, if children have different causes and outcomes of COVID-19 depending on if they have symptoms or not, and if children get COVID-19 more than once.

We will develop a collaboration between the two studies with the aim of providing greater insight and understanding of COVID-19 infection in children, and its long-term impacts, which is limited at the moment. Our findings will help schools and communities stop the spread of COVID-19, show how COVID-19 is most likely to spread and help develop public health activities directed at children.

Visit the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway

Scientific priorities

COVID-19

Health priorities

COVID-19

BHF Data Science Centre Webinar: February 2024

Steffen Petersen

Ross Forsyth