Impact of COVID-19 on Reports of school ages Flu Activity in West Central Health District
Abstract
Background
Flu is a notifiable disease in Georgia. COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic between February 2020 and September 2022, disrupted many health district systems, including notifiable disease reporting. This study compared flu activity among daycare and school ages during flu season (Sep to May every year) before, during, and after to see if the pandemic had impact on school influenza case reporting.
Methods
School flu data are reported through syndromic surveillance system and school reporting system (phone calls/ emails from school nurses). SENDSS is an electronic disease surveillance system in Georgia. Using excel, data were pulled from syndromic surveillance in SENDSS, and analyzed from these categories: “district 7”, “influenza” or “Ili”, “0-17 years old”. School reporting data were pulled through outbreak log and WCHD flu monitor log. Duplicated cases were removed. Summary of total flu cases are reported. T-test was performed to compared rates of flu before COVID-19 pandemic (from Sep. 2017 to Jan.2020), during COVID-19 pandemic (from Feb.2020 to Sep 2022) and post pandemic period (Sep. 2022 till the end of Nov. 2022).
Results
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 424 school age influenza cases were received from Sep.2017 to Jan.2020 during flu seasons. During the pandemic, from Feb. 2020 to Aug. 2022, only 141 cases were received. During the three months after pandemic, Sep to Nov 2022, 481 cases were received. The difference is significant (p = 0.007) between per-pandemic, during and post-pandemic.
Conclusion
Based on results, School age flu activity reporting has significantly diminished throughout the pandemic. Pandemic has had an impact on school age case reporting. Symptoms are common between COVID-19 and flu. Most of attention was on COVID-19 reporting during pandemic based on the cases received through school reporting system---only 19 flu cases received during the whole pandemic period.
Keywords
Flu, COVID-19 pandemic, impact, report, school ages
Impact of COVID-19 on Reports of school ages Flu Activity in West Central Health District
Background
Flu is a notifiable disease in Georgia. COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic between February 2020 and September 2022, disrupted many health district systems, including notifiable disease reporting. This study compared flu activity among daycare and school ages during flu season (Sep to May every year) before, during, and after to see if the pandemic had impact on school influenza case reporting.
Methods
School flu data are reported through syndromic surveillance system and school reporting system (phone calls/ emails from school nurses). SENDSS is an electronic disease surveillance system in Georgia. Using excel, data were pulled from syndromic surveillance in SENDSS, and analyzed from these categories: “district 7”, “influenza” or “Ili”, “0-17 years old”. School reporting data were pulled through outbreak log and WCHD flu monitor log. Duplicated cases were removed. Summary of total flu cases are reported. T-test was performed to compared rates of flu before COVID-19 pandemic (from Sep. 2017 to Jan.2020), during COVID-19 pandemic (from Feb.2020 to Sep 2022) and post pandemic period (Sep. 2022 till the end of Nov. 2022).
Results
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 424 school age influenza cases were received from Sep.2017 to Jan.2020 during flu seasons. During the pandemic, from Feb. 2020 to Aug. 2022, only 141 cases were received. During the three months after pandemic, Sep to Nov 2022, 481 cases were received. The difference is significant (p = 0.007) between per-pandemic, during and post-pandemic.
Conclusion
Based on results, School age flu activity reporting has significantly diminished throughout the pandemic. Pandemic has had an impact on school age case reporting. Symptoms are common between COVID-19 and flu. Most of attention was on COVID-19 reporting during pandemic based on the cases received through school reporting system---only 19 flu cases received during the whole pandemic period.
