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SARS-CoV-2 infections in kindergartens and associated households at the start of the second wave in Berlin, Germany—a cross-sectional study

2021; Oxford University Press; Volume: 31; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/eurpub/ckab079

1464-360X

Marlene Thielecke, Stefanie Theuring, Welmoed van Loon, Franziska Hommes, Marcus Mall, Alexander Rosen, Falko Böhringer, Christof von Kalle, Valerie Kirchberger, Tobias Kurth, Joachim Seybold, Frank P. Mockenhaupt, Tanja Chylla, Elisabeth Linzbach, Annkathrin von der Haar, Jennifer Körner, Maximilian Gertler, Julian Bernhard, Heike Rössig, Marco Kurzmann, Frederike Peters, Christoph Wiesmann, Johanna Horn, Julia Steger, Norma Bethke, Tobias Schmidergall, F. Holz, Antje van den Berg, Maria Luz Peña-Groth,

Respiratory viral infections research

Abstract Actual surveys in kindergartens on SARS-CoV-2 infections are rare. At the beginning of the second pandemic wave, we screened 12 randomly selected kindergartens in Berlin, Germany. A total of 720 participants (pre-school children, staff and connected household members) were briefly examined and interviewed, and SARS-CoV-2 infections and anti-SARS-Cov-2 IgG antibodies were assessed. About a quarter of the participants showed common cold-resembling symptoms. However, no SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected, and only one childcare worker showed IgG seroreactivity. Against a backdrop of increased pandemic activity in the community, this cross-sectional study does not suggest that kindergartens are silent transmission reservoirs.