Children and school closures related considerations during COVID-19 pandemic: A review

The SARS-CoV-2 is a new coronavirus that produces the COVID-19 disease. This virus has shown to be highly infectious spreading world-wide becoming a global pandemic. It does not show similarities with other respiratory diseases such as influenza, but it has similarities with the symptoms produced by other coronavirus, although more aggressive and infectious. The symptomatic effects, prognosis and outcomes strongly depend on age, being milder for children and young people and having a much worse prognosis for elderly and people with other pathological conditions. The susceptibility, viral load and infectiousness of people of different ages are still under investigation, but the variability in symptoms and the lack of clinical studies performed with structured testing result in serious difficulties to perform experimental data-driven studies. As a response, several physical distancing measures have been implemented worldwide including lockdowns, mobility restrictions for work and school closures. The mild effects in children have risen the question about the effectiveness of school closures in comparison with the highly damaging impact on children. In this review, we overview the scientific work carried out on COVID-19 and children, including epidemiological studies, models and impact studies about school closures based on data-driven simulations and models. We highlight research questions that need to be addressed urgently to better response to COVID-19 with special attention to children.