Prevalence of RT-qPCR-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection at schools: First results from the Austrian School-SARS-CoV-2 prospective cohort study
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.05.20248952: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: The study received ethics approvals by the ethics committees of the Medical University of Graz (no. 32-672 ex 19/20), Medical University of Innsbruck (no. 1319/2020), the Johannes Kepler University of Linz (no. 1222/2020), and the University of Vienna (no. 00591/2020).
Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from (i) teachers, (ii) participants and their legal representative for pupils aged 14 years or older, or (iii) their legal representative only for pupils younger than 14 years, according to the ethical approval.Randomization After excluding schools with less than 20 pupils from the sampling frame, we randomly selected a total of 250 schools to … SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.05.20248952: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: The study received ethics approvals by the ethics committees of the Medical University of Graz (no. 32-672 ex 19/20), Medical University of Innsbruck (no. 1319/2020), the Johannes Kepler University of Linz (no. 1222/2020), and the University of Vienna (no. 00591/2020).
Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from (i) teachers, (ii) participants and their legal representative for pupils aged 14 years or older, or (iii) their legal representative only for pupils younger than 14 years, according to the ethical approval.Randomization After excluding schools with less than 20 pupils from the sampling frame, we randomly selected a total of 250 schools to participate in the study. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:It also has several limitations. Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections detected in this study likely underestimate the true burden, since symptomatic individuals (pupils and teachers) or those retained in quarantine were not present at the time of testing. Also, the second repeat assessment of study participants was incomplete due to the decision of the Austrian government to close schools for in-person learning on 17 November 2020. We anticipate restarting repeated screening of the cohort mid-January and continue assessments until the end of June. In conclusion, in a large-scale study involving 245 schools in Austria, prevalence of RT-PCR detected SARS-CoV-2 increased from 0.39% to 1.42% within a period of one month. Higher community incidence (quantified as the 7-day incidence in the school district) and social deprivation were associated with higher odds of SARS-CoV-2 at the schools. By determining SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and identifying potential contributing factors, our study provides evidence relevant to the decision making about in-person education at Austrian schools and elsewhere.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.05.20248952: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement The study received ethics approvals by the ethics committees of the Medical University of Graz (no. Randomization After excluding schools with less than 20 pupils from the sampling frame, we randomly selected a total of 250 schools to participate in the study. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
It …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.05.20248952: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement The study received ethics approvals by the ethics committees of the Medical University of Graz (no. Randomization After excluding schools with less than 20 pupils from the sampling frame, we randomly selected a total of 250 schools to participate in the study. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
It also has several limitations. Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections detected in this study likely underestimate the true burden, since symptomatic individuals (pupils and teachers) or those retained in quarantine were not present at the time of testing. Also, the second repeat assessment of study participants was incomplete due to the decision of the Austrian government to close schools for in-person learning on 17 November 2020. We anticipate restarting repeated screening of the cohort midJanuary and continue assessments until the end of June. In conclusion, in a large-scale study involving 245 schools in Austria, prevalence of RT-PCR detected SARS-CoV-2 increased from 0.39% to 1.42% within a period of one month. Higher community incidence (quantified as the 7-day incidence in the school district) and social deprivation were associated with higher odds of SARS-CoV-2 at the schools. By determining SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and identifying potential contributing factors, our study provides evidence relevant to the decision making about in-person education at Austrian schools and elsewhere. Contributors PW, BL, RK, and MW designed the study. RK, JZ, AK, DvL, HS, IS and MW planned the logistics and/or laboratory measurements for the study. BH, ES, HS, RH, DB, WB, CD, and JP performed laboratory measurements. PW and AB performed the statistical analysis. PW, BL, RK, and MW drafted the manuscript. All authors critically revised the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspe...
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
About SciScore
SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.
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