Effects of socio-economic factors on elementary school student COVID-19 infections in Ontario, Canada

  1. Prachi Srivastava
  2. Tsz Tan Lau
  3. Daniel Ansari
  4. Nisha Thampi

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Abstract

Background

The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Ontario is disproportionately concentrated in areas with lower-income and racialized groups. We examined whether school-level and area-level socio-economic factors were associated with elementary school student infections in Ontario.

Methods

We performed multi-level modeling analyses using data from the Ministry of Education on school-based infections in Ontario in the 2020-21 school year and on school-level demographics, the Ontario Marginalization Index, and census data to estimate the variability of the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections amongst elementary school students attributable to individual schools (school level, Level 1) and forward sortation areas (FSAs) of schools (area level, Level 2). We explored whether socio-economic factors within individual schools and/or factors common to schools within FSAs predicted the incidence of elementary school student infections.

Results

At the school level, the proportion of students from low-income households within a school was positively related with the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 elementary school student infections ( β = .083, p < 0.001). At the area level, the dimensions of FSA marginalization were significantly related with cumulative incidence. Ethnic concentration ( β = .454, p < 0.001), residential instability ( β = .356, p < 0.001), and material deprivation ( β = .212, p < 0.001) were positively related. Area-related variables were more likely to explain variance in cumulative incidence than school-related variables (58% versus 1%, respectively).

Interpretation

Socio-economic characteristics of the geographic location of schools were more important in determining the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 elementary school student infections than individual school characteristics. Given inequitable effects of protracted education disruption, schools in marginalized areas should be prioritized for infection prevention measures and education continuity and recovery plans.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.02.04.22270413: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your data.

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    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.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2022.02.04.22270413 on medRxiv