Geospatial Model Determines School Closures Had No Impact on Lessening H1N1 Flu Spread
Here’s the meaty bit from the geospatial perspective:
The study also found that identifying sick students individually and keeping them from attending school had minimal impact on an epidemic. In addition, there were no significant differences between individual school closures and system-wide closures in mitigating an epidemic.
The study was based on a computer simulation model of Allegheny County, Pa., that represented the county’s population, school systems, hospitals, workplaces, households and communities.
The model was developed to evaluate three school-focused strategies for dealing with H1N1 outbreaks: isolating sick children individually at home but leaving the school open, closing the entire school system and closing individual schools.
Simulations were based on the movement of residents each weekday from their households to designated workplaces or schools. To account for the lack of real information about individual’s movements, RTI’s Geospatial Spatial and Technology Group developed complex synthesized populations of 1.2 million people, including 200,000 school-aged children, more than 500,000 households and nearly 300 schools.
