In the fight against the pandemic, school closings have proven to be one of the most effective measures in Switzerland. This is the result of a study published today by ETH Zurich. As a result, mobility was reduced by 21.6 percent when the Swiss authorities ordered the schools to be closed in March 2020.
School closings reduced mobility and thus led to a reduction in Covid 19 diseases, explained ETH researcher Stefan Feuerriegel. For the study, 1.5 billion movements were evaluated with the help of telecommunications data. Schools were closed for around two months in the spring due to the pandemic.
In third place in the ranking
The ETH study shows that two factors reduced mobility even more than school closings. The ban on meetings with more than five people ranks first at 24.9 percent, closely followed by the closure of restaurants, bars and shops that are not necessary for daily living, at 22.3 percent.
School closings are debated worldwide. The risk of children developing an illness with the pathogen is comparatively low, but it is not clear to what extent children transmit the virus.
The ETH authors did not comment on this question. However, they did show that school closings help significantly reduce the risk of transmitting the virus. „Our analysis shows that school closings are a means of slowing down the spread by reducing mobility,“ said Feuerriegel.
