SARS-CoV-2 transmission model suggests primary school infection could be greater this autumn than in 2020

The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic has already had a major impact on children’s education, with schools having been required to implement infection control measures that have led to long periods of absence and classroom closures. With the new school year underway, risk modelling specialists at the University of Bristol have developed a new epidemiological model for SARS-CoV-2 transmission that forecasts primary school infection outbreaks could be more frequent and possibly substantially larger this autumn than in 2020, due to the more transmissive and infectious Delta variant and projected increase in community infection.