Observed Mask Wearing and Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in School Wastewater, San Diego County, CA, 2022

Objectives. To test the association between directly observed school masking behaviors and the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in school wastewater. Methods. We randomly sampled a subset of schools participating in a translational study on the effectiveness o...

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Published inAmerican journal of public health (1971) Vol. 115; no. 4; pp. 519 - 527
Main Authors Fielding-Miller, Rebecca, Gaines, Tommi, Hassani, Ashkan, Le, Tina, Omaleki, Vinton, Flores, Marlene, Majnoonian, Araz, Wijaya, F. Carrissa, Knight, Rob, Karthikeyan, Smruthi, Garfein, Richard S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Public Health Association 01.04.2025
Subjects
Bias
California - epidemiology
Caregivers
Child
Children & youth
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - prevention & control
COVID-19 diagnostic tests
COVID-19 vaccines
COVID-19: Minority Children
Data
Diagnostic tests
Disease transmission
Economic impact
Elementary schools
Health care access
Health services
Health surveillance
Human services
Humans
Infections
Low income groups
Marginality
Masks
Masks - statistics & numerical data
Methodological problems
Pediatrics
Polls & surveys
Prevention
Privacy
Public health
Public schools
Research & Analysis
SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification
School districts
School Health
Schools
Schools - statistics & numerical data
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Social desirability
Surveillance
Surveillance systems
Test bias
Validation studies
Wastewater
Wastewater - virology
Womens health
California
United States > US
San Diego County California
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Summary:Objectives. To test the association between directly observed school masking behaviors and the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in school wastewater. Methods. We randomly sampled a subset of schools participating in a translational study on the effectiveness of passive wastewater surveillance in nonresidential K‒12 settings in San Diego County. Trained observers conducted biweekly systematic observations of masking behaviors between March 2 and May 27, 2022. Results. The proportion of individuals observed masking was a significant predictor of detecting SARS-CoV-2 in school wastewater (adjusted odds ratio = 0.91; 95% confidence interval = 0.85, 0.99; P = .034). For every 10% increase in the percentage of observed individuals who were fully masked, the odds of detecting SARS-CoV-2 in school wastewater decreased by nearly 10%. Conclusions. Masking does not need to be perfect to be effective. Mask mandates are unlikely to be reimplemented in US schools, but interventions that encourage moderate increases in masking may have an important role to play in improving children’s health and decreasing the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. ( Am J Public Health. 2025;115(4):519–527. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307925 )
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R. Fielding-Miller contributed to conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing the original draft, visualization, supervision, and funding acquisition. T. Gaines contributed to methodology, formal analysis, and writing the original draft. A. Hassani contributed to methodology, investigation, and data curation. T. Le contributed to the investigation. V. Omaleki, M. Flores, and A. Majnoonian contributed to the investigation and data curation. F. Carrissa Wijaya contributed to supervision and project administration. R. Knight and S. Karthikeyan contributed to methodology, resources, and supervision. R. S. Garfein contributed to methodology and writing the original draft.
CONTRIBUTORS
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2024.307925