Abstract:

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics of public health emergencies occurring in schools in Chongqing area for evidence to scientifically deal with the emergencies in school campus. Methods The data on the public health emergencies reported in schools in Chongqing area were retrieved from the subsystem of Public Health Emergency Management under the Information System for Disease Prevention and Control in China from January 2010 to December 2022, and analyzed for the epidemic characteristics using descriptive epidemiology. Results A total of 3 162 emergencies in school campus were reported from 2010 to 2022, accounting for 79.23% (3 162/3 991) of all emergencies reported in Chongqing. In total, 85 889 cases and 5 deaths were reported. Of the emergencies reported, 3 120 were associated with infectious diseases. The top three infectious diseases reported were varicella (40.16%, 1 253/3 120), hand-foot-and-mouth disease (20.83%, 650/3 120) and mumps (11.70%, 365/3 120). School emergencies were reported every year in Chongqing from 2010 to 2022, and the annual number of reported emergencies ranged from 132 to 453. The seasonal distribution indicated bimodal trend, and annual peak of reported emergencies basically appeared in May and November. The top three areas with reported emergencies were Kaizhou District (292 events, 9.23%), Hechuan District (166 events, 5.25%) and Yunyang County (163 events, 5.15%). The emergency primarily occurred in primary schools (1 664 events, 52.62%) and nurseries (911 events, 28.81%). The duration of insect-borne infectious disease was the longest, which lasted for 32.07 (31.21, 32.92) days. Management of the respiratory infectious diseases was the longest, and the emergency scale was the largest, which accounted for 9.71 (4.29, 16.63) days and 23 (14, 38) cases, respectively. Conclusion Currently, infectious diseases are the key to prevention and control of public health emergencies in schools in Chongqing. Monitoring should fall on the emergencies occurring nurseries and primary schools. Various prevention and control measures should be implemented in order to eventually reduce the occurrence and impact of school emergencies.

Key words: School, Public health emergency, Epidemiological characteristics, Chongqing Municipality