Bibliographic information
GuidelineWHO guideline on public health and social measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza
Year of Publication2026
Issuing InstitutionWorld Health Organization
Recommendation
New
To reduce the transmission of influenza viruses in the community, WHO suggests that:
- the implementation of one or more school measures be considered as sustainable
alternatives to full school closure during influenza epidemics and pandemics; and
- coordinated proactive school closure be considered during influenza epidemics and
pandemics of high or extraordinary severity
Recommended in favor
Conditional
Certainty of evidence
Very low
Notes and Remarks
- School-age children are particularly important in influenza virus transmission in the community, with attack rates typically highest in this age group during epidemics and pandemics.
- School measures to reduce influenza transmission vary from relatively straightforward interventions (such as increasing the distance between desks) to far more drastic and stringent interventions (such as completely closing schools). Examples of school measures include exclusion policies for ill children, reducing mixing between classes, staggering of recesses and/or lunch breaks, mask wearing, frequent testing, and closure of individual classes or schools triggered by a defined number of cases.
- In principle, the above recommendation refers to all levels of education, from early childhood care and education centres to primary and secondary schools. However, the effect of school measures and closures in reducing the transmission of different influenza subtypes and other respiratory viruses may vary according to the impact of the disease on school-age children and their role in disease transmission.
- Policy-makers should consider the implementation of one or more school measures as sustainable alternatives to school closure. The aim of such an approach would be to minimize negative impacts on child protection, education, nutrition and mental health. The negative effects of school measures on children and society are unknown but are unlikely to be of the same order of magnitude as school closures.
- Due to the potential negative impact of school closures, their implementation should be carefully considered by weighing up their expected beneficial impact on the epidemic or pandemic against their unintended consequences on children and the wider community. In this regard, sufficient consideration should also be given to the implementation of strategies to mitigate the negative effects of school closures on children, families and the community.
- When implemented during a pandemic, school closures should be guided by the most recent knowledge on the emerged virus and on the local epidemiological situation in order to limit the implementation period.