Problem
A. What criteria did the authors set as the clinical definition of a case? What were the specific symptoms included in that definition? The study was affected by a limitation in relation to the method of defining a case. What was the limitation and how might it affect the data or usefulness of the study results?
B. The structure of the school into grade levels, including more than 1 class per grade level, had an impact on child-to-child transmission rates. According to the data provided, contrast the probabilities of between-class (same grade, different classroom) transmission and within-class (same grade, same classroom) transmission. How does the transmission rate among students in the same grade level compare to that among students in different grade levels? Please provide specific transmission rates and an explanation of these results.
C. During the outbreak, a pattern in the onset of infection in boys versus girls emerged. Figure 1C of the full report reveals a group of boys became infected a few days before a group of girls. What characteristic of the social network is thought to account for this pattern? Provide specific data from the report to support your answer.
D. What appears to account for the increase in cases after May 7 as shown in Figure 1? Which activities that the 4th graders attended on May 6 or May 7 may have contributed to an increase in transmission (superspread)?
E. Based on the results provided in the example, what measures could have been put in place to disrupt the transmission of the virus, if any?