Journal of public health policy
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J Public Health Policy · May 2011
Temporal factors in school closure policy for mitigating the spread of influenza.
Is school closure effective in mitigating influenza outbreaks? For Singapore, we developed an individual-based simulation model using real-life contact data. We evaluated the impacts of temporal factors - trigger threshold and duration - on the effectiveness of school closure as a mitigation policy. ⋯ Our studies reveal the critical importance of timing in school closure, especially in cost-cautious situations. Our studies also demonstrate the great potential of a properly developed individual-based simulation model in evaluating various disease control policies.