{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T16:30:30Z","timestamp":1753893030272,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,8]],"date-time":"2025-04-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1744070400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>During the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) lockdowns, children repeatedly experienced social isolation. Dealing with the resulting post-pandemic health implications remains a challenge. The role of group recreational activities is crucial in promoting children\u2019s health; however the implementation can encounter challenges, especially when infections such as COVID-19 are surging.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this prospective observational study, we aimed to investigate whether safe cohorts can be created through appropriate test strategies to facilitate music trips during the COVID-19 waves. The primary outcome was the occurrence of positive cases during the journey. Secondarily, a survey was conducted to evaluate the physical and mental health status of participants before and after the first journey.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Two school music trips were conducted. The first trip (T<jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub>) took place from 4 January 2022 to 9 January 2022, and the second trip (T<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>) from 3 January 2023 to 8 January 2023. For T<jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub>, central laboratory SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) pool tests were performed before departure. For T<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>, prior point-of-care (PoC) PCR pool tests were conducted to validate the findings. A hygiene protocol was mandatory for T<jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub> and recommended for T<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Before T<jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub>, 95 volunteers underwent PCR laboratory pool testing, which revealed one positive COVID-19 case. During the travel, one student had a positive antigen test. Questionnaires for the mental health status were collected before T<jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub> from 95 participants and again as a follow-up after T<jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub> from 79 participants<jats:sub>.<\/jats:sub> There was a significant decrease in cold symptoms among students (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u202f0.002). Following this, the perceived risk of infection significantly increased in the students\u2019 group (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u202f0.019). Additionally, anxiety symptoms [as measured using generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)-7 score] and the fear of getting infected marginally increased in students. All T<jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub> participants indicated that they would be willing to attend a similar trip again. In the initial T<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub> pool testing, 88 participants took part. Two participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, with one solely showing signs of a subsiding infection and the other being highly infectious, which led to the exclusion of the highly infectious participant from the travel. During the trip and the follow-up period, no further cases were reported.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Both testing concepts effectively identified positive \u201cSARS-CoV-2 cases in advance and prevented transmissions, enabling safe school music trips during the winter. The use of PoC-PCR may be superior in terms of time efficiency and flexibility. Despite the increase in the perceived fear of infection among children, the overall experience of the journey was positive.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1422243","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,8]],"date-time":"2025-04-08T07:14:38Z","timestamp":1744096478000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies for a safe (post-)pandemic implementation of school music trips and their impact on participants\u2019 health"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Linus Fritz Felix","family":"M\u00f6ckel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Samipa","family":"Pudasaini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kira 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