COVID-19-related school closures, United States, July 27, 2020 - June 30, 2022

As part of a multi-year project that monitored illness-related school closures, we conducted systematic daily online searches from July 27, 2020-June 30, 2022, to identify public announcements of COVID-19-related school closures (COVID-SCs) in the US lasting [≥]1 day. We explored the temporospatial patterns of COVID-SCs and analyzed associations between COVID-SCs and national COVID-19 surveillance data. COVID-SCs reflected national surveillance data: correlation was highest between COVID-SCs and both new PCR test positivity (correlation coefficient, r = 0{middle dot}73, CI: 0{middle dot}56, 0{middle dot}84) and new cases (r = 0{middle dot}72, CI: 0{middle dot}54, 0{middle dot}83) in school year (SY) 2020-21, and with hospitalization rates among all ages (rs = 0{middle dot}81, CI: [0{middle dot}67, 0{middle dot}89]) in SY 2021-22. The number of reactive COVID-SCs during SYs 2020-21 and 2021-22 greatly exceeded previously observed numbers of illness-related reactive school closures in the US, notably being nearly 5-fold greater than reactive closures observed during the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic (H1N1pdm09 virus). Article summary lineCOVID-19-related school closures occurred annually in the US and their temporal patterns mirror the general patterns of COVID-19 activity at the national level as observed through routine COVID-19 epidemiological surveillance.