To analyze the epidemic patterns of public health emergencies in schools in Zhejiang Province from 2019 to 2024, and to provide references for the prevention and control strategies of such events in the future.

The information of public health emergencies in schools in Zhejiang Province from 2019 to 2024 was collected from the Public Health Emergency Management Information System of China Disease Prevention and Control Information System, and the descriptive epidemiological method was used to analyze the data in terms of time, space, type of school and the effect of event control. Descriptive statistical analyses and spatial autocorrelation analyses were performed using R 4.3.1 software.

A total of 2 067 public health emergencies in schools were reported in Zhejiang Province from 2019 to 2024, with a total number of 66 441 reported cases, and an average attack rate of 2.94%. There were no deaths during the period. The largest number of reported events was 651 in 2023, accounting for 31.49% of the total number of events. The peak time of incidence was from November to December and from March to April. The global spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that there was no significant spatial aggregation in the spatial distribution of public health emergencies in schools (P values were all >0.05). The main locations where public health emergencies occurred in schools were in primary schools (1 088 cases), accounting for 52.64%. The second was in kindergartens (488 cases), accounting for 23.61%. The attack rate was the highest in kindergartens(5.79%), and the lowest in colleges and universities (0.67%). There was a significant difference in the attack rate among different schools (χ²=7 938.143, P<0.001). The attack rate in rural schools was significantly higher than that in county, town and urban schools (P<0.001). The intervention time of school public health emergencies was positively correlated with the duration (r₁=0.830, P₁<0.001), and the duration of the event was positively correlated with the number of cases (r₂=0.607, P₂<0.001).

Public health emergencies in schools in Zhejiang Province are mainly intestinal and respiratory infectious diseases, with a peak period in winter and spring. Prevention and control should be focused on young children. Communication and collaboration between family, schools and health departments should be strengthened. Early intervention and handling could shorten the duration of the events and reduce the scale of the outbreak.