ISPRS-Archives The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ISPRS-Archives Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. 2194-9034 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVI-4-W6-2021-85-2021 SCHOOL RE-OPENING SIMULATIONS WITH COVID-19 AGENT-BASED MODEL FOR QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES Celeste J. J. 1 Bongolan V. P. 1 System Modeling and Simulation Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines - Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines 18 11 2021 XLVI-4/W6-2021 85 90 Copyright: © 2021 J. J. Celeste 2021 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLVI-4-W6-2021/85/2021/isprs-archives-XLVI-4-W6-2021-85-2021.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLVI-4-W6-2021/85/2021/isprs-archives-XLVI-4-W6-2021-85-2021.pdf

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted schools to close in 2020, and with its negative impact on the quality of learning, the conversation shifts to the re-opening scenarios. In this study, we coupled a COVID-19 agent-based model (ABM) with social contact probabilities from pre-pandemic estimates. We then simulated school re-opening and vaccination scenarios in Quezon City, Philippines using our ABM. Our toy simulations suggest that the city could already re-open schools with 50% vaccination coverage. However, we suggest that students shall be vaccinated first, mask-wearing and physical distance shall be strictly observed, and schools shall only be re-opened by 25% as a precaution. Policymakers may take insights from the study.