COVID19 and Children: The true cost of the pandemic

Damian Roland - University Staff

During lockdown it was feared children would be brought late to Emergency Departments due to parental fear of them catching COVID. Research led by Leicester Hospitals and University demonstrated this didn’t occur as expected.

Furthermore accidental burns (due to more time spent at home) and breathing difficulty (driven by COVID infection) didn’t increase as predicted. However a generation of children are potentially now affected by a huge mental health and educational burden.  It’s vital the media narrative around COVID changes from black and white debate (especially around opening schools) to a more inclusive public facing dialogue about the challenges ahead.