case total lockdown australias lessons world

#Case total lockdown australias lessons world drivers#

However, being infected does not necessarily equate with having the ability to transmit the virus and it remains unclear how long children shed infectious virus.

#Case total lockdown australias lessons world drivers#

Studies show children aged <5 years with mild or moderate COVID‐19 had a high viral load, similar to adults, which suggests that young children could potentially be important drivers of SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission. School closures negatively impact the wellbeing, psychosocial aspects and education of students have economic costs to families and should be avoided wherever possible. School and early childhood educational centre (ECEC) attendance also offset the risk of families experiencing povertyĪnd for caregivers to maintain employment.Īcknowledging that school closures have a wide impact globally on child and adolescent education and health, peak health bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO) state that schools should be prioritised for reopening for face‐to‐face learning during the pandemic. The structure and face‐to‐face support that schools provide are vital for students with disabilities and mental health issues, and a safe haven for those experiencing domestic violence.Ī mental health survey conducted on Australian youth found adolescents aged 12–17 years, particularly those who started high school in 2020, reported higher psychological distress rates and poorer coping strategies than similar‐aged adolescents surveyed in 2018. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognises that school closure, even if temporary, can have high social and economic costs. In addition to the educational disadvantages, school closures affect children in many ways. School closures can cause engaged youth to completely disengage from education as many as 10 million children are predicted to never return to school, and 2.5 million girls may be at risk of child marriage in the next 5 years. Closures create an education gap, with children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds less likely to have access to online classes than their peers from higher socioeconomic backgrounds,Įspecially in low and middle‐income countries. The greatest impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on children and adolescents, especially for the most disadvantaged, has been the closure of educational facilities. Whereas in influenza, children have the highest rate of disease notification across the age spectrum, for SARS‐CoV‐2, paediatric notifications are the lowest. However, evidence emerging throughout 2020 suggested that the transmission dynamics of SARS‐CoV‐2 were quite different from those of influenza. This initial precautionary principle was informed by influenza transmission, where children are key drivers of transmission across all age groups. School closures were implemented as an early pandemic management strategy to reduce the transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), affecting over 1.5 billion learners globally in 2020.

This is particularly critical as we continue to manage the next phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Schools and ECEC are essential services and so they should be prioritised to stay open for face‐to‐face learning. Implementation of public health mitigation strategies, including effective testing, tracing and isolation of contacts, means schools and ECECs can be safe, not drivers of transmission. Australian and global experience has demonstrated that SARS‐CoV‐2 is predominantly introduced into schools and ECECs during periods of heightened community transmission.

In Australia, most SARS‐CoV‐2 cases in schools were solitary (77% in NSW and 67% in Victoria) of those that did progress to an outbreak, >90% involved fewer than 10 cases. Here, we summarise the role of children and adolescents in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) transmission and that of schools and ECECs in community transmission and describe the Australian experience. School closures increase inequities by disproportionately affecting vulnerable children. Attendance at school and access to ECEC is critical to a child's learning, well‐being and health. In 2020, school and early childhood educational centre (ECEC) closures affected over 1.5 billion school‐aged children globally as part of the COVID‐19 pandemic response.