Long Covid Kids
England's deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries claimed in August 2020 that school children were more likely to be involved in a road accident than catch Covid in a school environment and that the risks of Covid to children were 'very, very small' there are at least 71,000 children with Long Covid in the UK, many too sick to return to school
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Making classrooms safe for children by improving air quality, reducing the spread of Covid and installing air filters has already shown in studies to reduce absence rates by more than 20%
"In January 2022, Jennifer Robertson’s now 11-year-old son, Fergus, developed long COVID, a condition in which the symptoms of COVID-19 linger for months or even years. Due to his symptoms, he missed nearly six weeks of school after his first infection. He’d be in and out of the classroom for the rest of the school year.
Robertson never knew how her son would feel day to day. After three months of daily fever spikes, red eyes, and chest pains, the family pulled him out of their school to be homeschooled for a year. There was hope when he returned to in-person school last year at a private, and more flexible, school.
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​In 2021 Long Covid Kids became the first UK-based, international charity for children living with the ongoing symptoms of COVID-19 infection, Long Covid. The charity calls for recognition, support and recovery for children and young people living with Long Covid.
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Their mission is:
- Raising awareness of the symptoms of Long Covid and related illnesses in children to increase understanding, aid early diagnosis and improve response and intervention.
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- Connecting and supporting children living with Long Covid and the parents and caregivers that look after them in the UK and internationally.
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- Funding and participating in global research to investigate health implications, improve the lived experience and enable recovery.
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- Representing children living with Long Covid in expert forums, research panels, health organisations & parliamentary groups.
- Campaigning to mitigate the risk of SARS_CoV_2 infection & place wellbeing at the heart of education
"We also know that children very rarely get serious disease and get hospitalised, and when children do get infection it is usually very mild and sometimes asymptomatic.
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"So overall, the risk to the child themselves is very, very small."
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- August 2020.
"This is the longest follow-up study of children with SARS-CoV-2 infection, showing a significant and long-lasting burden of Long Covid in the pediatric population.
Our findings highlight the urgent need of investing in pediatric Long Covid in order to find effective diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, as well can inform preventive strategies in case of future pandemics."
