Health-education to prevent COVID-19 in schoolchildren: a call to action.
Infect Dis Poverty
; 9(1): 81, 2020 Jul 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-619416
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
There is currently considerable international debate around school closures/openings and the role of children in the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Whilst evidence suggests that children are not impacted by COVID-19 as severely as adults, little is still known about their transmission potential, and with a lot of asymptomatic cases they may be silent transmitters (i.e. infectious without showing clinical signs of disease), albeit at a lower level than adults. In relation to this, it is somewhat concerning that in many countries children are cared for, or are often in close contact with, older individuals such as grandparents â the age group most at risk of acquiring serious respiratory complications resulting in death. MAIN TEXT We emphasise that in the absence of a vaccine or an effective therapeutic drug, preventive measures such as good hygiene practices â hand washing, cough etiquette, disinfection of surfaces and social distancing represent the major (in fact only) weapons that we have against COVID-19. Accordingly, we stress that there is a pressing need to develop specific COVID-19 prevention messages for schoolchildren.CONCLUSION:
An entertainment education intervention for schoolchildren systematically implemented in schools would be highly effective and fill this need. With such measures in place there would be greater confidence around the opening of schools.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
School Health Services
/
Health Education
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Pandemics
/
Betacoronavirus
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Infect Dis Poverty
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S40249-020-00695-2
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS