Coronavirus (COVID-19) mitigation measures among children and young people: evidence base summary

1. Introduction

This report summarises evidence on the use and impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures for children and young people in Scotland. Mitigation measures to reduce transmission among children and young people and to/from adults include the use of face coverings in certain settings including schools and school transport, hand hygiene, 2 metre physical distancing when meeting others, and guidance aimed at young people. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises that countries monitor the impact of face coverings on young people in particular, including in terms of their health, mental health and transmission of COVID-19, as well as motivators and barriers to wearing face coverings. This report is an attempt to follow that advice and, indeed, go beyond it by monitoring information from parents as well.

This report is the final version of a working paper published by the Scottish Government in January 2021. It presents updated evidence where possible, and data from the working paper of January 2021 where there has been no updates. The report covers the period of school closures during the first lockdown (March – July 2020), the re-opening of schools after the first lockdown (August – mid-December 2020), the period of the second lockdown (end December 2020 – February 2021) and the re-opening of schools after the second lockdown (gradually since February 2021 with a full return to schools after the Easter break). It includes evidence from children, young people and parents. For weekly data sources, data included in this paper are up to May 2021. Evidence is drawn from qualitative research, non-representative surveys and one representative survey with young people in Scotland.