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

2. Guidance on COVID-19 mitigation measures

A recent assessment by SAGE found that evidence from contact tracing studies suggested that pre-school and primary aged children were less susceptible to COVID-19 infection than adults^[1]. There continues to be mixed evidence for secondary aged and older children, who may have higher levels of susceptibility to infection. However, evidence continues to confirm that children and young people are at a lower risk of severe illness than older people^[2].

Guidance around mitigation measures, and the use of face coverings in particular, has been regularly updated by the Scottish Government over the course of the pandemic, in light of emerging evidence. The introduction of the local authority levels system also meant different rules for young people in different areas. A timeline of key decisions relating to face coverings specifically is provided in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 - Timeline of key events and changes in guidance related to face coverings

6 April 2020

WHO released interim guidance which advised that there was insufficient evidence to support the use of face masks and coverings by the general public.

28 April

Scottish Government guidance to advise that members of the public were recommended to wear face coverings where physical distancing was difficult.

5 June

WHO published new advice that to prevent COVID-19 transmission effectively in areas of community transmission, governments should encourage the general public to wear face coverings in specific situations and settings.

22 June

Scottish Government guidance advised that face coverings were mandatory on public transport and strongly recommended in other settings. This included all children and young people over five.

10 July

Face coverings became mandatory in retail settings including hair dressers and shopping centres. This included all children and young people over five.

7 August

Face coverings were made mandatory in a list of other settings and face visors were removed from the regulations.

30 July

Decision taken that face coverings were not a mandatory requirement for children in schools and were only necessary for staff in certain circumstances. Guidance on preparing for re-opening schools was published.

20 August

Announcements made by First Minister that face coverings were to be worn in a larger number of settings, e.g. cafes.

21 August

WHO, UNICEF and UNESCO issued advice on the use of face coverings for children in the community in the context of COVID-19.

25 August

• First Minister announced face coverings to be worn in secondary schools in communal areas and on school transport for children age 5 plus to bring them into line with public use. Updated schools guidance was published.

14 September

• WHO, UNICEF and UNESCO issued updated advice on school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19.

16 October

Face coverings became mandatory in workplace canteens.

19 October

Face coverings became mandatory in communal areas in workplaces.

29 October

Exemption card launched.

30 October

Scottish Government guidance on reducing risks in schools updated to reflect that in level 3 and 4 areas all staff and pupils should wear a face covering in classrooms during lessons in the senior phase.

6 April 2021

The First Minister announced that all adults and secondary-school pupils were required to wear a face covering indoors in classrooms and in communal areas, when schools returned to full-time in person learning after Easter break. Children aged 5 and over should continue to wear a face covering on school transport in line with the guidelines for public transport.

Since August 2020, there was a requirement for physical distancing between young people where practicable in secondary schools. There was no such requirement for children in primary schools. In both primary and secondary schools, there was a requirement for a 2 metre physical distancing between adults and between children and adults whenever possible. This has been the guideline since August 2020. However, when secondary schools initiated a phased/part-time return to face-to-face learning in Spring 2021, there was a period in which young people were asked to maintain a 2 metre physical distancing between themselves. Once the return to full-time in-person learning was completed, and in recognition that most secondary schools could only support a full-time return to school when there was no requirement for physical distancing, young people were encouraged to maintain physical distancing wherever practicable.

In such a fluid context, data collection on understanding of, adherence to and experience of mitigation measures is challenging. Any research with young people has a substantial lead-in time, during which relevant guidance and/or the level of any given local authority area can change. This means that research questions have to be limited to self-assessed understanding of guidance, rather than objective assessments of knowledge of rules at a given time and in a given area.

There are few representative surveys of young people, due to a lack of sampling frames for this population group outwith a school setting, and very limited opportunities to carry out surveys within school time. With the exception of the representative Young People in Scotland Survey, the majority of evidence presented in this report is based on open sample online surveys which cannot be treated as representative of the population of young people in Scotland, or on qualitative research, which highlights the range of views held and issues faced, but not their prevalence. While these sources of evidence individually do not provide the highest level of robustness, in combination they provide an overall indication of young people’s experiences of COVID-19 mitigation measures, and supplement the representative findings. Children are often not included in relevant research as they were exempted from many of the COVID-19 mitigation measures.