scholarly journals How Does COVID 19 Alter Children Life?

Author(s):  
Hina Rodge ◽  
Mayur Wanjari ◽  
Khushbu Meshram

COVID 19 (Coronavirus 2019) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China and resulted in an ongoing pandemic. It has put the world on a crisis footing and children could be the hidden victim of the pandemic. Due to this pandemic, the impact on children is severe. Children may be more vulnerable due to school closures, lockdowns and other stressors. Access to a computer and the internet at home could determine whether education comes to a halt or if children can continue to learn outside of the classroom. And also raising the cases of malnutrition, hunger and may suffer from extended ill-consequences of this pandemic, such as child labor, child trafficking, child marriage, sexual exploitation and death etc. soap and running water may make the difference between whether children get sick or not. School closure, lack of outdoor activity, aberrant dietary and sleeping habits are likely to disrupt children's usual lifestyle and can potentially promote monotony, distress, impatience, annoyance and varied neuropsychiatric manifestations. Incidences of domestic violence, child abuse, adulterated online contents are on the rise. The COVID-19 pandemic is potentially catastrophic for many children around the world. For children caught at the apex of this crisis, there is a genuine prospect that its effects will permanently alter their lives.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satomi Doi ◽  
Keitaro Miyamura ◽  
Aya Isumi ◽  
Takeo Fujiwara

Objective: This study examines the impact on the social-emotional skills of Japanese pre-school children from downsizing of school activities in conjunction with voluntary school closures due to the first wave of COVID-19, in 2020.Methods: Participants included 32 children aged 4–5 years old from three pre-schools in Tokyo, Japan, where strict lockdown was not implemented and voluntary school closure was recommended. Child social-emotional skills was assessed by classroom teachers using Devereux Student Strengths Assessment mini (DESSA-mini) three times: November 2019, January 2020 (before the COVID-19), and March 2020 (during the first COVID-19 wave). All pre-schools implemented voluntary school closures from March 2nd, and two schools (school A and B) canceled school recitals, while one school (school C) allowed for it to be held on March 4th, with precautions in place to prevent the spread of infection. Repeated measures ANOVA were performed to examine the difference between the T scores of the DESSA-mini three pre-schools before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: In school C, children showed stable T scores of the DESSA-mini, whereas children in school A and B showed lower T scores of the DESSA-mini during COVID-19 than before it started. The interaction effects between time and pre-schools were found (F = 7.05, p < 0.001).Conclusion: Our findings suggest that school recitals in pre-schools were important to maintaining children's social-emotional skills during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 415
Author(s):  
Sonia Chaabane ◽  
Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy ◽  
Karima Chaabna ◽  
Ravinder Mamtani ◽  
Sohaila Cheema

School closures during pandemics raise important concerns for children and adolescents. Our aim is synthesizing available data on the impact of school closure during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on child and adolescent health globally. We conducted a rapid systematic review by searching PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar for any study published between January and September 2020. We included a total of ten primary studies. COVID-19-related school closure was associated with a significant decline in the number of hospital admissions and pediatric emergency department visits. However, a number of children and adolescents lost access to school-based healthcare services, special services for children with disabilities, and nutrition programs. A greater risk of widening educational disparities due to lack of support and resources for remote learning were also reported among poorer families and children with disabilities. School closure also contributed to increased anxiety and loneliness in young people and child stress, sadness, frustration, indiscipline, and hyperactivity. The longer the duration of school closure and reduction of daily physical activity, the higher was the predicted increase of Body Mass Index and childhood obesity prevalence. There is a need to identify children and adolescents at higher risk of learning and mental health impairments and support them during school closures.


2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 87-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Creaser

Purpose Library impact and how to evaluate it has been debated for a number of years. While the activity – the busy-ness – of the library is now routinely measured and described, the difference the library makes is less tangible and harder to measure. Libraries in all sectors and worldwide are grappling with this issue, and the purpose of this paper is to summarise international standards available to support them. Design/methodology/approach The first international standard concerning library impact, ISO 16439 Information and documentation – methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries, was published in 2014 after several years in development. Findings The standard describes a range of methods for assessing library impact which have been used across the world in a variety of libraries in all sectors. Originality/value This paper summarises the key methods described in the standard, and gives references for further reading.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Eduardo Borges ◽  
Leonardo Souto Ferreira ◽  
Silas Poloni ◽  
Ângela Maria Bagattini ◽  
Caroline Franco ◽  
...  

Among the various non–pharmaceutical interventions implemented in response to the Covid–19 pandemic during 2020, school closures have been in place in several countries to reduce infection transmission. Nonetheless, the significant short and long–term impacts of prolonged suspension of in–person classes is a major concern. There is still considerable debate around the best timing for school closure and reopening, its impact on the dynamics of disease transmission, and its effectiveness when considered in association with other mitigation measures. Despite the erratic implementation of mitigation measures in Brazil, school closures were among the first measures taken early in the pandemic in most of the 27 states in the country. Further, Brazil delayed the reopening of schools and stands among the countries in which schools remained closed for the most prolonged period in 2020. To assess the impact of school reopening and the effect of contact tracing strategies in rates of Covid–19 cases and deaths, we model the epidemiological dynamics of disease transmission in 3 large urban centers in Brazil under different epidemiological contexts. We implement an extended SEIR model stratified by age and considering contact networks in different settings – school, home, work, and elsewhere, in which the infection transmission rate is affected by various intervention measures. After fitting epidemiological and demographic data, we simulate scenarios with increasing school transmission due to school reopening. Our model shows that reopening schools results in a non–linear increase of reported Covid-19 cases and deaths, which is highly dependent on infection and disease incidence at the time of reopening. While low rates of within[&ndash]school transmission resulted in small effects on disease incidence (cases/100,000 pop), intermediate or high rates can severely impact disease trends resulting in escalating rates of new cases even if other interventions remain unchanged. When contact tracing and quarantining are restricted to school and home settings, a large number of daily tests is required to produce significant effects of reducing the total number of hospitalizations and deaths. Our results suggest that policymakers should carefully consider the epidemiological context and timing regarding the implementation of school closure and return of in-person school activities. Also, although contact tracing strategies are essential to prevent new infections and outbreaks within school environments, our data suggest that they are alone not sufficient to avoid significant impacts on community transmission in the context of school reopening in settings with high and sustained transmission rates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1364-1390
Author(s):  
Zoran Nedeljković

The author has given a socio-cultural interpretation of the phenomenon of laughter in the film "The Joker" (Todd, Phillips, 2019) as an individual as well as a social phenomenon of Western civilization. He considers the difference between the concepts of utopia, dystopia and utopistics as a possible solution to the problem that would avoid an optimistic and pessimistic view of the future of humanity. The author seeks a civilization parallel between the fictional world of film and the cultural elements of today. The necrophilic atmosphere of Gotham City is strikingly reminiscent of the spiritual lethargy that characterizes the postmodern metropolises of the 21st century. The fate of the film's protagonist could afflict any individual on our planet if they came to the realization that they are a personality, that they have created themselves, and that on their own spiritual skin they have felt the misunderstanding of others who do not wish to stand out from the crowd. The author notes that many protesters against the governing structures of the oligarchy of states around the world have identified themselves in their protest with the Joker, an anti-hero who in a century of tolerance defends with laughter when he feels that his existence is threatened. In this film, the Joker is the personification of a diseased society. Todd Philips' work is an attempt to draw attention to the fact that the stratification of the human community can lead to the breakdown of social relations, however much the governing establishment's media seek to entertain and laugh at masses of proletarians and homeless people without a cultural identity through entertainment shows. The impact of the film, as a work of art, was visible immediately after its broadcast in public. The failed clown Joker could not cure himself with laughter because his laughing was "crying upside down" out of despair that was contrary to the hope of a man who could seek the meaning of his life in two Christian virtues: faith and love. However, the author of this text offers a solution by reminding of the way of life of a specific person, which would save the world from moral panic. He introduces us to a man with an accomplished existence of being a clown and a university professor at the same time - E. Kiphard (1923-2010), who lived to help fellow men with a mission to treat people with laughter rather than to defend them with the Joker's unnatural and contagious laughter of an anti-utopian resident.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimee Code ◽  
Umar Toseeb ◽  
Kathryn Asbury ◽  
Laura Fox

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant school closures, social distancing measures, and restrictions placed on routine activities, the start of the academic year in September 2020 was a unique time for those transitioning to a new school. This study aimed to explore the experiences of parents who supported autistic children making a school transition in 2020, and to examine what impact parents perceived the COVID-19 pandemic had on their child’s school transition. Emphasis was placed on identifying facilitating factors that had benefitted school transitions, and barriers, which had negatively impacted these experiences. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 13 parents of autistic children in the UK. Reflexive thematic analysis was carried out to identify themes in interview data. Parents reported a variety of experiences, and factors that were perceived as facilitatory to some were observed to be barriers by others. For some parents, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted aspects of school transitions. For example, school closure in March 2020, being unable to visit their child’s new school, and social distancing measures were discussed as being barriers to an easy transition. However, other parents identified these factors as being facilitatory for their child or reported that these circumstances created opportunities to approach the school transition in a unique, improved manner. This paper sheds light on the heterogeneity of experiences and perceptions of parents of autistic children, and highlights the need to examine the impact of COVID-19 on school transitions, including practices which may be advantageous to retain.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (27) ◽  
pp. 13174-13181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Litvinova ◽  
Quan-Hui Liu ◽  
Evgeny S. Kulikov ◽  
Marco Ajelli

School-closure policies are considered one of the most promising nonpharmaceutical interventions for mitigating seasonal and pandemic influenza. However, their effectiveness is still debated, primarily due to the lack of empirical evidence about the behavior of the population during the implementation of the policy. Over the course of the 2015 to 2016 influenza season in Russia, we performed a diary-based contact survey to estimate the patterns of social interactions before and during the implementation of reactive school-closure strategies. We develop an innovative hybrid survey-modeling framework to estimate the time-varying network of human social interactions. By integrating this network with an infection transmission model, we reduce the uncertainty surrounding the impact of school-closure policies in mitigating the spread of influenza. When the school-closure policy is in place, we measure a significant reduction in the number of contacts made by students (14.2 vs. 6.5 contacts per day) and workers (11.2 vs. 8.7 contacts per day). This reduction is not offset by the measured increase in the number of contacts between students and nonhousehold relatives. Model simulations suggest that gradual reactive school-closure policies based on monitoring student absenteeism rates are capable of mitigating influenza spread. We estimate that without the implemented reactive strategies the attack rate of the 2015 to 2016 influenza season would have been 33% larger. Our study sheds light on the social mixing patterns of the population during the implementation of reactive school closures and provides key instruments for future cost-effectiveness analyses of school-closure policies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9091
Author(s):  
Luis Miguel Lázaro Lorente ◽  
Ana Ancheta Arrabal ◽  
Cristina Pulido-Montes

There is a lack of concluding evidence among epidemiologists and public health specialists about how school closures reduce the spread of COVID-19. Herein, we attend to the generalization of this action throughout the world, specifically in its quest to reduce mortality and avoid infections. Considering the impact on the right to education from a global perspective, this article discusses how COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities and pre-existing problems in education systems around the world. Therefore, the institutional responses to guaranteeing remote continuity of the teaching–learning process during this educational crisis was compared regionally through international databases. Three categories of analysis were established: infrastructure and equipment, both basic and computer-based, as well as internet access of schools; preparation and means of teachers to develop distance learning; and implemented measures and resources to continue educational processes. The results showed an uneven capacity in terms of response and preparation to face the learning losses derived from school closure, both in low-income regions and within middle- and high-income countries. We concluded that it is essential to articulate inclusive educational policies that support strengthening the government response capacity, especially in low-income countries, to address the sustainability of education.


Author(s):  
Tatiana Zakharova

In 2000, Lauzon and Leahy completed a literature review on rural schools and educational reform, concluding that rural schools were indeed worth saving. In 2017, I conducted a literature review with the goal of offering an update to that article, investigating the post-2001 research on the impact of rural school closures; the effects of bussing of rural students to/from school; and student performance in small schools and mixed-grade classes. The results were mixed and contradictory, equal in their puzzling to the complexity of defining what is “rural” and what is “small school”. While some of the researchers continue to point out the unique place of local schools in rural settings, many also note the lack of large-scale studies into the impact of rural school closures, especially the impact on students – even "who pays and the price they pay, is always of interest" (bell hooks)… or is it?


F1000Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1899
Author(s):  
Anna Mae Scott ◽  
Mina Bakhit ◽  
Justin Clark ◽  
Melanie Vermeulen ◽  
Mark Jones ◽  
...  

Background: The impact of school holidays on influenza rates has been sparsely documented in Australia. In 2019, the early winter influenza season coincided with mid-year school breaks, enabling us the unusual opportunity to examine how influenza incidence changed during school closure dates. Methods: The weekly influenza data from five Australian state and one territory health departments for the period of week 19 (mid-May) to week 35 (early September) 2019 were compared to each state’s public school closure dates. We used segmented regression to model the weekly counts and a negative binomial distribution to account for overdispersion due to autocorrelation. The models’ goodness-of-fit was assessed by plots of observed versus expected counts, plots of residuals versus predicted values, and Pearson’s Chi-square test. The main exposure was the July two-week school vacation period, using a lag of one week. The effect is estimated as a percent change in incidence level, and in slope. We also dichotomized the change in weekly counts into decreases versus increases (or no change). The proportion of decreases were then compared for each of three periods (pre-vacation, vacation, post-vacation) using Fishers exact test. Results: School holidays were associated with significant declines in influenza incidence. The models showed acceptable goodness-of-fit. The numbers and percentages of decreases in weekly influenza counts from the previous week for all states combined were: 19 (33%) pre-vacation; 11 (92%) decreases during the vacation; and 19 (59%) decreases post-vacation (P=0.0002). The first decline during school holidays is seen in the school aged (5-19 years) population, with the declines in the adult and infant populations being smaller and following a week later. Conclusions: Given the significant and rapid reductions in incidence, these results have important public health implications. Closure or extension of holiday periods could be an emergency option for state governments.


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