Supporting children and young people with long COVID in the classroom

Long Covid is a physical condition which can affect any part of the body, and can cause different symptoms at different times with varying degrees of severity for each individual child and young person. We don't know yet how many children will develop long COVID but we do know that the number of children with long COVID is currently increasing. Prevalence figures vary depending on the study and the research methods employed, but according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) there are currently 119 000 children and young people living with long COVID; 21 000 of whom are still experiencing symptoms 12 months after their initial infection (ONS, 2022).

The ONS COVID-19 Schools Infection Survey (February 2022) found that since March 2020, 1.0% of primary school-aged pupils and 2.7% of secondary school-aged pupils met the criteria for having experienced long COVID affecting daily life for 12 weeks or more.