Wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year. Welcome to the first Long Covid Kids newsletter of 2022. Our charity lives to provide education, support, research and to raise awareness.
This week sees the return of schools to in-person learning following the Christmas holidays. We have therefore updated our child-focussed statistics and graphs to ensure you have clear visibility of the situation we all find ourselves in. The numbers are concerning. We need action at a community level.
A great article on mask-wearing and celebrating the resilience of teenagers from The Guardian.
Indoor Air Quality
We are proud to have partnered with CoSchools which was developed as part of the CO-TRACE project. CO-TRACE is an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funded project involving researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Surrey and Imperial College London.
We deliver tools to help create healthier schools.
To assist with the UK government's rollout of CO2 monitors to schools CoSchools have created four videos, and other materials, that aim to explain how CO2 monitors can help teachers manage their classroom ventilation to provide a more comfortable and healthier learning environment.
LCK supports the videos and will include them in future resources.
Specific LCK feedback to CoSchools includes a greater emphasis on:
Improving ventilation when CO2 levels are between 800ppm to 1,500ppm to maintain a level of below 800ppm
Clear ventilation education/communication aimed at all levels of the school community - inc a simple one-page laminated infographic to be wall mounted in all indoor spaces
Consider repurposing indoor spaces (or reduce headcount numbers) if CO2 levels are consistently over 1,500ppm
Clear guidance on the use of air-cleaning solutions (e.g. air-filtration units) for indoor spaces that are difficult to ventilate (e.g. no windows and/or outside air is polluted - cities/heavy traffic)
Short Bite-Size Videos & Materials For Schools
4 videos explaining and motivating the use of CO2 monitors in classrooms
A simple table of the relevant CO2 levels, with a description, suggested actions and potential consequences for each
An A4 poster which you can print and laminate to sit alongside the monitors in class (editable versions provided)
A presentation that you can edit and use as a base for inset training on classroom ventilation in the context of COVID mitigation.
What is coming up?
The updated Office For National Statistics Long Covid estimates are due out on Thursday and we will be sending these out with a longer update on Sunday. Our newsletter will remain monthly.
Our updated Statistics Blog is released every Sunday and can be found on the blog page of our website, as well as at the top of our Twitter feed.
A Brand New Supportive School Pack in February 2022
An update of our other work to date can be found here
