Coronavirus (COVID-19)

There are important actions that children and young people, their parents and those who work with them can take during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, to help prevent the spread of the virus.

In all education, childcare and social care settings, preventing the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) involves dealing with direct transmission (for instance, when in close contact with those sneezing and coughing) and indirect transmission (via touching contaminated surfaces). A range of approaches and actions should be employed to do this. These can be seen as a hierarchy of controls that, when implemented, creates an inherently safer system, where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. These include:

• minimising contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring that those who have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, or who have someone in their household who does, do not attend childcare settings, schools or colleges.
• cleaning hands more often than usual – wash hands thoroughly for 20 seconds with running water and soap and dry them thoroughly or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.
• ensuring good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach.
• cleaning frequently touched surfaces often using standard products, such as detergents and bleach.
• minimising contact and mixing by altering, as much as possible, the environment (such as classroom layout) and timetables (such as staggered break times).
• by seeking to prevent the sharing of stationery and other equipment where possible. Shared materials and surfaces should be cleaned and disinfected more frequently.