COVID-19
A position paper of the Italian Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases on treatments for pediatric COVID-19 [
60] after reviewing available literature as 16 June 2020, was published in IJP. This paper was extremely useful since at the time of publication only a few national societies provided recommendations on this issue [
61‐
67]. Since most SARS-CoV-2 infections in children were asymptomatic or mild [
68,
69], the report documented that supportive therapy (e.g., antipyretic therapy, parenteral rehydration, oxygen therapy) was sufficient in most cases. Pharmacological treatment was proposed to be added to supportive care in patients with severe or critical disease. The expert panel suggested to use remdesivir and if not available, hydroxychloroquine or lopinavir/ritonavir and to consider the use of methylprednisolone or interleukin inhibitors if available (Anakinra or Tocilizumab). The panel opinion mirrored the knowledge available at that time. Nowadays, it is advisable to prescribe antivirals according to the results of clinical trials that are continuously published on the effectiveness of drugs against COVID-19 or as part of a clinical trial. It is of note that the document suggested to give antibiotics only for suspicion of bacterial infection and in the presence of predisposing comorbidities (such as immunodeficiency, cystic fibrosis, other chronic diseases of the respiratory tract, severe neuromotor disability). Since in children the incidence of thrombotic complication was low, the panel did not routinely recommend preventive anticoagulant therapy, but suggested to consider it in children and adolescents with a higher risk of thrombosis, particularly when severe inflammatory conditions coexist.
Several studies have assessed the chain of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to adopt preventive measures. Facial mask has been demonstrated to be effective in preventing the spread of respiratory viruses (such as COVID-19) [
70] without any harmful effects on gas exchange neither in children nor in adults even when doing mild exercise [
71]. The use of the mask is recommended by the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in adults [
72,
73]. Several scientific societies felt the need to produce recommendations to increase awareness on the use of mask in children. However, the Japan Pediatric Society, CDC [
74], the American Academy of Pediatrics [
75] and the European Academy of Pediatrics [
76] agreed that children under 2 years old should not wear a mask because of asphyxia risk. IJP published a position statement of the Italian Pediatric Society challenges misconception on face mask in children and disseminate scientific trustable information on its benefit [
77]. In Italy, face mask is advised in all healthy children aged more than 3 years old and is mandatory over 6 years of age. This document was helpful for medical doctors and National Health Authorities that had to establish preventive measures in the general population.
The restrictive measures imposed by governments to contain the COVID-19 spread caused a sudden change in the habits and lifestyles of the population, especially regarding social distancing, eating habits, sleeping habits and everyday behaviours (digital-education, smart working, limitation of outdoor and indoor physical activity) [
78,
79]. Moreover, there is a long-standing debate on school closure during the pandemics. Even if most countries closed schools, a systematic review [
80] showed that school closures did not contribute to SARS-CoV-2 transmission control. Two studies conducted respectively in Australia and Ireland showed that the spread of COVID-19 within schools has been very limited [
81]. The connection between the re-opening of schools in September 2020 and the spreading of infections may be mainly attributed to the public transport used by students [
82]. This may be explained by the fact that during the COVID-19 pandemic up until now, children accounted for lower proportion of cases than expected from their population. Moreover, they were mostly asymptomatic or with mild disease [
83]. The economic costs and secondary effect of school closure underlined that are well known [
80]. Along this line, it is noteworthy the paper by Fantini et al [
84] that supported the concept that children from 2 to 10 years old would benefit the most from school re-opening. First, this age group required the presence of a caregiver at home and parents are often the only care providers available. This limits their work productivity, even when they can work at home. Moreover, children experiencing isolation and quarantine showed an increased risk of psychological disorder (such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression) and nutritional problems. E-learning could amplify social disparity. Finally, pre-schoolers and primary scholar did not generally use public transport. During the lockdown has long been debating on how to manage the re-opening of activities (the so-called “Phases two” and Phase three”) including schools and sports [
85]. The Italian Pediatric Society has issued recommendations on the management of the extra-domestic activities of children and adolescents to facilitate the return to normality after 2 months of quarantine [
86]. The principles included in the recommendations have been largely applied and can be summarized as follows: children of all age can go outdoor, respecting the social distancing and wearing a mask when indicated. The setting closest to personal residence should be choose (such as public garden, playground, park), public transports should be avoided. These recommendations have been particularly important to reduce the psychological discomfort associated with quarantine and to promote a healthier lifestyle in children and adolescence.
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had deep effect on health care systems throughout affected countries. In pandemic time, the Authorities instructed the population to stay at home and to avoid clinics and hospitals as much as possible and use more tele-medicine-based practice. Consequently, Ciacchini et al [
87] published in IJP an interesting report showing a 70-80% reduction in the proportion of visits at the emergency department between March 2019 and March 2020 [
87] . This was confirmed by other surveys [
88]. Furthermore, a group from China [
89] showed that 62.86% fewer patients underwent surgery during the beginning of the pandemic (January- March 2020) compared to the same period of the previous year. The decreased number of surgeries was ascribed to confinement, to parent’s requests of deferring elective surgery and to the postponement of elective surgical activity. The reduced access to health care had also led to a decline in vaccine doses [
90] administered to the children that can be detrimental for health, especially for children with special needs who are potentially at higher risk of severe illness [
91]. It is of interest that a questionnaire survey in the 28 Italian pediatric scientific societies [
92] found that hospital admissions, outpatient visits and specialist consultancy activities during the COVID-19 emergency were reduced with similar results both in medical and surgical areas. The main reason for reduction of pediatric care was that parents were concerned about the possibility SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and they avoided clinics and hospitals.
Another issue was the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the work of paediatricians. Pediatric departments had to face rapid major changes to manage and prevent the spread of virus among health workers and pediatric in-patients. The most immediate and common changes [
93,
94] included implementing protocols that decreased presence of healthcare workers in the hospital, promoted the use of disposable personal protective equipment, checked serum antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 [
95], reduced the number of patients to preserve resources, and modified guidelines on nebulized drugs. Patients were assigned individual rooms and no visitors were allowed. Telemedicine counselling was encouraged [
96‐
98]. However, physical examination remained crucial for diagnosis so it was important that patients could access to primary health care for assessing the need for emergency department admission [
87]. IJP timely published useful recommendations of the Italian Pediatrics Society [
99] on this last issue. They suggested that family pediatricians should be easily contacted by parents if they had concerns, despite the pandemic time. Pediatricians were suggested to continue providing preventive care, promoting in-person visits, immunizations, and screenings to avoid wrong diagnosis trusting on-line information [
99]. It was advised to refer suspected and confirmed cases to the COVID centre to control the risk of nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Finally, the Italian Pediatrics Society [
99] stated that paediatricians should separate visits of suspected patients from all other patients with the aim of educating families in the correct use of health services and to promote hygiene strategies.
As indicated by several studies the coronavirus pandemic affected the mental health of healthcare professionals, representing a source of stress and anxiety. An American study [
100] found that nearly 50% of pediatric residents had anxiety because of possible acquiring COVID-19 and spreading the infection to family members and patients. Lifestyle changes resulted in a negative effect on resident [
100] and healthcare workers [
101] well-being. Other studies [
102,
103] showed a higher rate of depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome in health workers employed in COVID departments. Votto et al assessed the effects on the working experience, training programs and psychophysical wellbeing of pediatric residents [
104]. At variance from previous studies, they did not find the development of depressive disorders psychological problems measured by Beck’s depression inventory test in residents. Residents were divided in two groups, one dedicated to Oncology, Neonatal Intensive Care, and Pediatric Inpatients Unit, the other one to Emergency Department dealing with the pandemic and no differences were found between COVID and non-COVID groups. These findings were probably due to the very low mortality rate among children during hospitalization for COVID disease. Notwithstanding, COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted educational training, clinical practice and relationship between colleagues and required a restructuring of the daily activities. Webinars and online seminars replaced routine classroom lessons. In conclusion, it seems that appropriate measures to promote well-being are needed for selected groups of healthcare workers.