During the COVID-19 pandemic children and young people (CYP) mortality in England reduced to the lowest on record, but it is unclear if the mechanisms which facilitated a reduction in mortality had a longer lasting impact, and what impact the pandemic, and its social restrictions, have had on deaths with longer latencies (e.g., malignancies). The aim of this analysis was to look at the relative rate, and causes, of childhood deaths in England, before, during, and after national lockdowns for COVID-19 and its social changes.
In this study, published in PLOS Medicine using data from the National Mortality Database, we found that overall child mortality in England after the national lockdowns was higher than before them. In addition, the relative rate of dying for children from non-white backgrounds, compared to white children, is now higher than before or during the lockdowns.
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