A local study titled Holidays over: A review of actual COVID-19 school outbreaks up to September 2020 by consultant pediatrician Victor Grech, together with Elizabeth Grech and Jeremy Borg Myatt, has observed that the closure of establishments including shops, bars and restaurants may be necessary to keep COVID-19 reproduction rates low and continue to allow for schools to remain open. 

The review found that when it comes to the schools in the study, it was not children who were responsible for the spread of COVID-19, but rather the staff, with Public Health England research showing that more than half of outbreaks resulted from staff-to-staff and staff-to-pupil transmission.

Therefore, it found that staff are actually likelier to transmit COVID-19 than their pupils, despite adolescents proving “troublesome” in relation to spreading the pandemic thanks to social gatherings. 

It went on to highlight the fact that children are less susceptible to COVID-19 infection and appear also appear to be less severely affected, generally displaying milder symptoms than their elders.