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A tale of two parts of Switzerland: regional differences in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parents Seiler, Michelle; Staubli, Georg; Hoeffe, Julia; Gualco, Gianluca; Manzano, Sergio; Goldman, Ran D.

Abstract

Background We aimed to document the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on regions within a European country. Methods Parents arriving at two pediatric emergency departments (EDs) in North of Switzerland and two in South of Switzerland completed an online survey during the first peak of the pandemic (April–June 2020). They were asked to rate their concern about their children or themselves having COVID-19. Results A total of 662 respondents completed the survey. Parents in the South were significantly more exposed to someone tested positive for COVID-19 than in the North (13.9 and 4.7%, respectively; P <  0.001). Parents in the South were much more concerned than in the North that they (mean 4.61 and 3.32, respectively; P <  0.001) or their child (mean 4.79 and 3.17, respectively; P <  0.001) had COVID-19. Parents reported their children wore facemasks significantly more often in the South than in the North (71.5 and 23.5%, respectively; P <  0.001). Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant regional differences among families arriving at EDs in Switzerland. Public health agencies should consider regional strategies, rather than country-wide guidelines, in future pandemics and for vaccination against COVID-19 for children.

Item Metadata

Title
A tale of two parts of Switzerland: regional differences in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parents
Creator
Seiler, Michelle; Staubli, Georg; Hoeffe, Julia; Gualco, Gianluca; Manzano, Sergio; Goldman, Ran D.
Contributor
Children's Hospital (Vancouver, B.C.). Research Institute
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2021-06-30
Description
Background We aimed to document the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on regions within a European country. Methods Parents arriving at two pediatric emergency departments (EDs) in North of Switzerland and two in South of Switzerland completed an online survey during the first peak of the pandemic (April–June 2020). They were asked to rate their concern about their children or themselves having COVID-19. Results A total of 662 respondents completed the survey. Parents in the South were significantly more exposed to someone tested positive for COVID-19 than in the North (13.9 and 4.7%, respectively; P <  0.001). Parents in the South were much more concerned than in the North that they (mean 4.61 and 3.32, respectively; P <  0.001) or their child (mean 4.79 and 3.17, respectively; P <  0.001) had COVID-19. Parents reported their children wore facemasks significantly more often in the South than in the North (71.5 and 23.5%, respectively; P <  0.001). Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant regional differences among families arriving at EDs in Switzerland. Public health agencies should consider regional strategies, rather than country-wide guidelines, in future pandemics and for vaccination against COVID-19 for children.
Subject
COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Parental concern; Switzerland; Emergency department
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2021-07-21
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0400587
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/79063
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Non UBC; Emergency Medicine, Department of; Pediatrics, Department of
Citation
BMC Public Health. 2021 Jun 30;21(1):1275
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s12889-021-11315-5
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Copyright Holder
The Author(s)
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)