COVID-19, primary care, and paediatrics: winter is coming

Children are unlikely to get sick, need hospitalisation, or die from COVID-19. 1 This is a demonstrable fact that has been well known since the very first data sets to come out of China. 2 Infrequently is data so clear cut.Medicine and disease, however, are rarely so simple.Schools re-opening combined with the approaching winter viral season will inevitably lead to an increase in paediatric infections.In the current climate new barriers to health care, namely fear of COVID-19 and the lack of easily accessible face-to-face GP appointments, are likely to result in late presentations with non-COVID-19 illnesses and increased harm.We need to start planning to prevent this.