BACKGROUND: The emergence of COVID-19 resulted in a substantial loss of education because of global school closures. Face masks are a potential measure to restrain the COVID-19 spread; therefore, this paper evaluated the effectiveness of face masks in reducing COVID-19 incidence in school settings. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted by…

In this article, we begin by discussing approximately thirty picture books dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic published digitally in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other English-speaking countries in the first six months of 2020. The worldwide impact of COVID-19 resulted in the rapid global digital publication of numerous…

The world is currently living through an unsettling and strange time as it is subjected to the COVID-19 pandemic; a new infectious disease for which, at the time of writing, there is neither vaccine nor cure available. This article discusses the need to promote biology and health literacy from childhood to elderhood to address the challenges…

Studies show that surgical face masks can have both positive and negative effects on attractiveness. Race has been implicated as a moderator of the size of this mask effect. Here, the moderating effects of expression, race and gender are explored. The mask effect was more positive for males than for females, for neutral faces than for smiling…

This small-scale comparative study explores how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted on the transition from Early Years Education to Key Stage 1 (KS1) for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND) in a SEND specialist school in the UK. Two focus group interviews were conducted with nine professionals who work across three KS1…

In this paper, I focus on the UK government's COVID-19 pandemic response to schooling in England with regards to the impact on race inequality, an area which has received comparatively little attention. I review the existing research, drawing on work by academics, think tanks, lobbying organisations and media reports, conducted between spring 2020…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how individuals with overweight and obesity living in the UK respond to the public health and media messaging surrounding COVID-19 and obesity. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative interview study with a think aloud protocol. A total of 10 participants self-reported to have overweight, obesity…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people across the globe have been exposed to large amounts of statistical data. Previous studies have shown that individuals' mathematical understanding of health-related information affects their attitudes and behaviours. Here, we investigate the relation between: (1) basic numeracy; (2) COVID-19 health numeracy; and…

The current study explored the vocabulary use and examined the rhetorical move structure of World Health Organization Emergencies Press Conferences on the Coronavirus Disease. Vocabulary use was described using a corpus of 140 press conferences containing 1,139,248 running words that was analysed based on three indicator variables: vocabulary…

The UK's world-leading universities transform lives, enrich local communities, drive regional and national economic growth, and improve society and social justice. As the UK begins to recover from the disruption of the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, it is imperative that its universities can emerge from lockdown safely and in line with…