coronavirus: support for students

Coronavirus is a new illness which can affect your lungs and airways. Depending on who you are, it can have no symptoms, mild symptoms or for the elderly (+70) and those with pre-existing health conditions, it can be more severe.

What are the symptoms?

For most of those who get it, a dry tickly cough, shortness of breath and a fever are the main symptoms.

What should I do if I have any of these symptoms?

You should speak with your parents about it first. If you have any of the symptoms 

Being anxious and worried is completely normal and most of us will feel different emotions throughout this lockdown.

The most important thing is to keep looking after yourself and not to let your thoughts get ahead of you. 

When we think about things way in the future that are out of our control, it can feel overwhelming. That's why it's important to try and focus on the here and now and what you can control like: being kind to your family, keeping in touch with friends, eating well, getting exercise and trying to get a good nights sleep.

Whilst we all certainly hope that things will be back by then, it's really out of anyone's control and the reason we all have to stay inside is to save lives and protect our most vulnerable. 

Whilst it's completely normal to worry about coronavirus, what next year will look like etc. It's completely not ours to control and that can feel a little scary.

What we can do is do something that is in our control to express our worries and anxiety, like write it down in a journal, a poem, a song, speak to a friend about it. Releasing this build up of worry can really help you manage how you see Coronavirus and how you control the controllable. 

Right now that's probably gonna have to wait. 

Whilst the government has changed their advice so that you can see one other person from a different household, it's always best to speak with your parents to discuss seeing and meeting friends. 

If you do meet friends, you must only meet one at a time, and remain at least 2 metres apart at all times.

We get this might seem weird, strange or even silly but doing it stops the spread of the disease and saves the lives of the most vulnerable people in your communities.

It might be frustrating, infuriating, boring - but staying at home and interacting with your mates virtually is the best way to keep yourself and others safe.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) study of 56,000 patients predicts that four out of five people who contract coronavirus will only experience mild symptoms. It suggests:

• 80% develop mild symptoms
• 14% develop severe symptoms
• 6% become critically ill

Those who do develop more serious conditions will most likely be taken to an intensive care unit where they are monitored closely.

In cases of critical illness, the virus can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and multiple organ failure.  

This might sound scary but remember that it is usually only dangerous to vulnerable groups of people and that this is why we have to stay at home and adhere to social distancing. Then we stand a chance of protecting those in our community who are most vulnerable.

If you want to speak with a wellbeing adviser, please get in touch with your head of year or a contact given to you by your school. We can then arrange for our wellbeing advisers to give you a call.

If we're not currently at your school, click here to find out about some other great ways of getting help and support.