COVID-19 is not a driver of clinically significant viral wheeze and asthma

At the start of the school year, there is an influx of children with attacks of viral wheeze and asthma who present to children’s emergency departments. In the UK, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in extensive school lockdowns and the implementation of social distancing measures within schools. We aimed to determine the extent that SARS-CoV-2 has been identified in children admitted to hospital with viral wheeze and/or asthma at the start of the 2020 school year and compare presentation trends to previous years. Leicester was the first city in the UK to …