Around half of Aussie parents won't talk to their kids about COVID-19 deaths

A survey of 390 kids aged between seven and 12 and 1,230 parents or caregivers in the UK, Australia, Sweden, Brazil, Spain and Canada found most children get the majority of their information about the pandemic from their parents. In many cases, parents had tried to shield their children from potentially scary information, particularly about death rates. But many children said they knew that COVID-19 was deadly and spreads quickly anyway. The 49 Aussie kids included in the study said parents or caregivers were their primary information source. Just over half of the Aussie parents and caregivers said they don't talk to their kids about deaths from COVID-19. Just under half of the Aussie kids said they knew 'quite a bit' about COVID-19, and their most common question was 'when will the pandemic end?' The researchers say a community approach to keeping kids informed about the pandemic might be preferable to parents having to find their own way.