TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19 and complicated bacterial pneumonia in children JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00884-2020 SP - 00884-2020 AU - Mohamad Kaddour AU - Marcelle Simeonovic AU - Joshua Osowicki AU - Sarah McNab AU - Catherine Satzke AU - Colin Robertson AU - Cattram Nguyen AU - Sebastian King AU - Shivanthan Shanthikumar Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2021/02/25/23120541.00884-2020.abstract N2 - We read with great interest the recent publication by Steinfort et al. [1] outlining the profound reduction in influenza infections in Australia as a result of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar dramatic effects of social distancing on paediatric hospital activity have been reported, with reduced hospital admissions, presentations for respiratory conditions, and detection of other viruses [2–6]. However, the impact of the pandemic on bacterial respiratory infections has not been well characterised. The Australian state of Victoria (population 6.7 million) has experienced a prolonged period of social restrictions (“lockdown”) since March 2020. This period spanned the Southern Hemisphere Autumn to Spring, the usual peak period for bacterial respiratory infections.Social distancing measures instituted due to #SARSCoV2 have dramatically reduced paediatric thoracic empyema cases in Australia ER -