Voices of and about children related to the COVID-19 pandemic – a Swedish media analysis

In terms of COVID-19 symptoms, children comprise a small fraction of reported COVID-19 cases and present milder symptoms than adults, although severe disease progress can occur, including the occurrence of atypical disease presentations that may delay diagnosis and negatively affect health outcomes. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries' kindergarten and schools have been closed and also transisted to the children’s homes, and possibilities to participate in leisure, physical and social activities have been harshly restricted. The pandemic produces and creates vulnerabilities. Such vulnerabilities materialise both in the way in which children are described, in how children articulate themselves, and in terms of whose voices are raised in the understandings of children during the pandemic. This study focusses on how Swedish newspapers give voice to and about children in relation to the pandemic.