Keeping children healthy during and after COVID-19 pandemic: meeting youth physical activity needs

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to: 1) examine the maintenance of Physical Education and physical activity during the distance learning time, 2) determine the resources educators are utilizing to deliver PE curricula, and 3) understand the challenges experienced by educators during distance learning. METHODS: A survey was sent to a cohort of school-based fitness assessment software users. Respondents were largely school-based individuals including PE teachers (n = 1789), school (n = 62) and district administrators (n = 64), nurses (n = 3), and “other” (n = 522). RESULTS: Of 2440 respondents, most were from a city or suburb (69.7%), elementary or middle school (72.3%), and had Title 1 status (60.4%), an indicator of low socioeconomic status. Most campuses were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic (97.8%). Of the schools closed during the pandemic, only 2.8% had no prior PE requirements and that increased to 21% during the pandemic. In schools that remained open during the pandemic, 7.7% had no prior PE requirements and this increased to 60.5%. Importantly, 79% of respondents reported that students were either “significantly less” or “somewhat less” physically active during the closure. For closed schools, the most frequently cited challenges included “student access to online learning“, “teacher/student communication” and “teacher remote work arrangements”. For open schools, the most commonly reported challenges included “social distancing”, “access to gymnasium/equipment”, and “concern for personal health and wellbeing”. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused important reductions in PE requirements and time engaged in physical activity. Challenges experienced by teachers were identified for closed and open schools. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10545-x.