By the Numbers

A section by Steve Brearton entitled, By the Numbers: Movement Metrics. It shows statistics of student fitness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first section is titled Pandemic Slow Down and says 49% of Canadian children and teens said they have not been physically active enough during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2020 report on child and youth well-being by Maximum City.

The second section is titled Active Ingredients says 48% of Canadian school administrators in 2014-15 said they had a fully implemented policy to provide daily physical education to all students, as mentioned in a 2020 ParticipACTION report.

The third section is titled Daily Physical Activity and provides the following statistics: the percentage of school-aged children meeting recommended movement guidelines in school during COVID-19 restriction in 2020 were 4.8% for ages 5-11 and 0.8% for 12-17. The percentage of school-aged children meeting recommended movement guidelines in schools from 2014-2015 for students aged 5-17 was 15%.

The final section is titled Return to Play and provides the following statistics: 69% of Canadian parents say their children are showing signs of being less physically fit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 2021 Jumpstart State of Sport Report and 87% of Canadian parents say their children are very much looking forward to the return of sports and/or recreational play, according to the same report.

Sources: 2020 ParticipACTION report; Jumpstart State of Sport Report, Maximum City