They might not necessarily be staffing intensive care units, procuring PPE or delivering vaccines, but, in many ways, Britain s young people are on the coronavirus frontline.
Not because of the health risks, it s a disease which poses the most risk to the elderly, but the financial ones.
The economic fallout of the pandemic, Britain s own national statistician notes, has been felt more by young people and the lowest paid .
More than 200,000 16-24-year-olds fell out of the UK s workforce between November 2019 and the same month last year thanks to the pandemic-induced recession, which has particularly affected industries like hospitality which employ large numbers of young adults.