Do children spread COVID-19? Risks as schools consider reopening

As international locations start to emerge from shutdowns imposed through the coronavirus pandemic, the difficulty of how the virus impacts youngsters and whether or not faculties ought to be reopened is taking up heightened significance.

DO CHILDREN HAVE LOWER RISK OF COVID-19?

There are fewer circumstances of COVID-19, the illness attributable to the coronavirus, amongst youngsters in comparison with circumstances amongst adults, in accordance with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The company says about 2% of confirmed U.S. circumstances of COVID-19 have been amongst folks below the age of 18. That charge is 2.2% in China, 1.2% in Italy and 0.8% in Spain, in accordance with the CDC.

But, as with the final inhabitants, epidemiologists say these charges probably don’t embrace asymptomatic youngsters, since folks with out signs are not often examined for the an infection.

Officials have additionally warned medical doctors to be on alert for circumstances of a uncommon life-threatening inflammatory syndrome related to COVID-19 in youngsters, which is reportedly just like Kawasaki illness.

ARE CHILDREN AS CONTAGIOUS AS ADULTS?

A latest research noticed a set of worldwide household clusters of COVID-19 and located that youngsters have been the preliminary supply of an infection in lower than 10% of circumstances. The research report, produced by the University of Queensland and posted on the SSRN preprint platform in April, has been submitted to The Lancet medical journal however has not but been peer reviewed.

Several small research in international locations comparable to Iran and France have come to related conclusions, as has the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.

DO KIDS CARRY SAME AMOUNT OF THE VIRUS?

At least one research that appeared on the quantity of coronavirus within the physique of COVID-19 sufferers, a measurement referred to as “viral load,” discovered that the amount was not associated to age.

Researchers on the Institute for Virology on the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin mentioned that an evaluation earlier this yr of almost 4,000 positive test samples discovered that the very younger didn’t differ considerably from adults in viral load, main them to warning in opposition to limitless reopening of faculties.

But a separate evaluation of that research carried out by the University of Zurich, cautioned that the findings are tough to interpret because of the statistical strategies used and the small variety of circumstances recognized in youngsters and adolescents.

“A reanalysis of summary data with a test for trend suggests that there is moderate, but not overwhelming evidence for increasing viral load with increasing age,” wrote lead writer Dr. Leonhard Held, professor of biostatistics on the University of Zurich.

(This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Only the headline has been modified. )

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