Doctors say that children who tested positive showed much higher levels of coronavirus in their airways than adult ICU patients.
BOSTON – The role of children in the spread of COVID-19 has been the subject of debate for months. Now, a new study confirms apparently the worst case scenario regarding children and the coronavirus. Not only are children able to spread COVID-19 silently, they appear to be significantly more contagious than infected adults.
All in all, the authors of the study from Massachusetts General Hospital and Mass General Hospital for Children say that their findings suggest that children are likely to play a much greater role in the spread of COVID-19 across the country than originally thought.
A total of 122 children (ages 0–22 years old) were included in this study. Among that group, 49 tested positive for the coronavirus. Another 18 experienced COVID-19 related symptoms at late onset. Children who tested positive showed much higher levels of the virus in their airways than even adult ICU coronavirus patients.
“I was surprised by the high levels of virus we found in children of all ages, especially in the first two days of infection,” says lead study author Dr. Lael Yonker, director of the MGH Cystic Fibrosis Center, in a release. “I did not expect the viral load to be so high. You think of a hospital, and of all the precautions taken to treat seriously ill adults, but the viral loads of these hospital patients are significantly lower than a ‘healthy child’ that has a high SARS-CoV-2 viral load round. ”
The higher the ‘viral load’ of an infected individual, the more contagious that person is to the people around them. Identifying children with coronavirus infection is difficult because most have no symptoms. Even those who often develop symptoms that can be mistaken for flu like the common cold. With all this in mind, there is no telling how many young “silent spreaders” are unknowingly infecting others.
Coronavirus scares children back to school as children
These findings obviously have major implications as schools across the country begin to open their doors to students for a new school year.
“Children are not immune to this infection, and their symptoms do not correlate with exposure and infection,” explains former author Dr. Alessio Fasano, Director of the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center at MGH. “During this COVID-19 pandemic, we have been investigating mainly symptomatic subjects, so that we have reached the wrong conclusion that the vast majority of people are infected adults. However, our results show that children are not protected against this virus. We should not discount children as potential spreaders of this virus. ”
These findings affect many more people than just children. If a child picks up the coronavirus from another student and then brings it home, adults and or grandparents can be exposed to the virus under the same roof. This is especially true for low-income families who are more likely to have multiple generations in one household. Among the infected children in this study, 51% come from low-income communities. Conversely, only 2% live in high-income communities.
Children have fewer immune receptors for SARS-CoV2, which has led many to theorize that they are much less likely to become infected, sick, or contagious to others. This work challenges that theory. A lack of immune receptors appears to be uncorrelated with a lower viral load. Although for the most part it seems that children develop fewer symptoms, they are still very capable of infecting others and infecting themselves.
Does the virtual option go virtual?
So, what can schools do to keep children, teachers and families safe? The authors of the study say that reliance on temperature controls and monitoring of symptoms will simply not be enough. It’s a difficult situation, but they believe that mandatory social distance, universal use of face masks, routine tutorials for hand washing, and distance learning, whenever possible, can all go a long way to reducing the risk of coronavirus in schools. to limit land.
“This study provides essential facts for policymakers to make the best decisions possible for schools, day care centers and other child-serving institutions,” concludes Drs. Fasano. “Children are a potential source for the spread of this virus, and it needs to be taken into account in the planning stages for school relocation.”
“If schools were to reopen completely without open precautionary measures, it is likely that children would play a greater role in this pandemic,” the study concludes.
The study is published in the Journal of Pediatrics.
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