As more and more Alaskan exams are positive for Covid-19, the number of children across the state has also been confirmed. Now, the new school year is underway and the COVID-19 epidemic is still fully operational, filling in more information about children and the coronavirus.
Children and young adults 19 or older made up 15.3% or 5,298 cases of COVID-19 in Alaska by the end of August, a total of 813 cases. In contrast, in May, children made up .4..4% of the total cases, with case1 cases confirmed among children in statewide wide department8 cases, according to state health department data.
According to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospitals Association, Alaska has a higher percentage of confirmed COVID-19 cases in children compared to most other states.
The state’s public health department is working closely with state and public health officials to help prepare schools and districts for operations during the epidemic, said Liz Ohalsen, a staff physician at the state’s public health department.
While it appears that Alaska has a high percentage of covid-19 cases among children, Ohalsen said that does not mean that children are more likely to get the disease in Alaska.
The state has more young people than other states, and the availability of testing in Alaska seems different, Ohalsen said. If a child has mild symptoms in Alaska, they will be more able to get tested than in other places, he said.
“Don’t assume they won’t be able to get it,” said Dr. Melinda Rathkopf, director and pioneer of the Alaska Center for Ler Large, Asthma and Immunology in the Alaska chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “It’s a legend – he can get it.”
Both adults and children can spread the virus with or without symptoms, Ohalsen said with the state Department of Public Health.
“We think young children are a little less likely to get the virus and are less likely to pass it on to others,” Ohalsen said. “It doesn’t mean they’re immune, it doesn’t mean they can’t infect it.”
According to a recent study from South Korea, children over the age of 10 get and spread the coronavirus just as easily as adults, Ohalsen said.
“And the difficult thing is that children are less likely to have symptoms, they pass it on to others without even knowing they are sick,” Ohalsen said.
On top of that, Rathkopf noted that another concern is that children spread the disease to others in the household.
“Your child can get it and bring it to your home, the older parents you care for at home, a sibling or more at risk.”
And the symptoms can be vague, so, “it just takes increasing vigilance,” Rathkoff said, such as taking the temperature before bed and checking health.
The medical officer of the Anchorage Health Department, Dr. Bruce Chandler said most of the data on COVID-1 on is incomplete, but his “impression is that most children in Anchorage have been infected by adult family and household members,” he wrote in an email.
He pointed to research which shows that it is common for children to get COVID-19 from family members, which means they spend the most time with whom.
While there have been some individual cases among staff and children in childcare facilities and preschools, they are not aware of clusters or spread to those places in the anchorage, he said.
Alaska is increasingly getting the virus through community outbreaks – people who work, socialize or live with the disease are more likely to get sick than those who carry it while traveling and spread it to close contacts. Previously, there were more cases among adults in their 40s and 50s, Ohalsen said.
“Now, we’ve seen an increase in community transmission, we’ve actually seen an increase in more cases in smaller Alaskans,” Ohalsen said.
He said the rapidly growing population is people in their 20s and 30s, but more cases involving people between the ages of 10 and 19 are also being initiated in the state.
Alaska has not seen many children seriously affected by COVID-19, Ohalsen said. There have been no deaths among children with COVID-19 in the state, while only one in 10 to 19 years of age has been admitted to the hospital.
COVID-19 symptoms listed by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention include: fever or cold; Cough; Shortness of breath or shortness of breath; Fatigue; Muscle or body pain; headache; New loss of taste or smell; Dry throat; Congestion or runny nose; Nausea or vomiting and diarrhea.
Children are more likely to have mild or no symptoms, Ohalsen said. And for the most part, children have fewer gastrointestinal symptoms than adults, such as gastritis, vomiting and diarrhea, he said.
Nationally, children are less likely to have severe cases of covid-1 of in a hospital or civil care unit, but it is also possible in healthy children and in all age groups, Ohalsen said.
“It’s rare, but it can be serious,” Rathkoff said.
Rathkopf said children across the country who are hospitalized need serious treatment by the end of the third.
Children receiving Kovid-19 will experience long-term effects from the illness and will be told very soon, Ohalsen said.
Logan Williams, left, and ion-year-old Orion Jensen, Jemma Mitchell, experiencing the right gains on stand-up paddleboards, paddle a canoe with instructor Emily Larabi during Trailside Discovery Camp at Goose Lake in Anchorage on June 1. CDC Recommends that children over 2 years of age wear masks in public settings where social distance is difficult to maintain. (Bill Roth / ADN Archive)
“I think it’s definitely a myth that kids can’t wear masks,” Rathkoff said.
She said it is important to “normalize wearing that mask” and for children to learn those skills, it is important to practice other hygienic steps such as hand washing for 20 seconds.
In his office fee, Rathkopf takes the opportunity to show the children how to put the mask on properly – just by touching the sides and then adjusting it, and pulling it forward so that the glasses don’t fogging. The mask should cover the wearer’s nose and mouth and sit comfortably off the sides of their face without leaving any space.
It is not important that children learn how to wear masks or wash their hands properly, Rathkoff said. But that doesn’t mean they can’t learn. He looked at the children with cancer and said that children can learn to wear masks. It only takes a little practice.
“Kids learn to wear seat belts,” Rathkoff said. “Kids learn to wear a bicycle helmet.”
When it comes to social distance, some schools “support” young children who have difficulty remembering to stay 6 feet away, keep masks and wash their hands, Ohalsen said. So, as an “extra level of protection,” they are keeping young children in strict, small groups to limit potential exposure, he said.
The CDC also lists a range of risk factors for playdates outside of school settings, whether they occur inside or outside, as children can stay within a 6-foot space and how often they occur.
