According to a new South Korean study published in the journal, older children are just as likely to spread the coronavirus as adults. Emerging infectious diseases.
In the study, researchers analyzed follow-up contact reports of 5,706 South Korean patients with COVID-19 and the more than 59,000 people they came into contact with during the period from January 20 to March 27, 2020. On average, almost 12 percent of people sharing the same home with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus became infected themselves, compared to less than 2 percent of people who did not share a home when they came in contact with an infected patient.
“Detection of households higher than non-households could reflect in part the transmission during social distancing, when family members stayed in much of the home, except to perform essential tasks, possibly creating a spread within the home, “according to the study authors.
However, when the researchers grouped COVID-19 patients by age, some interesting data emerged: they found that children in the 10-19 age group had the highest transmission rate of COVID-19 (18.6 per cent) when it came to infecting others in your home during school closings. In contrast, children up to the age of 9 had the lowest rate of spread of the virus to their household contacts (5.3 percent).
According to the New York Times: “Children under the age of 10 were about half as likely as adults to pass the virus on to others, according to other studies. This may be because children generally exhale less air, and therefore less virus-laden air, or because they exhale that air closer to the ground, making it less likely that adults will inhale it. ”
In the study, the researchers wrote that “a survey of contacts in Wuhan and Shanghai, China showed that school closings and social distancing significantly reduced the COVID-19 rate among contacts of school-age children.” (They also noted the limitations of the new study, including the fact that “the cases detected could have resulted from exposure outside the home.”)
This latest research only adds more fuel to a fierce debate over whether or not to reopen schools in late summer and fall, in particular, whether elementary schools should open their classes in person, while middle and high schools learn at a distance. .
The American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines on reopening schools, issued in late June, emphasized the importance of in-person learning and at the same time mitigated the spread of COVID-19. The AAP noted that the virus “appears to behave differently in children and adolescents than other common respiratory viruses, such as influenza, on which much of the current guidance on closing schools is based. Although many questions remain, the prevalence “The evidence indicates that children and adolescents are less likely to be symptomatic and less likely to have serious illness as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
The AAP added, “In addition, children may be less likely to become infected and spread the infection.”
Although more research is still needed on coronavirus infection and transmission rates in children and adolescents, Dr. Silvia Chiang, a doctor of pediatric infectious disease and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University, said to New York Times: “The findings currently point to a probability that young children have a lower risk of becoming infected and perhaps even a lower risk of transmission.”
However, with coronavirus cases on the rise in several states (the United States broke its record for daily coronavirus cases on July 16, with more than 75,000 new infections reported), Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, She tells Yahoo Life that the risk of sending children back to school in person is “too good” at the moment.
“Science, not politics, should guide any plan to physically reopen our country’s schools,” Weingarten told Yahoo Life. “With rising COVID-19 rates across the country and new information about the impact of the virus on children emerging daily, we must recognize that we cannot ignore the facts in favor of rushing to open all school buildings in August or September as if the virus didn’t. ” exists. This is a public health and moral fight. “
Weingarten says three steps must be taken before reopening the schools in person: “One, which contains the increased virus and the appropriate tests to prevent outbreaks from becoming surges. Two, the implementation of the necessary security measures to prevent the spread of the virus in schools, including physical distance, masks, deep cleaning and ventilation. And, three, the resources to make all of this happen. “
She adds: “Students across the country interact with hundreds of adults every day, including their educators, parents, grandparents, and other caregivers, and allowing them to return to schools to become potential hot spots for the spread of the virus is, in this moment, too big. a risk until cases drop and serious federal investments are made in safe and fair reopening plans. “
For him coronavirus latest news and updates, follow along https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and immunocompromised people continue to be the most exposed. For questions, see the CDC and From the WHO resource guides.
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