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As schools gradually reopen, scientists are receiving increasingly insistent indications about the low transmissibility of the coronavirus from younger students, including primary and sixth graders – experts from ECDC and WHO have made this clear. . And now to say it there is also a study carried out in June and July in England by the agency England Public Health on the youngest children in 131 kindergartens and primary schools.
Results not extendable to the elderly
The British investigation involved more than 12,000 children and operators who were swabbed.
In total, only three positives were found, all mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic, and in none of the three cases was it proven that the infection occurred at school.
British researchers themselves, however, were willing to say that the results cannot be extended to secondary schools, especially since, unlike children, children probably spread the virus as much as adults.
Are they not seed schools?
There are those who are already willing to bet, however, that in general all schools, therefore even middle and high school, would not be among the places where a new boom in infections could be favored: the data can be deduced by looking at various applied studies. in recent months, especially in Europe, but also due to the fact that where several countries reopened their institutions almost immediately, there has not been a significant increase in outbreaks.
Furthermore, the serological tests carried out on a part of the sample showed that the percentage of positives reflects that of the community to which they belong, without differences as to who attended or not attended school.
“From the evidence we have so far it appears that children up to 12 years of age have milder infections in general, and are much less contagious, whereas above this age the behavior of the virus is similar to that of adults,” he said. the virologist from the University of Milan Fabrizio Pregliasco.
Prudence above all
The virologist, however, also admitted that it is necessary “to be very careful and to respect all the rules put in place for a safe reopening. Reasoning only in probabilistic terms, an increase in contacts corresponds to an increase in the risk of contagion, and it must be taken into account that not only does the return to the classroom exist, the entire scheme has been created, for example, transportation, or parent meetings “.
According to Pregliasco “we have to prepare and behave as if a second wave were about to arrive, bearing in mind that this is still the worst scenario that can happen.”
