New research has confirmed that children are significantly less at risk for coronavirus complications than adults.
The worldwide death toll is more than 826,000, with the vast majority of victims older.
However, with British students back in class – many for the first time since March 20 – parents are unmistakably worried that their children could catch the infection, which is still circulating.
To confirm the low risk of children, scientists from across the UK looked at 651 people under the age of 19 who were admitted to 138 hospitals in England, Wales or Scotland with the coronavirus.
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Six (1%) of the young people died, all of whom had a “deep comorbidity”.
This is “remarkably low” compared to the 27% death rate across all ages over the same period, according to the scientists.
They concluded the risk of a child developing severe disease with the coronavirus is rare and the death “exceptional” therefore.
“We have no deaths in otherwise healthy children of school age,” said co-lead author Professor Calum Semple of the University of Liverpool.
“The deaths we observed were in children with deep co-morbidities, no contact with asthma, no cystic fibrosis.
“Under normal circumstances, these children would be said to have existing life-limiting circumstances.”
Among all ages, research suggests that the coronavirus is mild in four out of five cases.
However, children are particularly resilient. One study found that they were half as likely to catch the infection in the first place, let alone become seriously ill.
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In the first six months of the UK outbreak, just 0.9% of coronavirus hospital admissions were in people under 19.
As a result of many cases that were mild or even asymptomatic, ISARIC4C association scientists felt that there was insufficient information on how ethnicity and underlying circumstances affect a child’s risk.
ISARIC4C is a “UK-wide consortium of doctors and scientists committed to answering pressing questions about COVID-19 quickly, openly, and for the benefit of all”.
COVID-19 is the disease that can be caused by the coronavirus.
‘As a doctor and parent, I find this extremely reassuring’
The scientists looked at children and adolescents who were admitted to the hospital between January 17 and July 3 with the infection.
Over a minimum follow-up period of two weeks, 116 (18%) of the participants – who had an average age of four – were admitted to critical care.
This is more common in people under one, between 10 and 14 years old, and of black ethnicity. More than half (57%) of the participants were white, while 12% were South Asian and 10% black.
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Statistics have repeatedly shown that people of black, Asian and ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are at greater risk of coronavirus complications.
One explanation may be that people from BAME backgrounds have more underlying health problems, such as obesity.
It is also suggested that they may be more likely to be dependent on public transport, living in “larger family units” or being key workers.
Early in the outbreak, doctors marked a mysterious inflammatory disease that occurred among a handful of children.
This was compared to Kawasaki disease; a rare condition that normally has children under five years of age. Kawasaki causes blood vessels to become inflamed, leading to heart complications in about a quarter (25%) of patients.
ISARIC4C scientists found that 11% of its participants met the World Health Organization’s definition of ‘multi-system inflammatory syndrome’.
These children were on average 10 and more likely not to be white, the results – published in The BMJ – show.
The adolescents with the inflammatory syndrome were five times at risk of being admitted to critical care, but none died.
Pre-existing health conditions were common among all participants.
More than one in 10 (11%) had a neurological disorder. Eight percent had or had cancer, a blood condition or an immunosuppressive disease, is evident from the result.
The scientists stated that non-whites appeared to be a risk factor for coronavirus complications in children, but stressed that the chance of serious illness and death was low in all ethnicities.
“As a doctor and parent, I find these numbers extremely reassuring,” said student author Dr Olivia Swann of the University of Edinburgh.
The scientists added, however, they do not want to provide “false comfort” to parents whose children may have a condition that puts them at risk.
However, “on a population scale, we did not find any deaths in healthy children in our study,” said Professor Semple.
