[ad_1]
Scientists have warned against reopening schools after new findings suggested that children could be as infectious as adults.
The study, by the team of leading German virologist Christian Drosten, found that although children tend to have much milder symptoms, those infected appear to have the same levels of circulating virus in their bodies as adults. This suggests that schools and daycares could act as transmission centers for Covid-19 if current restrictions were lifted.
“We have to warn against an unlimited reopening of schools and kindergartens in the current situation, with a widely susceptible population and the need to keep transmission rates low,” Drosten and colleagues concluded. “Children can be as infectious as adults.”
The study findings came as UNICEF warned that the low number of vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils attending UK schools was “deeply concerning”, raising the risk that their education and safety will be severely affected by the coronavirus crisis, especially if schools are seen as foci of infection.
Education Department figures show that only one in 10 students classified as vulnerable, those in care, with a certified social worker or with special needs or disabilities, attended school in England last week, despite being encouraged to do what.
The UK government has said that these five tests must be met before considering reducing the coronavirus blocking restrictions:
- The NHS has sufficient capacity to provide critical care and specialized treatment across the UK.
- A sustained and steady drop in daily coronavirus deaths
- Reliable data to show that the infection rate is declining to manageable levels across the board
- Operational challenges including testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) are available with the supply capable of meeting future demand
- Confident that any adjustment to current measures will not risk a second spike of infections that overwhelms the NHS
The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) echoed the views of UNICEF, which issued a stern warning that GCSE and A assessments this summer should not unfairly penalize children of minority ethnic origin, as well like disabled students and those with special disabilities. Educational needs.
Sacha Deshmukh, Executive Director of Unicef UK, said that with more than 90% of vulnerable pupils not attending schools, British governments need to think carefully about how they should receive more support when schools can reopen their doors.
“The low school attendance of vulnerable children is deeply worrying. School provides more than an education: for many it is their only safe space.
“We know that in the UK, continued closings are likely to widen inequality gaps, and poorer and more vulnerable children are expected to experience ‘learning loss’ and a lower educational level. This will have far-reaching implications in your future, ”said Deshmukh.
But policymakers will be forced to balance those concerns with the immediate risks that could be attributed to the reopening of schools if children are as infectious as adults. The German study, published as a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed, examined nearly 60,000 patients for Covid-19, of whom nearly 4,000 tested positive. When the team compared viral load across all age groups, they found similar levels at all times, ranging from one to 10 years to 91 to 100 years.
There has been continued speculation as to when schools might reopen and whether older groups, including students in their final year of primary school and those in the middle of GCSE and A-level courses, might be among the first to return. to schools. they could benefit more.
When asked at a select committee hearing on Wednesday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson declined to give a date for the reopening, saying the schools would gradually open.
“We recognize that the idea of all schools returning on the first day with the full complement of students is neither realistic nor practical,” he said. “I also intend to give schools as much notice as possible.”
As countries in Europe move to ease closure restrictions, there is growing discussion about the role of schools in driving streaming. However, studies looking at actual transmission rates have been complicated by the fact that schools are currently closed or open to only a small number of children.
Fewer children have been collected in national assessment programs, due to milder symptoms. And during the first phase of the epidemic in Europe, adult travelers played a dominant role in spreading infections, which also meant, for purely circumstantial reasons, that children were more likely to contract Covid-19 than to transmit infections to other household members. “This observation may be misunderstood as an indication that children are less infectious,” the authors said.
Infectious disease epidemics behave in different ways, but the 1918 flu pandemic that killed more than 50 million people is considered a key example of a pandemic that occurred in multiple waves, the latter being more severe than the first. It has been replicated, albeit milder, in subsequent influenza pandemics.
How and why multi-wave outbreaks occur, and how subsequent waves of infection can be prevented, has become a staple of epidemiological modeling and pandemic preparedness studies, which have looked at everything from social behavior and health policy up to vaccination and the accumulation of community immunity. , also known as collective immunity.
Is there evidence that the coronavirus is returning elsewhere?
This is being watched very carefully. Without a vaccine, and without widespread immunity to the new disease, the Singapore experience has raised alarm, which has seen a sudden resurgence of infections despite being praised for its early management of the outbreak.
Although Singapore instituted a strong contact locating system for its general population, the disease reappeared in tight dormitory accommodation used by thousands of foreign workers with inadequate hygiene facilities and shared dining facilities.
Singapore’s experience, while very specific, has demonstrated the disease’s ability to return in force in places where people are very close, and its ability to exploit any weaknesses in established public health regimes to counter it.
What are the experts concerned about?
Conventional wisdom among scientists suggests that second waves of resistant infections occur after treatment and isolation capacity are depleted. In this case, the concern is that the social and political consensus behind the closings is being overtaken by public frustration and the urgent need to reopen the economies.
The threat decreases when the population’s susceptibility to the disease falls below a certain threshold or when widespread vaccination is available.
Generally speaking, the proportion of susceptible and immune individuals in a population at the end of a wave determines the potential magnitude of a subsequent wave. The concern at the moment is that with a vaccine still months away, and the true rate of infection only guessing, populations worldwide remain highly vulnerable to both the resurgence and subsequent waves.
Peter Beaumont
The last work aimed to provide an indirect view of infectivity. It is possible, the authors concluded, that because asymptomatic children do not cough they would be less infectious, but close physical contact between schoolchildren could compensate for that.
UNICEF has released joint guidelines, with Unesco, the World Food Program and the World Bank, on how local and national governments can better protect children when schools are reopened.
Deshmukh said: “The reopening of schools must be done with the safety and best interests of children at the center of decision-making. We urge the UK government to use these guidelines as they consider a gradual reopening of schools and to develop a comprehensive recovery plan for children that outlines continued support for students who may have fallen behind during school closings. ”
