(Newser)
– We may have been kidding ourselves about the likelihood that children will spread the coronavirus. A major study conducted in South Korea shows that children under the age of 10 transmit the virus to each other and to adults less frequently than other age groups, New York Times reports. But it does happen. And particularly troubling as schools prepare to reopen is the finding that people ages 10 to 19 transmit the coronavirus even more often than adults. This study contradicts some research, but a Harvard expert called the previous work flawed. The South Korean study, which included contact tracing, “is done very carefully, is systematic, and looks at a very large population,” he said. “It is one of the best studies we have had to date on this topic.”
One theory why younger people transmit the virus half as often as adults is that children exhale closer to the ground, away from adults. And they breathe less air. There are few answers on why older children are so infectious. It may be because they often combine the physical size of adults with the poor hygiene of young children. “We can speculate all day about this,” said one expert, by the Times, “but we just don’t know.” Even without definitive answers, an epidemiologist said, it would be necessary to find that children do not transmit the virus so that it is completely safe for them to gather. “Bringing them together in schools, mixing them with teachers and other students will provide additional opportunities for the virus to spread from person to person,” he said. An infectious disease expert warned: “There will be transmission. What we have to do is accept that now and include it in our plans.” (Read more coronavirus stories.)
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