Someone I know has two children, ages 2 and 4. Four year old just started Kindergarten a few weeks ago. This week both kids tested positive for COVID.
I’m seriously upset and concerned about this, while the kids’ parents are acting like it’s nothing more than a two-week inconvenience. I understand that COVID symptoms seems to be mild in children, but are there any statistics regarding their chances of becoming seriously ill?
Shortstopped by @susan on the MMWR paper but CIDRAP also has a good list of various studies on the topic from their site. There is also this metastudy available on PubMed although it is from late last year. In essence, children are suffering severe morbidity at significantly lower rates than adults but some are being hospitalized, particularly for Multi-Inflammatory Syndrome—Children (MIS-C), albeit at rates that are comparable to significant reactions to influenza and other respiratory pathogens. The effects of “long covid” in children are unknown, but it is known to effect some fraction of adults even if they had a mild or asymptomatic case.
Since children under 12 are still not approved for vaccination and respirator (N95 and KN94) masks do not securely fit child-sized faces there are limited measures to prevent infection in children in group school settings. However, the biggest concern is that children will readily transmit the infection to more vulnerable adults. Earlier there was the virtually baseless assertion that children did not transmit the virus even if infected which was in part used to justify the reopening of schools, although the reality is that children are subject to infection and appear to transmit asymptomatically just as effective as results. However, short of keeping children home from school and other social activities important for childhood development, there is little that can be done to prevent spread in this way.
Stranger