COVID infections in children ― what do we know?
COVID-19 cases in children are rare and usually less severe than in adults. But it's not clear how new variants might change this, and whether there'll be a vaccine suitable for children anytime soon.
"The number of cases among the under-15-year-olds is rising sharply," Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert-Koch-Institute, Germany's disease control and prevention agency, said in a press conference with Health Minister Jens Spahn on Friday.
There are signs that the B.1.1.7 variant first discovered in the UK is a driving factor behind the growing number of outbreaks in kindergartens, Wiehler added.
The news comes just as schools and kindergartens are starting to either fully or partially reopen in Germany ― which is why Johannes Liese, head of pediatric infectiology and immunology at university hospital Würzburg, says he isn't exactly surprised by the rise in cases.
"Of course there are more transmissions when we open schools and kindergartens," Liese told DW. He is researching how COVID spreads in preschools and kindergartens. The results of his study are currently being evaluated.
"So far the kindergarten population was exempt from the virus," ge explains. But now, more and more young COVID-19 patients are showing up at the university hospital in Würzburg. Liese, just like Wieler, believes that the British variant is to blame.
https://www.dw.com/en/covid-infections-in-children-what-do-we-know/a-56858610
