Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Adults, Large Study Finds

[teach1st]

Source: New York Times

...

A large new study from South Korea offers an answer: Children younger than 10 transmit to others much less often than adults do, but the risk is not zero. And those between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do.

The findings suggest that as schools reopen, communities will see clusters of infection take root that include children of all ages, several experts cautioned.

“I fear that there has been this sense that kids just won’t get infected or don’t get infected in the same way as adults and that, therefore, they’re almost like a bubbled population,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Minnesota.

“There will be transmission,” Dr. Osterholm said. “What we have to do is accept that now and include that in our plans.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/health/coronavirus-children-schools.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

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Large New Study: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-1315_article

[SWBTATTReg]

1. I would think perhaps they would spread it more, since older adults are generally in smaller clic

groups by then and pretty set in their ways. With kids, the world is a whole wide open experience, with the whole world opened before them (school, playgrounds w/ many different groups of children, sports, etc.).

Another important reason to perhaps tailor reopening plans to address and/or eliminate all sources of possible contamination by the CV.

[teach1st]

2. Kids have been in lockdown

Kids have largely been isolated in most parts of the world. Authentic (not from a self-distancing population) transmission rates probably can't be studied.

From the research:

We also found the highest COVID-19 rate (18.6% [95% CI 14.0%–24.0%]) for household contacts of school-aged children and the lowest (5.3% [95% CI 1.3%–13.7%]) for household contacts of children 0–9 years in the middle of school closure. Despite closure of their schools, these children might have interacted with each other, although we do not have data to support that hypothesis. A contact survey in Wuhan and Shanghai, China, showed that school closure and social distancing significantly reduced the rate of COVID-19 among contacts of school-aged children (8). In the case of seasonal influenza epidemics, the highest secondary attack rate occurs among young children (9). Children who attend day care or school also are at high risk for transmitting respiratory viruses to household members (10). The low detection rate for household contacts of preschool-aged children in South Korea might be attributable to social distancing during these periods. Yet, a recent report from Shenzhen, China, showed that the proportion of infected children increased during the outbreak from 2% to 13%, suggesting the importance of school closure (11). Further evidence, including serologic studies, is needed to evaluate the public health benefit of school closure as part of mitigation strategies.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. The US is a different animal than the rest of the world. Different infection rates, different...

methods of transmission, etc. I don't think it's really valid to compare infection rates in China, vs. those here in the US, being that day to day lives and environment is different, and thus, people may get infected from a market in China vs. here in the US, it's kind of doubtful, although I wouldn't be surprised that there are markets in the US I'd be nervous at.

Thank you for the heads up/information, it does pay to be aware of one's surroundings, when dealing with the spread of the CV (and preventing of course).

Unfortunately, it only takes one infected person to go travel to parts of the US that have been stay at home, and/or other stringent containment processes to rein in the CV and reinfect that area yet again. That's why some have been advocating a nationwide policy on stopping the CV, that's what it is going to take to finally stomp this thing out. An example is that my sister is in Neosho, MO, a rural part of SW Missouri. Now they're one of the hotspots in CV cases, and not all of the spread can be attributed to a Tyson chicken plant (they say about 1/2 of the spread came from the plant, the rest is from community spread).

Be safe and careful my friend.

[bronxiteforever]

3. Kick and recommend for visibility

[SunSeeker]

4. South Korea continues to lead the way on Covid-19 response. nt

[PSPS]

6. So? After infection, regardless of symptoms or lack thereof, organ damage occurs including the brain