An ongoing Covid-19 study in the Netherlands has begun to do just this. Dr Tom Wingfield from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine notes that antibody tests are needed to know the true prevalence of the illness. However, with only 33 Covid-19 positive people included in this analysis, experts have advised caution against over-interpreting these pilot stage results.Ĭommunity testing studies, such as the Infection Survey for England, tell us the number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 at the time of swabbing (the “positivity rate”). In contrast, provisional results from the Office for National Statistics’ Covid-19 infection survey finds no “evidence that the proportions of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 between different age categories”. However, there were no positive cases in under-10s and a 1.2% positive rate in 11 to 20 year olds. One of the studies screened 70% of the population in one Italian town and found 2.6% of residents tested positive. Three community testing studies (which use targeted testing to provide representative results), have presented significantly lower rates of infection in children compared to adults. Research studies have employed a variety of methods to try to get a better understanding of the spread of the virus. Official testing statistics, whilst giving an overview of severe Covid-19 illness, cannot be used to determine how likely people of different ages are to catch the new coronavirus. Children seem to be less prone to catching the virus Of 33,614 deaths of people with Covid-19 registered in England and Wales up to, only two were in people aged between 1 and 14. A condition called pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome has been recently noted in a small number of children, some of whom tested positive for the new coronavirus, and the potential link between the two conditions is being investigated urgently.ĭeath from Covid-19 is very rare among young people. Similar levels of confirmed infections in children compared to adults has also been noted in other countries.įever and cough are common Covid-19 symptoms in all ages and, like adults, children can also develop pneumonia from the illness. Covid-19 has been reported in children and young people of all ages according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).Īs at 18 May, 2,330 (1.6%) of the 144,127 confirmed Covid-19 cases in England were among people under 20 years old. Children can get ill from the new coronavirusĪs we’ve written about before, children can contract the new coronavirus and get a severe Covid-19 illness (although this severe illness is rare).
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However, there remains some uncertainty until antibody studies (which can show past exposure to infection and so tell us a lot more than most kinds of study) are completed.
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Nonetheless, the overall trend from current evidence suggests that children play a minimal role in the transmission of the new coronavirus. This is particularly important because a lot of research is being published online that hasn’t been fully quality-assured (partly due to the urgent need for evidence during the crisis).Īccording to these reviews, the evidence to date does not provide a definitive answer to the question of whether children are more or less likely to get or pass on the virus. To get a clearer picture of what’s going on, it’s helpful to look at what credible reviews of the research are saying because these consider the existing evidence as a whole.
This is in part understandable, as the knowledge we have about the new coronavirus and the illness it causes (Covid-19) is still rapidly developing, and not all studies that are being done reach the same conclusions. Over the last few weeks, there have been conflicting news reports about the ability of children to transmit the new coronavirus.