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We are still learning new information on the ways SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is spreading. Large studies in South Korea show that children over the age of 10 are just as ‘effective’ at spreading the coronavirus as adults.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and health experts suggested that children do not contract the coronavirus as often as adults and that if they become infected, they are less ‘effective’ in spreading the disease. A new South Korean study sheds some light on these reports and shows that a lot depends on the age of the child.
The research team, led by the preventive medicine physician Young Joon Park of the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed South Korean contact tracing reports from January 20 to March 23.
At that time, 5706 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were recorded in South Korea. In the given period, 59 people who had contact with confirmed cases were examined. As expected, the research showed that people living in the same household as the infected were the most vulnerable to infection.
Of the 10 people surveyed who lived with a person infected with the SARS-CoV-592 coronavirus, 2% received a positive test result. Among people who have contact with an infected patient, but who do not stay together in the household, only 11,8%. tested positive for COVID-1,9. The research analyzes showed something surprising.
See: People under the age of 20 are much less infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. New research
Children infect with the same effectiveness as adults
When scientists categorized coronavirus-infected patients by age, children in the 10-19 age group were found to be as infected as “effectively” as adults. Households with children of this age had the highest spread of infection to those living in the household.
Children in the 0-10 age group spread the coronavirus much less frequently than adults. The researchers are aware of the limitations of the study: analyzes may have overlooked asymptomatic patients, and it is not entirely clear whether contacts actually contracted the infection from one person or not ‘caught’ the virus in other contacts.
Scientists suggest that children in the 0-10 age group may be infected less frequently because they exhale less air than adults. In the case of older children, the reasons for the spread of the disease may be children’s behavior (hugging, spending time together) and insufficient hygiene.
The study authors warn that the number of infected children may increase as schools reopen.
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