Can Kids Catch Covid-19?

The short answer is yes, kids can be infected with the virus.

But, there is some new information to this topic. According to research published today (Tuesday), children and teenagers (10-19) are estimated to be about half as likely to get infected by the coronavirus than those age 20 or over. This study was carried out by epidemiologists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and published in the journal Nature Medicine (so check that source out if you want to confirm reliability or want to look into it further). The researchers used transmission models to estimate disease susceptibility and the relationship between age and cases.

Researchers found that the clinical symptoms of Covid-19 manifest in about 21% of 10-19 year olds, while symptoms manifest in about 69% of people over the age of 70. They also said children could be less likely to get the virus from contact with an infected person and could experience less severe disease. The CDC has stated that the majority of cases in the US currently are adult, and children diagnosed with the virus typically have mild cases of it.

Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said researchers found children and teenagers were less susceptible to infection and less likely to show symptoms, but the authors were unable to determine whether young people were also less infectious.

I want all my fellow teens to not take this the wrong way. Just because we are less likely to catch it from an infected person does not mean that you should go out of your way to hang out with all of your friends and go to parties. Just because we are less likely to develop symptoms does not mean that the virus is not a big deal. I personally would not want to take the risk of getting it just to find out that I am one of the rare child cases that becomes severe. Researchers still have not found whether young people are less infectious. We have known from the beginning that the virus affects older people the most. We are staying inside because of our parents and our grandparents, our aunts and our uncles. We do not know who we could pass it to.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/health/children-teenagers-half-covid-study-19-intl-scli/index.html

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