Whenever a deadly disease starts spreading, parents inevitably turn to their kids and start worrying for their safety, as children are usually more susceptible to diseases due to their undeveloped immune system.
But for some unknown reason, the coronavirus doesn’t seem to like the young too much.
In fact, it seems like the younger you are, the lower your chances of getting infected.
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Study Shows Children Under 5 Have The Lowest Risk Of Being Infected with COVID-19
According to a review by KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), children under the age of five have the lowest risk of getting infected by adults.
The review covered six studies by KKH’s infectious disease service, which analysed transmission patterns, symptoms, and testing methods among children from January to May this year.
The studies have been published in various medical journals in the past four months, reported TODAYonline.
It looked at 213 children under 16 years old who were tested for the coronavirus after an adult in their household contracted the disease.
Out of 213 children, only 13 got infected.
This means that the transmission rate for children aged 10 to 16 was 9.8%Â and 8.1%Â for those aged five to nine.
The youngest group, those under five, seemed most immune to the disease, with a transmission rate of just 1.3%.
While the sex of the child had no bearing on its transmission rate, the risk of infection varied depending on who the first patient in their household was:
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- if it was their mother, it’d be 11.1%
- if it was their father, it’d be 6.7%
- if it was their grandparents, it’d be 6.3%
Here are some other interesting findings from the studies:
Infected Children Could Transmit Virus Before Developing Symptoms
As you’d expect, children who were symptomatic had higher viral loads at the back of their nasal cavity compared to asymptomatic children, meaning they were more likely to spread the virus.
Peak viral loads were observed in the early stages of the illness, around the second or third day.
Since some patients develop symptoms long after contracting Covid-19, this means that infected children could spread the virus before they develop symptoms.
Now you know why wearing masks are so important.
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4 in 10 Children Are Asymptomatic
The review also showed that 4 in 10 infected children were asymptomatic throughout their illness.
All of the children had a mild illness, with common symptoms like fever, runny nose, and sore throat.
Rarer symptoms include diarrhoea and the loss of smell or taste.
Fortunately, those who exhibited symptoms fared just as well as asymptomatic cases, which will surely put parents at ease.
Low Risk of Transmission in Schools
The most reassuring finding, though, is that the risk of Covid-19 transmission among children in schools, especially in preschools, is likely to be low.
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Researchers came to this conclusion after testing students from one secondary school and two preschools who were screened after a Covid-19 case was detected in the schools.
According to TODAYonline, close contacts of two infected students, from a secondary school and a preschool, all tested negative.
Moreover, in a preschool where an adult staff member was diagnosed with Covid-19, no students tested positive for the disease even though 15 other staff members later got infected.
In other words, Covid-19 has a thing for older people.
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