Do Children Really Contribute to the Spread of the Coronavirus?

Everybody’s lives changed when the impact of the novel coronavirus hit, especially the lives of children. Schools went online, extracurriculars were canceled, and children were forced to adapt to this new world while still building their identity and growing. Children have been affected, but have they been spreading the Coronavirus as much as we think? It’s complicated, and here’s why.

Statistics have been in favor of showing that mainly adults and seniors have been the main victims of Covid-19. Children have also, but at a much lower rate. According to the Pediatric Pulmonology journal, out of the 550 cases found in children under 18 in China, Italy, and Spain, only nine children experienced extreme symptoms, and one, who had underlying conditions died. Most children who had Covid-19 showed no symptoms, and most of the small fraction of those who did had underlying symptoms. Children have shown that the chances of them being extremely symptomatic (excluding underlying conditions) were low, but can this help in contributing to the spread because of the uncertainty of children having Covid-19 or not? According to the “Smithsonian Magazine”, “A recent study from South Korea of 5,706 infected people and their 59,073 contacts found children under 10 transmitted less often to adults while those between the ages of 10 and 19 spread the virus, as well as adults, do. Households with the older children had the highest rate of spread to other members—18.6 percent— of any age group while households with younger children had the least spread, just 5.3 percent. The overall average was 11.8 percent” (Morrison). Younger children have shown that they have been spreading Covid-19 less than older children, which may reveal that reopening elementary schools may not affect the number of cases as everyone thinks it might.

Another piece of information that has been spreading is that children carry 100 times the coronavirus levels in their nose than adults, which sounds very alarming. According to “Why the Relationship Between Kids and the Spread of COVID Remains Unclear”, Allison Tribble says, “‘This information alone doesn’t help us make any conclusions about the impact on children or their role in spreading the virus. We need to follow this with more robust studies.’ As of July 21, 6.6% of reported COVID-19 cases and less than 0.1% of COVID-19 related deaths were among children and adolescents less than 18 years old, according to the CDC” (Mostafavi). There is a lot of uncertainty so far in what place children have in spreading Covid-19, but so far scientists have been doing smaller-scale studies for it. Reopening schools may play a part in this as well, as students are preparing to go back to school with new social distance guidelines and PPE in place.

Reopening schools will change research done for children and the novel coronavirus, and could lead to breakthroughs and discoveries through it. However, even through a global pandemic it is imperative children continue to learn and grow.