CDC study on COVID-19 in kids bolsters case for elementary school reopening
Alexander Nazaryan
CDC: Teens are twice as likely as younger kids to be diagnosed with COVID-19Alexander Nazaryan
National Correspondent, Yahoo News•September 28, 2020
WASHINGTON — Children under the age of 12 are much less likely than teenagers to contract the coronavirus, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published on Monday. The study adds nuance to prior findings that the risk of contracting and dying of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, increases with age. The reasons for the correlation are not yet entirely understood.
The new study also found that Hispanic children were hit hardest by the coronavirus, composing 42 percent of all cases for which ethnic data was available. That highlighted another uncomfortable truth about the pandemic: People of color have been disproportionately affected by both its medical and economic ravages.
WASHINGTON — Children under the age of 12 are much less likely than teenagers to contract the coronavirus, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published on Monday. The study adds nuance to prior findings that the risk of contracting and dying of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, increases with age. The reasons for the correlation are not yet entirely understood.
The new study also found that Hispanic children were hit hardest by the coronavirus, composing 42 percent of all cases for which ethnic data was available. That highlighted another uncomfortable truth about the pandemic: People of color have been disproportionately affected by both its medical and economic ravages.
Masked schoolchildren at Rogers International School in Stamford, Conn., on Sept. 23. (John Moore/Getty Images)
The new study does, however, appear to bolster the arguments of those who say that children should return to school instead of continuing with what has been, according to many accounts, a disastrous national experiment in distance learning. New York City has returned some children to school buildings and is expected to ramp up in-person instruction by the end of the week.
Officials in Washington, D.C. — where the president has been loudly calling for schools to reopen — have also told principals to prepare for reopening school doors in November.
CDC researchers analyzed data from early March, when schools across the country began to shut down, to mid-September, by which time many states had opened schools either partially or fully for in-person instruction. The researchers found that of the roughly 280,000 children who tested positive for COVID-19 during that time, 63 percent were between the ages of 12 and 17. Thirty-seven percent were ages 5 to 11.
“Incidence among adolescents was approximately double that among young children,” the study concludes. That seems to bolster the case for in-person instruction for elementary schoolchildren, who appear to struggle the most with computer-based remote learning. High school students, who are better equipped to utilize online learning platforms and less likely to require adult supervision, could presumably delay returning to classrooms longer because they are at a higher risk of becoming ill.
Kids were most likely to be infected by the coronavirus in the Southeast and the West, regions where some governors were slow to impose lockdown measures and quick to lift them.
The new study does, however, appear to bolster the arguments of those who say that children should return to school instead of continuing with what has been, according to many accounts, a disastrous national experiment in distance learning. New York City has returned some children to school buildings and is expected to ramp up in-person instruction by the end of the week.
Officials in Washington, D.C. — where the president has been loudly calling for schools to reopen — have also told principals to prepare for reopening school doors in November.
CDC researchers analyzed data from early March, when schools across the country began to shut down, to mid-September, by which time many states had opened schools either partially or fully for in-person instruction. The researchers found that of the roughly 280,000 children who tested positive for COVID-19 during that time, 63 percent were between the ages of 12 and 17. Thirty-seven percent were ages 5 to 11.
“Incidence among adolescents was approximately double that among young children,” the study concludes. That seems to bolster the case for in-person instruction for elementary schoolchildren, who appear to struggle the most with computer-based remote learning. High school students, who are better equipped to utilize online learning platforms and less likely to require adult supervision, could presumably delay returning to classrooms longer because they are at a higher risk of becoming ill.
Kids were most likely to be infected by the coronavirus in the Southeast and the West, regions where some governors were slow to impose lockdown measures and quick to lift them.
Masked children line up at a safe social distance before heading into a lunchroom at Woodland Elementary School in Milford, Mass., on Sept. 11. (Suzanne Kreiter/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Children for the most part had mild infections, with only 1.2 percent hospitalized and 0.1 percent requiring intensive care. During the six months accounted for by the study, 51 children died of COVID-19, making for a fatality rate of 0.018 percent. About a quarter of both ICU admissions and fatalities were for children who had underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, obesity and breathing problems.
The report did not speculate on why Hispanic children, who make up 25 percent of the nation’s population of children between the ages of 5 and 17, would suffer at a rate — 42 percent — much higher than their share of the population. Black children represented 17 percent of coronavirus cases and 14 percent of the relevant population. White children, about 50 percent of the population studied, accounted for 32 percent of the cases.
Public health experts have suggested several reasons for these disparities, including the dearth of green space, adequate preventive health care and unhealthful food options in many communities of color. Hispanic adults, in particular, are likely to hold essential jobs that put them and their families at greater risk.
The prevalence of multigenerational households, whether for cultural or economic reasons, could also be a factor in facilitating viral spread.
The study calls for monitoring and mitigation strategies as communities across the country seek safe ways to reopen schools — and keep them open. A CDC guidance initially published in July said that “in-person schooling is in the best interest of students.” The bevy of studies published since then have not fundamentally challenged that assertion.
Children for the most part had mild infections, with only 1.2 percent hospitalized and 0.1 percent requiring intensive care. During the six months accounted for by the study, 51 children died of COVID-19, making for a fatality rate of 0.018 percent. About a quarter of both ICU admissions and fatalities were for children who had underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, obesity and breathing problems.
The report did not speculate on why Hispanic children, who make up 25 percent of the nation’s population of children between the ages of 5 and 17, would suffer at a rate — 42 percent — much higher than their share of the population. Black children represented 17 percent of coronavirus cases and 14 percent of the relevant population. White children, about 50 percent of the population studied, accounted for 32 percent of the cases.
Public health experts have suggested several reasons for these disparities, including the dearth of green space, adequate preventive health care and unhealthful food options in many communities of color. Hispanic adults, in particular, are likely to hold essential jobs that put them and their families at greater risk.
The prevalence of multigenerational households, whether for cultural or economic reasons, could also be a factor in facilitating viral spread.
The study calls for monitoring and mitigation strategies as communities across the country seek safe ways to reopen schools — and keep them open. A CDC guidance initially published in July said that “in-person schooling is in the best interest of students.” The bevy of studies published since then have not fundamentally challenged that assertion.
Korin Miller
Tue, September 29, 2020
The CDC found that kids age 12 to 17 had nearly twice the number of infections than kids age 5 to 11. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)
New research has found that teens are infected with COVID-19 at nearly twice the rate as younger children.
The analysis, which was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reviewed 277,285 coronavirus cases in children between the age of 5 and 17 who were diagnosed with the virus between March and September. The researchers found that young people 12 to 17 years old had nearly twice the number of infections than kids age 5 to 11. Children with underlying health conditions were more likely to have severe outcomes, the CDC report found.
The data also revealed that 58 percent of children with COVID-19 infections had at least one symptom of the virus, but only 5 percent had no symptoms. (There was no information provided on symptoms for 37 percent of children.)
“It is important for schools and communities to monitor multiple indicators of COVID-19 among school-aged children and layer prevention strategies to reduce COVID-19 disease risk for students, teachers, school staff, and families,” the report states. “These results can provide a baseline for monitoring trends and evaluating mitigation strategies.”
The report also says this: “As education resumes and some schools begin in-person learning for the 2020–21 academic year, it is critical to have a baseline for monitoring trends in COVID-19 infection among school-aged children.”
These findings raise a big question: Why does this age difference exist?
There are likely several reasons behind it, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Yahoo Life. One is the behavior of older children. “The virus is everywhere,” he says. “It’s just that adolescents have more social contacts and more activities, and are more likely to come into contact with it than maybe a kindergartener would be.”
While it’s possible that teens are getting infected with the virus at higher rates than younger children, it’s also likely that younger children just aren’t being tested as much, Adalja says. Most children who are infected with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, and that changes as kids get older, Adalja says. “As you get older, you are more likely to have symptoms,” he says. That can influence who is tested and ends up with a confirmed case of the virus.
Even if a younger child has a suspected case of the virus, Adalja says they’re often less likely to be tested, simply because it’s difficult to get them to cooperate. “It’s hard enough to look in their ear, let alone put something up their nose,” he says.
What the data doesn’t suggest so far is that there is anything different about the immune system of teens that makes them more likely to contract COVID-19, Dr. John Schreiber, interim chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, tells Yahoo Life. “We don’t have any data showing that the immunology of a 12-year-old is different from an 8-year-old that causes them to be more susceptible,” he says.
“There’s some data to suggest that these younger children may — and that's the operative word here — be somewhat less likely to get infected," Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo, tells Yahoo Life. “But I don't think the final word is out for sure in terms of whether these children are infected differently or not.”
A lot of this is just speculation at this point, Dr. Danelle Fisher, a pediatrician and vice chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Life. “There are a lot of interesting theories, but I think time will tell,” she says.
This naturally raises a question about in-person classes reopening, and Adalja says it’s unclear at this point how the latest data factors in — but that may change. “We have the opportunity with schools being opened to look at the data and see what’s going on in schools,” he says. “It’s hard to fold all the data together, especially when there’s a new study coming out, seemingly every day.”
A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in August that analyzed nasopharyngeal swabs in COVID-19 patients found that children younger than age 5 hosted up to 100 times as much of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in their upper respiratory tract as adults. There were no differences in the amount of the virus in the nasal passage between children age 5 to 17 and adults. That suggested young children had the potential to spread the virus.
Previous research published in Emerging Infectious Diseases also found that kids between the age of 10 and 19 were just as likely to spread COVID-19 as adults. And if these children are also more likely to be infected, it could increase the risk of spread, Schreiber says.
Fisher says the latest data, combined with previously existing research, implies that school officials “probably need to be a little more cautious with reopening middle and high schools.”
“We want to do it in such a way that we don’t have to open up and shut down — we don’t want that yo-yo,” she says.
Overall, though, Schreiber says the latest findings confirm that children are susceptible to COVID-19 too. “There is this myth that children don’t get infected, but the reality is that 277,285 kids have gotten infected,” he says. “This is also a disease of children, and they can spread it. We can’t use wishful thinking as a way to manage the pandemic.”
“At the end of the day, the data still shows children can be infected,” Russo says. “No one is protected from this virus. Even though they may have a relative degree of protection compared to older children, they still can be infected, they still can transmit the disease, and we need to make every effort to protect them.”
New research has found that teens are infected with COVID-19 at nearly twice the rate as younger children.
The analysis, which was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reviewed 277,285 coronavirus cases in children between the age of 5 and 17 who were diagnosed with the virus between March and September. The researchers found that young people 12 to 17 years old had nearly twice the number of infections than kids age 5 to 11. Children with underlying health conditions were more likely to have severe outcomes, the CDC report found.
The data also revealed that 58 percent of children with COVID-19 infections had at least one symptom of the virus, but only 5 percent had no symptoms. (There was no information provided on symptoms for 37 percent of children.)
“It is important for schools and communities to monitor multiple indicators of COVID-19 among school-aged children and layer prevention strategies to reduce COVID-19 disease risk for students, teachers, school staff, and families,” the report states. “These results can provide a baseline for monitoring trends and evaluating mitigation strategies.”
The report also says this: “As education resumes and some schools begin in-person learning for the 2020–21 academic year, it is critical to have a baseline for monitoring trends in COVID-19 infection among school-aged children.”
These findings raise a big question: Why does this age difference exist?
There are likely several reasons behind it, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Yahoo Life. One is the behavior of older children. “The virus is everywhere,” he says. “It’s just that adolescents have more social contacts and more activities, and are more likely to come into contact with it than maybe a kindergartener would be.”
While it’s possible that teens are getting infected with the virus at higher rates than younger children, it’s also likely that younger children just aren’t being tested as much, Adalja says. Most children who are infected with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, and that changes as kids get older, Adalja says. “As you get older, you are more likely to have symptoms,” he says. That can influence who is tested and ends up with a confirmed case of the virus.
Even if a younger child has a suspected case of the virus, Adalja says they’re often less likely to be tested, simply because it’s difficult to get them to cooperate. “It’s hard enough to look in their ear, let alone put something up their nose,” he says.
What the data doesn’t suggest so far is that there is anything different about the immune system of teens that makes them more likely to contract COVID-19, Dr. John Schreiber, interim chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, tells Yahoo Life. “We don’t have any data showing that the immunology of a 12-year-old is different from an 8-year-old that causes them to be more susceptible,” he says.
“There’s some data to suggest that these younger children may — and that's the operative word here — be somewhat less likely to get infected," Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo, tells Yahoo Life. “But I don't think the final word is out for sure in terms of whether these children are infected differently or not.”
A lot of this is just speculation at this point, Dr. Danelle Fisher, a pediatrician and vice chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Life. “There are a lot of interesting theories, but I think time will tell,” she says.
This naturally raises a question about in-person classes reopening, and Adalja says it’s unclear at this point how the latest data factors in — but that may change. “We have the opportunity with schools being opened to look at the data and see what’s going on in schools,” he says. “It’s hard to fold all the data together, especially when there’s a new study coming out, seemingly every day.”
A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in August that analyzed nasopharyngeal swabs in COVID-19 patients found that children younger than age 5 hosted up to 100 times as much of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in their upper respiratory tract as adults. There were no differences in the amount of the virus in the nasal passage between children age 5 to 17 and adults. That suggested young children had the potential to spread the virus.
Previous research published in Emerging Infectious Diseases also found that kids between the age of 10 and 19 were just as likely to spread COVID-19 as adults. And if these children are also more likely to be infected, it could increase the risk of spread, Schreiber says.
Fisher says the latest data, combined with previously existing research, implies that school officials “probably need to be a little more cautious with reopening middle and high schools.”
“We want to do it in such a way that we don’t have to open up and shut down — we don’t want that yo-yo,” she says.
Overall, though, Schreiber says the latest findings confirm that children are susceptible to COVID-19 too. “There is this myth that children don’t get infected, but the reality is that 277,285 kids have gotten infected,” he says. “This is also a disease of children, and they can spread it. We can’t use wishful thinking as a way to manage the pandemic.”
“At the end of the day, the data still shows children can be infected,” Russo says. “No one is protected from this virus. Even though they may have a relative degree of protection compared to older children, they still can be infected, they still can transmit the disease, and we need to make every effort to protect them.”
