Coronavirus: Is the risk of COVID-19 for children worse than in previous waves?

One of the more annoying aspects of the third wave of COVID-19 in Toronto-Canada was the impression that recent infections have proven to be a greater threat to young children.

In addition to data showing high prevalence in younger states and nations, such as 13-year-old Emily Viegas, who died at her home in Brampton, Ontario, there is tragic news for young victims. Last week, a 16-year-old child died in Quebec, and a toddler died in British Columbia in April.

When parents are trying to understand how to handle the evolving threat of the virus to their children, experts say that the recent surge in infection is a threat to those who have not yet been fully vaccinated, but it is a risk. Children say they rarely suggest change.

“I don’t really think children are at greater risk of COVID-19 problems than they were at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Jeremy Freedman, a deputy pediatrician at a hospital for sick children in Toronto. Said. Call CTV News.ca on Tuesday.

According to Friedman, Chic Kids sees a total of 160 children during the pandemic process, usually 1-2 children at a time in the first two waves, and more recently 3-4 children in the ward. I’m in. But he said this would follow the overall increase in infectious diseases and hospitalizations.

“I think what has changed is the highest number of cases in the community, so I think the risk of getting insurance for children has increased just because of the amount of virus in the community. “He added.

Helping to bias the numbers towards the lower age groups is the rate of infection that fell to the highest age group, which was the goal of the first vaccine deployment. For example, Canadians over the age of 80 have significantly lower infection rates in recent waves than in the first wave last spring and the second wave last fall.

“Looking at the fastest growing age group in terms of infectious diseases, they are 20-39 years old, 40-59 years old, and immediately after that there are people under 19 years old,” said an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. One Omar Khan told CTV News.ca that the University of Toronto called on Friday.

“Groups over the age of 60 are now well cared for. Their cases are not growing very rapidly.”

New studies also confirm that children are less likely to get the virus than adults. A Research Published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, it investigated 305 nasal swabs from adults and children who tested positive for COVID-19 in Manitoba between March and December last year.

Samples from children under the age of 17 were found to have about half the chance of live virus growth in the laboratory than samples from adults. In other words, “there was a virus with a low survival rate.” In children under 10 years of age, the positive rate was significantly lower than in children or adults aged 11 to 17 years.

“These data, along with epidemiology in our area, suggest that children do not appear to be the leading cause of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the study concluded.

However, it is the severe cases that tend to attract attention, and the high overall infection rate, which is very rare for children, means that the number of severe cases is increasing, Khan said. Said.

“The proportion of children with severe illness is small, but because of our large number, more children will suffer from severe illness just because more children are infected. Let’s do it, “he said.

As many Canadians in their 40s receive their first vaccination and vaccine shipments are expected to increase in May, infection rates will increase in the coming months as more adults are protected. It can be distorted younger and younger.

However, Khan said that as the signs of vaccination increase, not only illness but also infections decrease, so as the number of parents currently vaccinated increases, they will eventually give their children their own protection. He said he should give it.

A Study this week According to Public Health England, a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine can reduce home infections by 38-49%.

“This is one of the only tools to protect this young population, so it shows the importance of why qualified people need to be vaccinated,” he said.

Opening the younger age group for vaccination is good news, but Kahn warns that it will take two to four weeks for each vaccine dose to be fully effective, so it will take some time for life to return to normal. Did. The second vaccination means that the current vaccination campaign is likely to continue into the summer.

Beyond that, there is the impact of variants to consider, and other variants may come from parts of the world with much lower vaccination rates.

“We’re doing things here, so we need to be very aware of what’s happening in other parts of the world. Hopefully it helps because it’s a global health problem. Will be, “he said.