Are Children an Important Vector in the Spread of COVID-19? U of C scientists want to know

We follow 400 children who are positive for SARS-CoV-2 but have no symptoms and compare them to a group of 1200 children who are negative.

According to Dr. Stephen Friedman, professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of Calgary, children infected with the virus often have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.

“The challenge is that these children can get the infection, and we’re trying to understand what they can do,” he said.

Friedman also works at a children’s hospital in Alberta, a research lead site.

One of the big questions is how likely your child is to spread the virus to grandparents or immunocompromised grandparents. These are the groups with the highest risk of hospitalization and death.

Children in the study were asked if they would continue to develop symptoms, if others in the group in close contact with their households would get sick, and how much of the virus detected in their first test would Everything is tracked to see what role they play.

“Discovering asymptomatic infections poses or does not pose significant risks to household members regarding infections raises the importance and concern that we should have as vectors or as a means of transmitting the disease.” It will be really clear,” Friedman said. “And it will then influence policy-making factors related to schools and the like.”

According to Friedman, you’ll be relieved if your child has infected other people at school with the virus, but not other family members in the family.

“[In that scenario] Infections do not go from child to home, but from home to child. And it also means that the epidemic, if it happens in school, is less of a concern to caregivers, families, and the wider population,” he said.

Friedman, meanwhile, would be worried if children could spread the virus to other school children and infect family members in the home.

“Today, we have very different transmissions of illness processes, which will be of great concern to school opening conditions and how potential risks are managed at school,” he said.

Alberta Health Surveillance Study

The Alberta government will decide by August 1 whether to reopen school in the fall.

Earlier this month, Minister of Education Adriana Lagrange said the state was aiming to return to “near normal” operation of the classroom. However, the Board of Education is warned that it is ready to pivot, depending on what happens at the COVID-19 rate in Alberta.

The Education Minister, a spokesperson, postponed the question about what role this type of research would ultimately play in the Department of Health in its decision.

Meanwhile, Alberta’s health services are aware of the study and say it supports its purpose.

“We often don’t know about COVID-19 and there is new evidence every day, including the effects of the virus and how children can get the virus,” a spokeswoman for the Alberta Department of Health. Said in an email to CBC News.

Spokesperson announced last week that the ministry was funding four serology studies, two of which were designed to track the spread of antibodies between groups of Calgary and Edmonton children over the next two years. I pointed out that.

“We carefully monitor all new evidence, including the prevalence of COVID-19 in Alberta, academic research, and experience in other jurisdictions. All evidence and information is final on school resumption. It will be considered before a decision is made.”

The University of Calgary study is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health and will begin in the next two weeks.

Friedman said some early data will probably be available before the start of the school year.

Researchers share their findings with government and World Health Organization working groups.