What experts know (and don’t know) how viruses can affect children

As the debate about reopening schools intensified at the local, state, and national levels, infectious disease and engineering experts were able to keep up with the administrators by keeping up with the ever-evolving situation in coronavirus pandemics. I am trying to be able to advise you on the consideration. Annual open facility.

On Friday, Denver’s public schools rolled back plans to hold a face-to-face class five days a week this fall. Instead, choose to start the year online on August 24th, It will be one week later than originally planned. The decision was made after consultation with local public health experts, said Susana Cordoba. The school district considers gradually reopening school after Labor Day to welcome students.

COVID cases are increasing in Colorado, with more than 2,900 new cases reported in the second week of July. This is the largest increase in the state since May. Still, the situation is not as alarming as in many other places in the United States.

So far, Most districts will welcome students for full-time, face-to-face instruction this fall Mitigate the risk of potential outbreaks while implementing safety protocols such as mask requirements, student cohorting, and modified schedules. But school and public health leaders warn that plans may change—again.

In May, the district came up with the idea of ​​a hybrid approach that would allow children to be taught face-to-face in the district directly and supplement their online work remotely. This is a number of emergency response plans should a situation regarding COVID-19 escalate.

“What happens at school, no matter how well we do in implementing mitigation, will reflect the wider community,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Colorado. .. Aurora medicine. “If you see the same level of illness that you see in Texas and Arizona in mid-August, you know at a time if it’s safe to open a school because the virus is circulating so much. not.”

As children seem less susceptible to the virus, much guidance regarding resumption suggests that the benefits of sending children back to school outweigh the risks. We talked to pediatricians and public health and engineering professionals to analyze what they knew and what they didn’t know about children and their COVID-related risks.

What we know

Dr Glen Maze, professor and chair of the School of Health Systems, Management and Policy at the School of Public Health at the University of Colorado, was reported nationally and internationally to estimate how the new coronavirus would affect. He says he is examining the observation data of the case. Children. Maze called the data “incomplete,” but said it helps identify patterns and trends between sectors of the population.

For example, children said they had a lower risk of developing COVID-19, and that they did have a significantly lower risk of developing health complications, he said. Dr. Sam Dominguez, an infectious disease specialist at the Colorado Children’s Hospital, says fewer children are hospitalized than adults and deaths are much lower than adults.

“Overall, kids are doing much better with this virus,” he said.

According to doctors, the data also suggests a low infection rate among children. However, the symptoms of COVID-19, if found, are usually different for young people.

Children may experience coughing, vomiting, and diarrhea, similar to runny nose and mild colds, Dominguez said. According to Dominguez, about 80% of infected adults have a fever, but about 50% get infected. There is also evidence that many children infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic.

Further complicating the problem, the symptoms and severity of COVID can also differ between teenagers and younger children.

“I think the flu will come back as we get closer to autumn and winter. SARS-V will come back. We have those regular seasons, which are also due to the circulation of this virus. It’s going to be a situation,” Dominguez said. “Distinguishing this virus from other viruses and the cause of other respiratory and digestive symptoms will be a major challenge.”

Another important fact to consider when discussing resumption is that when the children are out of school, they suffer academically, emotionally, and often physically. Recent Survey of US School Social Workers A study conducted by searchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, Loyola University Chicago, California State Fullerton, and Hebrew University found that many students and families struggle to meet their basic needs during a pandemic.

Of the 1,275 respondents who responded, about 62% said they had a need related to food shortages, about 62% pointed out the need for tutoring, and more than 75% said they had mental health services. I needed to access. school.

“Increasing obesity, increasing mental health problems, anxiety, depression, and suicide tendencies,” says O’Leary. “Much has already been revealed in the short amount of time the children were out.”

I don’t understand

There are as many questions for as many indicators as experts have about children and the new coronavirus. What is the biggest one?

“I think the big research question is why,” Dominguez said. “We don’t fully understand why children do better than adults, and perhaps why they don’t spread it so efficiently.”

Of course there is theory. Doctors suspect biological differences may play a role. For example, children use fewer coronavirus receptors to gain entry into cells, O’Leary said.

According to Dominguez, children also have varying immune system responses to illness. Some developed Multisystem inflammation syndrome known as MIS-C After infection. Doctors don’t fully understand what it is, or how common it is, but it is believed to be a rare condition.

According to doctors, factors that promote adolescent trends may also depend on the situation. Dominguez said his children were less exposed to the virus, probably because the country closed school in March. It’s also worth considering how children of different ages interact with each other and how they make a difference in infection rates between teenagers and young children, he said. Added.

Despite the lack of answers to these questions, Dominguez, Oleary, and Maize were in favor of reopening school. It’s not that they’re not worried.

“Even if we exclude children from equality, there are still many adults in the indoor environment for a long time. Mays said.

“At least today’s overall risk to children seems to be similar to other respiratory viruses we accept on a regular basis,” O’Leary said, and he and his wife said Earlier this year COVID-19 was not 16 and 12 years old.

“It’s much more severe in adults and people with chronic health conditions than the flu,” he said. “But for children, the risk of COVID-19 seems to be roughly consistent with the flu. That’s how I’ve thought of it as a parent.”

Say what an expert should do