The key question before reopening schools amid coronavirus outbreak: Are children driving the pandemic?
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, schools around the world have shut their doors. With no end to the crisis in sight, children are at the risk of losing their right to education. What is more, they are missing out on free or subsidized food provided in schools.
But before experts take a call on reopening schools, they have a crucial question to answer: Are children driving the new coronavirus pandemic?
Ever since news of the disease broke out in China, scientists have kept a close watch on children, pondering over their role in spreading the disease. Bringing them under the radar was their role in the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Studies have suggested that children are the greatest spreaders of influenza because they generate more viruses in their respiratory tract and are less likely to practice good hygiene.
As for the new coronavirus, we do not know much yet. "Although all age groups can be infected with this virus and develop severe disease, at this time it seems that children more often develop the mild disease," Dr Alyson A Kelvin, from Dalhousie University, told MEA WorldWide (MEAWW).
According to Dr Kelvin, studies have thrown light on the increased rates of children developing the disease without showing any symptoms. For example, a study that assessed 36 children infected with COVID-19 in Zhejiang, China, showed that 10 did not have symptoms. Another study that evaluated 171 children infected with COVID-19 and treated at the Wuhan Children’s Hospital, found that 27 patients (15.8%) did not have any symptoms of infection at that time. However, it is not clear whether the children developed symptoms later. So scientists suspect that these children could be playing a bigger part in driving the pandemic.
But one study, which has not been peer-reviewed yet, found that children are less likely to contribute to the transmission. In it, they explain that children were not the source of the infection in many of the reported household outbreaks.
Studies dictate policies
They arrived at these findings after combing through data from China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Iran.
Of the 31 outbreaks reported in households, children ignited three. On the other hand, when the team looked at data on bird flu, they saw that children's role was much larger: they were the primary source of infections in 59% of household outbreaks.
These findings hold implications on the reopening of schools. "In the debate about school closures, it was frequently being assumed that children are the source of viral transmission based on community knowledge of other respiratory viruses and also their own experience of continuously being infected with viruses that their children bring home from daycare or school," the authors of the study, Dr Asha Bowen from Perth Children’s Hospital and Dr Kristy Short from The University of Queensland, told MEAWW.
But scientists think the study needs to be investigated further. Doctors Bowen and Shorty explain their study shows that children are not infecting adults with new coronavirus in the same way as other respiratory viruses such as influenza. "This may give us another clue or insight into how to understand viral transmission better. It is an early insight and we look forward to exploring it further," they said.
Commenting on this study, Dr Kelvin said that this study is important to understand the pandemic. "Although this conclusion suggested children have a lesser role in household outbreaks, it is important to keep in mind that this was a small study," she said.
Understanding the part children play in can also dictate policies. Dr Kelvin says: "The hope is that more studies will ultimately lead to policies that will help decrease the spread of the virus. For instance, recent reports have indicated that children may shed virus in their feces for long periods. By knowing this, parents can manage diaper changes and disposal of fecal waste better which will hopefully decrease virus transmission."