Thursday, May 21, 2020

The Evidence on Kids and Covid

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that 15 children under age 15 in the U.S. have died of Covid-19 since February compared to about 200 who died of the flu and pneumonia.

Children represent 0.02% of virus fatalities in the U.S., and very few have been hospitalized.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics last week found that only 48 children between March 14 and April 3 were admitted to 14 pediatric intensive care units in the U.S., and 83% had an underlying condition.

Another new JAMA study examines children treated for cancer at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Thirteen of their 74 adult caregivers also tested positive-an infection rate of 17.6%. "Together, our results do not support the conjecture that children are a reservoir of unrecognized SARS-CoV-2 infection," the authors conclude.

One theory is that children have stronger "Innate" immune response that allows them to quickly clear the virus without developing antibodies.

A study in the journal Lancet last week reported 10 children with the inflammatory syndrome in Bergamo, Italy-the city with the highest rate of fatalities and infections-about 30 times higher than the normal incidence.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-evidence-on-kids-and-covid-11590017095?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

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