Premium
COVID‐19 in children and the effect of schools reopening on potential transmission to household members
Author(s) -
Shapiro Ben David Shirley,
RahamimCohen Daniella,
Tasher Diana,
Geva Adi,
Azuri Joseph,
Ash Nachman
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.15962
Subject(s) - medicine , transmission (telecommunications) , asymptomatic , pediatrics , cohort , cluster (spacecraft) , retrospective cohort study , ambulatory , cohort study , demography , surgery , sociology , computer science , electrical engineering , programming language , engineering , pathology
Aim The effect of reopening schools on children's contribution to SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission, especially within households, remains controversial. This study describes the clinical presentation of a large ambulatory COVID‐19 paediatric cohort and evaluates the role of children in household transmission prior to and following school reopening. Methods A retrospective database cohort study was conducted in a large Health Maintenance Organization in Israel. Data of all paediatric, laboratory‐confirmed Coronavirus cases between 28/2/2020 and 20/6/2020 were extracted. All cases were analysed for household contacts and primary cases within each family cluster. Results A total of 1,032 cases under 18 years old (median age 12 years) were included. Of these cases, 432 (41.9%) were asymptomatic; 122 (11.8%) cases acquired the infection at school, and 45 of them were part of two school clusters; 846 children had at least one positive household contact, in 498 family clusters, and among them, 293 primary cases were identified. Only 27 (9.2%) primary cases were under 18 years of age and six (2%) were below 10. The proportion of primary cases did not change after the re‐opening of educational facilities. Conclusion Children, particularly under 10 years of age, are less likely to be the vector for SARS‐CoV‐2 infection within household settings. Opening educational facilities did not change transmission dynamics.