High transmission risk from <8-year-olds than 9-17-year-olds, reports.
According to one study, 70.4 percent of the almost 850,000 SARS-CoV-2 virus household transmissions in the United States originated with Children, the group least affected by the COVID-19 sickness.
A study published in JAMA Network Open found that younger children were more likely to spread the infection.
According to The Economic Times, a team led by Boston Children’s Hospital researchers sent smartphone-connected thermometers to 848,591 families with 1,391,095 people who took 23,153,925 temperature readings between October 2019 and October 2022.
Fever acted as a stand-in for infection.
There were 516,159 participants from 166,170 families, with children accounting for 51.4%.
According to the study, 38,787 transmissions occurred in these families, with 40.8 percent being child-to-child, 29.6 percent child-to-adult, 20.3 percent adult-to-child, and 9.3 percent adult-to-adult.
Between the index and secondary instances, the median serial delay was two days.
Moreover, findings, 70.4 percent of all household transmissions began with a child, with the proportion changing weekly between 36.9 percent and 87.5 percent.
Furthermore, children aged 8 and under were more likely to be the source of transmission than those aged 9 to 17 (7.6 vs. 5.8 %).
During the bulk of the pandemic, the proportion of transmission from children was inversely related to the number of new Covid-19 cases in the community.
“More than 70% of transmissions in households with adults and children were from a pediatric index case, but this percentage fluctuated weekly,” the researchers reported.
US Schools Report
“Once US schools reopened in the autumn of 2020, children contributed more to the inferred within-household transmission when they were in school and less during summer and winter breaks, a pattern that was consistent for two consecutive school years,” they noted.
“When the incidence of COVID-19 increases, adults in the community are at a higher risk of infection; this may increase the likelihood that adults become the index case in a household transmission and explain the negative correlation we observed,” the researchers added.
SARS-CoV-2 spread extensively through in-person schooling, according to the research team, and youngsters had a significant role in its dissemination.
