Children wearing protective facemasks play soccer in Beijing
Are kids immune to the Covid-19 virus? The answer is no, but most infected children experience relatively mild symptoms that differ from those observed in adults, scientists said.
Several studies showed that children tend to have longer incubation and longer virus-shedding periods than adults. Family cluster infection is the major cause of cases in children, which can trigger community outbreaks if not identified in time, researchers warned.
Children playing outside in Beijing
Wuhan Children’s Hospital is the only designated hospital for children confirmed with or suspected of Covid-19 infection. As of March 8, the hospital had treated 683 children, including confirmed and suspected cases. Of them, 419 have been discharged.
Staff at the hospital said that 32 newborns with Covid-19 were cured, and four infants in critical conditions now no longer need ventilators.
Most infected children and infants have mild conditions, and severe cases account for only about 5% of confirmed cases, according to Lu Xiaoxia, director of the respiratory department at the children’s hospital.
Even new parents were separated from their newborns to minimise the risk of spreading the virus
Unlike adult patients, some children or newborn patients often have atypical symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms, several studies on children’s clinical data showed. This may make it even harder to identify infected kids.
Another preprint paper published by The Lancet medical journal of 50 children reported similar findings. Forty-six patients, or more than 90%, had mild or very minor symptoms, and two had no symptoms at all, according to the authors, a team at Wuhan Children’s Hospital and Wuhan Tongji Hospital.
The study showed that percentages of symptoms such as fever, cough and fatigue were all lower than in adults, but slightly more children had diarrhea than adults.
Children playing outside in Beijing
Even new parents were separated from their newborns to minimise the risk of spreading the virus
