- Growing evidence is showing that COVID-19 affects kids differently than adults.
- Children experience lower infection rates, accounting for less than 10 percent of cases in the United States.
- Infectious disease specialists say there are several factors that seem to protect children: immunity to seasonal coronaviruses, underdeveloped sinuses, and fewer chronic health conditions.
A new model from researchers in Israel found that kids are half as susceptible to COVID-19 compared to adults.
The report published Thursday, Feb. 11, in PLOS Computational Biology also found that people under 20 are less likely to transmit the virus to other people.
Growing evidence has showed that COVID-19 affects kids and younger people differently.
Children experience lower infection rates, accounting for less than 10 percent of cases in the United States.
When kids do get the disease, the symptoms are typically milder.
They also appear to transmit the virus less and are not primary drivers of community transmission.
Dr. Sharon Nachman, the chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, said the lower rates of infection in kids are likely due to many factors.
“These could include a different immune response to virus as compared to adults, the frequent lack of comorbid conditions in many children, and ongoing/frequent exposures to other coronaviruses, and possibly some cross-variant nonspecific immunity,” Nachman said.
Source: healthline