Foreign Property News | Posted by Hnin Ei Khin
Teenagers are about twice as likely to become infected with the coronavirus as younger children, according to an analysis released Monday (Sept 28) by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The report is based on a review of 277,285 cases among children aged 5 to 17 whose illness was diagnosed from March to September. The findings come as 56 million children in the United States resume schooling amid contentious debates about their safety.
Scientists are scrambling to understand how often children are infected and how often they transmit the virus, but the findings have been inconsistent. Much of the national debate has centred on children in primary schools.
But the new study adds to a body of evidence suggesting that older teenagers, in high school and college, are more likely to be infected and more likely to transmit the coronavirus than are children under age 10, said Dr Muge Cevik, an infectious disease expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
These data suggest that "young persons might be playing an increasingly important role in community transmission," the CDC researchers wrote.
The number of tests and the incidence of infections decreased after July, but may again be on the rise, they added.
The rate of infection during the study period varied by age. The weekly incidence among adolescents was 37.4 per 100,000, compared with 19 per 100,000 among younger children.
By comparison, about half of children who die after getting the flu have an underlying condition, the analysis also found.
Ref: NYTIMES
