News

Two studies this week suggest what scientists have long suspected - children are equally as able to spread the novel coronavirus even while showing few if any symptoms.

One study was conducted in China and a second was conducted by German researchers. The first study from Wuhan and Shanghai found that children were as third as susceptible to infection but, when schools opened, they had three times as many contacts with adults. The second study was more straightforward - children who tested positive for COVID-19 were found to harbor as much virus - and sometimes more - as adult positive cases. The results were consistent with children hospitalized and those asymptomatic. 

The first study was published in Science while the second has yet to be peer reviewed. 

The studies gained prominence because of the ongoing debate about reopening schools during the pandemic. All three states in the DMV have closed schools for the academic year (Maryland just yesterday) but other states and countries are considering resuming in-person school. The justification is the seemingly low infection rate among children and the low spread rate, which these studies aimed to address.

As with any study, more research and peer review is needed to make more definitive conclusions.