Are kids “Briefly Infectious”?
Now that some states have mandated the schools to reopen, and though the kids have the option to physically attend or participate remotely, it is important to understand the implications for the family.
3% or 9% Threshold? What’s Right?
NY Mayor Bill D Blasio imposed a 3% moratorium on the case positivity rate to keep the school system open. You may see your state or local officials changing their decision to keep the schools closed if they see a rising number. The debate of 3% or 5% is seemingly not important. These numbers are related to the incidence of test positivity on a daily basis. Presume, you have 100 people visiting for testing, and 9 are positive (9%). Now presume, you have 500 people visiting for testing, and 3 per 100 are positive (3% but a total of 15 cases). Obviously, the absolute number matters most. However, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo or Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds has set the state’s closure threshold at 9 percent and 15 percent respectively. Why is the difference?
Hospital Beds influence the policy decision
The absolute numbers posted above make it clear that the more the number of the population infected, the more the number of beds required to treat the population. In fact, if the severity of the cases rises, another parameter that frequently influences the decision is the total number of ICU beds. If the system is inundated, these beds become significantly crunched and so lockdowns are enforced.
These exact sentiments were communicated by Dr. Celine Gounder, Adviser to President Elect Joe Biden, when she said, “there may come a tipping point where you do need to go back to virtual schooling. But I think the priority is to try to keep schools open as much as possible, and to provide the resources for that to happen”.
Impact of Lockdown
Lockdowns have a significant impact on the daily lives and economic health of a nation or state. It has been observed that Lockdown has rendered a significant portion of working women to discontinue work and focus on the kids. This almost significantly reduces household income and increases stress and unhappiness due to an inability to meet family needs. Across the globe, educational planners are concerned about the pandemic inflicting an indelible harm to the academic development to the kids.
Are kids more susceptible?
Recent research points to the Type 1 IFN that offers protection with the innate and adaptive immune response. As we age, the functioning is likely to get compromised and make us vulnerable. That is the reason, kids are less affected, whereas the elderly are more likely affected due to COVID. Second, children, have powerful innate immunity that mounts a severe and rapid response to the viruses, thus not allowing the viruses to gain a foothold, thus sparing them from severe disease.
Do Children have a less protective response?
Research from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm has demonstrated that the antibodies produced by kids are IgG type whereas, those produced by adults are of several types. The IgG antibodies bind to the S protein, whereas the diverse range of antibodies produced by adults bind to various proteins and help better neutralization of the virus.
The range of antibodies that children produced differed from those of adults. Children primarily made one type of antibody, called IgG, that binds to the spike protein on the surface of the virus. Adults, by contrast, made several types of antibodies that bind to the spike protein and other viral proteins, and these antibodies were more powerful than IgG at neutralizing the virus. Adult COVID-19 cohorts had anti-spike (S) IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies, as well as anti-nucleocapsid (N) IgG antibodies, while children with and without MIS-C had reduced breadth of anti-SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies, predominantly generating IgG antibodies specific for the S protein but not the N protein.
Are Schools the Superspreaders?
According to a report from Ney York Times, very little transmission happened in schools. The latest data shows that random testing since October has produced a positivity rate of just 0.17 percent. Please visit an article cited below from the Journal of Pediatrics, an official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Take-Home Message:
- Kids may have better immunity burst to deal with SARS CoV2 but they may not have a complete armamentarium of antibodies to deal with every aspect of the virus.
- Kids may be less susceptible to the virus, but that does not rule out a possibility of MIS-C.
- Elderly parents at home are susceptible to infections from the kids, even if you presume, the kids are likely to have less probability of the disease. Grandparents and other senior elderly family members should be segregated from the kids to provide adequate protection.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-coronavirus-and-school-closures.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-020-00826-9
Compiled on behalf of COVIDRxExchange, a Nonprofit initiative
Note: This is not a medical advice or recommendations. Please consult your doctor or local policy planner while making a decision. This is author’s personal Opinion and readers are strictly advised to consult medical professionals. Follow your local official advice and guidelines while trying to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Visit Vaccine and Drones (https://mymilieu.org/2020/11/16/vaccines-and-drones/) to learn more about the effectiveness of the vaccines.
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2020/10/16/peds.2020-031971.full.pdf.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/03/20/when-americas-schools-shut-down-we-all.html
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