YOUR COVID-19 QUESTIONS ANSWERED

The Citizen has asked a group of medical and research experts to answer reader questions about COVID-19. Here’s today’s query (and we’ll try to answer others as we receive them).

Q: Many of the deaths and serious illnesses as reported in the media seem to be older, frail people. Straight goods — if my kid gets this, how sick is she likely to become if she doesn’t have some immune-system problem?

A: (Courtesy of Dr. Jessica Dunn, MD MPH FRCPC, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Physician, CHEO):

This question is at the front of every parent’s mind. Many viral respiratory illnesses, like seasonal influenza, can cause serious illness requiring hospitalization in the very young as well as older adults and those with underlying medical conditions. However, this effect on children is not what we are seeing with COVID-19. To date, information from South Korea, Italy, the United States and Hubei, China, has consistently shown between 1.2 per cent to five per cent of COVID-19 cases were in children up to the age of 18. Fortunately, only a small percentage of these children with COVID-19 infection required hospitalization, and even fewer needed admission to an intensive-care unit. So far, Canada is following the same trend.

People of all ages with immune-system problems are at increased risk for infections, in ways that are specific to their immune dysfunction and the type of infection. So far, we are not seeing a clear pattern with COVID-19, but we would advise all individuals with immune problems to exercise caution.

The greatest effect that children are likely to have in the COVID-19 pandemic is in transmission of the infection to other vulnerable people. Common symptoms for children include fever, sore throat and cough, but other subtle manifestations, such as runny nose, may also be a symptom of COVID-19. These are common symptoms of many viral infections in young children and allow for easy spread from person to person in close contact via coughing and direct contact.

As we learn more about the virus, it appears that some children may not show obvious symptoms and still carry the infection. This is why abiding by the public health recommendations of social distancing and isolation if sick are of utmost importance and crucial to “flattening the curve.”