Data dispels fears about risk to kids
The people most vulnerable to Covid-19 seem to be those above the age of 50 years; disease relatively rare in children
NEW DELHI: As the number of patients testing positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) hit 30 in India on Thursday, parents were fretting the most over prospects of their children catching the infection. Limited data that’s now available does not support their concerns; the people most vulnerable to Covid-19 seem to be those above the age of 50 years.
“I am, of course, worried about my child... It has become a worldwide outbreak; there is paranoia and better to be cautious and take precautions,” said Rupa Kujur, mother of three-year-old Arhan Kujur Roy. She has bought stocks of sanitizers and SOS medicines like paracetamol for her child and adults in the family.
The family is avoiding public places, making sure to wash their hands — and the child’s — and using the sanitizer when they come in contact with people like delivery persons and vegetable vendors and when they even exchange money, she said.
“I only give him (the child) warm water; home-cooked meals and liberal helpings of fruits at room temperature. No cold food as it can make him fall sick. I am also guiding domestic helps to take necessary precautions and sanitize themselves as often as possible. Basically we are being extra cautious in taking usual precautions,” she said.
A report by the joint commission of the World Health Organisation and China on the novel coronavirus, submitted on February 28, however, suggested that the disease is relatively rare, and mild, among children.
Only 2.4% of the total reported cases of coronavirus were individuals aged under 19 years, it said.
A very small proportion of those aged under 19 years were found to have developed a severe (2.5%) or critical (0.2%) form of the disease.
“The Joint Mission learned that infected children have largely been identified through contact tracing in households of adults. Of note, people interviewed by the Joint Mission Team could not recall episodes in which transmission occurred from a child to an adult,” said the report.
The joint missions consisted of 25 national and international experts from China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, the United States and WHO.
The first large analysis of more than 44,000 cases from China, also released last month, found the death rate was 10 times higher in very old people compared to young people, unlike H1N1, or swine flu, which hit young adults the hardest in the outbreak years of 2009-10.
The data from China showed that children and teenagers (0-19 years) had largely been spared, with only a handful hospitalised with fever, cough or other mild respiratory symptoms. They accounted for 0.1% of the total Covid-19 related deaths. Young adults (20-39 years) accounted for 2.5% of total deaths. The maximum number of deaths took place among people above 80 years of age (14.8%).
The US Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta also confirmed that fewer children had been affected by the disease, which is similar to what was seen in previous outbreaks of the coronavirus family.
“From limited information published from past Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERSCoV) outbreaks, infection among children was relatively uncommon,” the centre said in its documentation on the disease.
Even so, paediatricians in the city have been inundated with questions from worried parents on how to protect their children from infection.
“They want to know whether children are at increased risk, which they are not because unlike many other infections, this virus rarely causes disease in children and when they do get infected, they get mild disease. They also want to know whether they should stop sending them to school, and I say no, not until you get a government advisory,” said Dr Anupam Sibal, senior paediatrician and group medical director, Apollo Hospitals Group.
“Mostly, they need reassurance and fact-based information. I tell them there’s no need to stock up on medicines and masks, but all children should be taught hand washing and coughing etiquette, where they should cough in into their sleeve and not their palms,” said Dr Sibal, who has made a short science-based video for parents to share to counter rumours.
People also ask if the summer heat will kill the virus. “It’s a new virus, we don’t know enough. All viruses don’t die in the heat, India reports flu cases throughout the year and even MERS outbreaks occurred in the Middle East, which has hot and dry weather,” said Sibal.