Third baby diagnosed with virus amid fears

AUCKLAND: News a baby boy is among New Zealand’s latest Covid19 cases has further dispelled the myth children cannot catch the virus at a time when parents are contemplating a potential return to school for some youngsters.

Three boys aged under 1 year old have now caught the virus in New Zealand — two infants in the South and one in Waikato.

The Southern District Health Board would not comment on how the two babies in its region were faring, while the Waikato DHB only confirmed it had no babies in hospital with coronavirus.

Normally, virus outbreaks hit the very young and the very old the hardest.

Yet internationally, children seemed to be suffering far fewer severe coronavirus infections than the elderly in what had been a relief to parents the world over, former president of the Paediatric Society Dr Nick Baker said.

In New Zealand only 34 children under 9 had so far been diagnosed with Covid19 compared with 342 cases among 20 to 29yearolds and 110 cases in over70yearolds.

‘‘However, some children will still get very sick,’’ Dr Baker said.

‘‘And it is certainly not a condition that you want your kids to get, by any means.’’

Infants most at risk of a severe infection were those with an underlying condition that already made it harder to breathe or cough, Dr Baker said.

‘‘So if you have cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy or Down syndrome, something that means your cough is not as strong or has other weaknesses, it is going to be worse,’’ he said.

‘‘And similarly for children whose immune systems may not be as strong — they may have more illness.’’

‘‘But there also seems to be the random bad case — absolutely no reason why this person does terribly with this germ.’’

Infants could be tested for Covid19 in the same way as others, by collecting a sample of their ‘‘snot’’ from their nose or mouth — ‘‘it is not pleasant, but kids tolerate it well’’, he said.

Further muddying the waters about children and the coronavirus outbreak was their potential role as spreaders.

‘‘For so many viruses children are often a spreader because of the nature of the fact they are less careful with their secretions and coughing and sneezing,’’ Dr Baker said. — The New Zealand Herald