We’ve put children’s lives on hold to benefit the elderly

CHILDREN’S lives are being put on hold to protect adults from coronavirus, a leading expert has warned.

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said children will pay the price of the school closures for years to come.

The doctor – who advises the Government as a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) – said the risk of coronavirus to children was very small.

And although scientists initially feared young people might spread it to more vulnerable people, those fears were receding.

It comes after ministers admitted this week that most children will not get back to school before the autumn, and some schools might not reopen fully in September. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had previously said all primary pupils would restart school by June 21 – a month before the summer holiday.

Professor Viner said children had been hardly affected by the virus itself. ‘We have had 11 deaths of children and young people under 18 due to this virus, compared to over 40,000 for adults,’ he said yesterday.

‘That tells us everything we need to know about differential risks.

‘We have put their lives on hold, we have put their education on hold, they have been subjected to a whole series of harms, because of what we’ve done to benefit the middle-aged and elderly.

‘(Children) will be affected as much as others in the long term.’

Professor Viner, who was speaking via video link to a meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine, said initial discussions in Sage about school closures were influenced by the fact children acted as virus spreaders during bad flu outbreaks.

But he said emerging evidence suggested that they did not spread Covid19 in the same way.

‘The learning from influenza pandemics of course is that schools and children are transmitters,’ he said. ‘But those countries that have reopened schools – Denmark, Germany, Norway and others – are telling us they’re not seeing a rise in population R [the transmission rate], they’re not seeing outbreaks in schools and elsewhere.’

He said the science of transmission

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We have put their lives on hold, we have put their education on hold, they have been subjected to a whole series of harms, because of what we’ve done to benefit the middle-aged ’ and elderly Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

was ‘incredibly complex’, but added: ‘There are three linked issues – how much do they get it, how severely do they get it, and do they pass it on?

‘There have been about 400 or 500 admissions of children with Covid in this country. These are tiny numbers.

‘There’s some evidence... that children are about 50 per cent as susceptible as adults. If you’re half as likely to get it, clearly your opportunity to transmit is much less.

‘There’s increasing evidence that those who are asymptomatic do probably transmit less than those who are symptomatic.

‘As a population, because they’re less likely to get it, they don’t play a major role in the transmission.’

Professor Viner said the impact on mental health would be huge – particularly among less well-off children.

‘Schools provide 40 per cent of child protection referrals,’ he said.

‘They also provide places where you get peer support, friendship... it is the place where lots of early mental health issues are picked up and dealt with.’

He added: ‘Many children are quite enjoying being off school.

‘But others are in pressure cookers, really crowded families, sometimes where there’s domestic violence.’

‘They’re less likely to get it’