Health benefits of a hug from grandchildren

Scientist says an embrace is good for wellbeing – but would not let her offspring get close to grandparents

PSYCHOLOGICAL wellbeing played a major part in Switzerland declaring it safe for grandparents to hug young grandchildren, according to a Swiss scientist handling the epidemic. “There is a growing body of evidence

– but the question is, when do you decide that the evidence is sufficient?” asked Virginie Masserey Spicher, head of infection control at the communicable diseases division of Switzerland’s federal office of public health.

“It’s a balance between the wellbeing of the child, the grandparent and the evidence,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

However, she said she understood the reticence of other countries, including Britain, to take that step and that she personally would not be taking her own children to see their grandparents for now.

This week, Switzerland announced that children under the age of 10 could hug their grandparents again as they pose little risk of infection from Covid-19 because they do not have the “receptors” targeted by it.

Based on a string of studies from China, France, Iceland and the US, the new advice only applies to children who are showing no signs of illness.

In the UK, a review of evidence in partnership with the Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health (RCPCH) concluded this week that no child has been found to have passed coronavirus to an adult, even in contact tracing by the World Health Organisation.

Despite this, Prof Russell Viner, president of the RCPCH, said it was too soon to say children could hug their grandparents, particularly as the over-70s are most vulnerable. “From around the world, we are not seeing evidence that children are involved in spreading or transmitting the virus, but we do not have enough evidence,” he said.

But Dr Masserey Spicher said: “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There is no clear evidence of a child who has transmitted and there is evidence that they do not have this ability or are far less likely to do so.”

“If, for the psychological wellbeing of the grandchildren and grandparents, they give each other a hug every once in a while and we have all this evidence that children are not transmitters then why should we not let them have this little moment?” she said. Biologically,

she said, it was now “plausible” that they posed virtually no risk.

“There is a receptor that is shown to be important for the virus to enter cells in the respiratory tract and these have been shown to be much lower in small children than in adults,” said Dr Masserey Spicher. “They acquire these with age and we assume from 16 years up children are probably equivalent to adults in terms of receptors and likelihood of being infected.”

She added: “We cannot categorically say children will not transmit, otherwise we’d say, ‘no problem, kids can be kept by their grandparents’. We’re saying the risk is very low, so if it’s for a short time, a child can hug them. But we don’t recommend they stay a long time, because the more they stay the greater the risk, even if very low.

“What we fear most is that children don’t go alone and the parents of the children transmit the virus, which is why we generally advise that elderly people avoid seeing others,” she said.

On that note, she said that she would not currently let her own children see their grandparents – nor would the grandparents allow it.

Fernando Simón, the head of Spain’s health emergency department, said: “Psychologically, it’s wonderful to hug as many people as possible, but we have to remember we are still in a danger period, which won’t last forever.”