495 babies, teens positive in 2 weeks
SPREAD:
“Children and adolescents can spread SARSCoV- 2 to others when they do not have symptoms or have mild, non- specific symptoms and thus might not know that they are infected and infectious.”
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MBABANE – I n the past 1 4 days, over 4 9 0 babi es and t eenagers i n the country were infected with COVID- 19.
Globally, about 271 COVID- 19 deaths among persons aged 5- 17 years and 120 deaths among those 0- 4 years have been reported to the National Centre for Health Statistics through July 7, 2021.
The numbers of people under the age of 20 has increased tremendously when compared with the trends of the previous two waves of the pandemic.
Judging from the zero to 19 years age range, it can be concluded that most of these children and teenagers are of school going age.
If schools were to open under these circumstances, these children were likely to infect twice this number in one day if precautions were not followed.
According the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, children and adolescents can also transmit SARS- CoV- 2 infection to others.
TRANSMIT
“Early during the COVID- 19 pandemic, children were not commonly identified as index cases in household or other clusters largely because schools and extracurricular activities around the world were closed or no longer held in- person.
“However, outbreaks among adolescents attending camps, sports events, and schools have demonstrated that adolescents can transmit SARS- CoV- 2 to others.”
The CDC said t r a n s m i s s i o n studies that have examined secondary infection risk from children and adolescents to household contacts who are rapidly, frequently, and systematically tested demonstrate that transmission does occur.
In the zero to nine years category there were 148 positive cases between Friday, July 16 and yesterday, while there were 347 positive cases between the 10 and 19 years age category in the same period.
PEAK
Even though the peak of the third wave has not been declared yet, projections made by Dr Kevin Makadzange, the World Health Organisation ( WHO) Health Promotion Officer, two weeks ago suggested that it would be around the end of July.
The CDC further said compared to adults, children and adolescents who are infected with SARS- CoV- 2 are more commonly asymptomatic ( never develop symptoms) or have mild, non- specific symptoms ( e. g. headache, sore throat).
“Similar to adults with SARSCoV- 2 infections, children and adolescents can spread SARSCoV- 2 to others when they do not have symptoms or have mild, non- specific symptoms and thus might not know that they are infected and infectious.
“Children are less likely to develop severe illness or die from COVID- 19. The extent to which children suffer long- term consequences of COVID- 19 is still unknown.”
Virologists have come out to declare that the evidence that
“It can be concluded that most of these children and teenagers are of school going age”
children and adolescents could be infected with, get sick from, and transmit SARS- CoV- 2 kept evolving.
“As with the studies from early during the COVID- 19 pandemic, the quality and comparability of reported studies is affected by the study design, the method used to detect SARS- CoV- 2 infection, the prevention measures in place during the study period, and the background rate of infection in the community.”
VARIANTS
The CDC also cited the introduction of new variants of the virus into the population, saying it was likely to further affect the evolving epidemiology and interpretation of future studies as will understanding how trans
mission varies by the age of the child.
“COVID- 19 vaccination of adults and adolescents could also impact the incidence of COVID- 19 in the United States, as young children will comprise a greater proportion of the population who are unvaccinated and therefore at risk.”
It was advised that when opening, schools should consider levels of community transmission as they assess the risk of transmission within their school.
“If community transmission is high and community vaccination level is low, students and staff are more likely to come to school while infectious, and introduce SARS- CoV- 2 into the schools.”