Covid-19 and Children

The current Covid-19 crisis has provided a deeper outlook into how children are affected by novel diseases. Scientists noted the disease seems to be much milder in babies and children in a majority of cases. Although children are less likely to contact the virus, some can become very sick. Children and adults share many similar symptoms, such as cough, fever or chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, and body aches. Fever and cough are common COVID-19 symptoms in both age groups, and children can also have pneumonia.  An August 2020 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that about 8 children out of 100,000 require hospitalization for coronavirus infection and 9.1% of the cases in the United States are from children.

To protect children from contacting COVID-19, children should avoid any risk of infection.

The more people your kids come in contact with, and the longer the duration of that contact, the higher the risk of infection with the coronavirus. Other ways to prevent the spread of the disease to children include wearing a mask that covers both nose and mouth and teaching kids to wash their hands regularly, with soap and warm water, for at least 20 seconds.