À atenção do senhor Costa II

 

Estas considerações deste médico dizem respeito, em parte, a números dos EUA, mas os estudos que ele discute e as conclusões dele, relativamente aos argumentos segundo os quais os miúdos raramente se infectam e raramente transmitem o vírus são universais. A mim parece-me importante tomarem-se decisões políticas na posse dos factos científicos e a pensar nas pessoas e não em votos ou no mero poupar dinheiro.

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It is true that children are far less likely to get sick from Covid-19, as compared to adults, but they are by no means immune. They can become infected and they can spread it quickly. A widely cited study out of South Korea showed that kids 10 to 19 were spreading the virus just as much as adults. In fact, they had the highest rate of Covid-19 among household contacts. Interestingly, in that same study, children younger than 10 did not account for a significant amount of viral spread. This was surprising because a recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics concluded younger kids may carry higher amounts of the virus in their nose, as compared to adults. And any parent will tell you how easily little kids spread viruses in their own homes. (When our kids were very young, a single cold in any one of them meant the whole family was going to soon become infected.)

So, I decided to take a closer look at the South Korean study, and noticed a very important detail: It included fewer than 30 positive cases younger than 10 years old. Of the nearly 60,000 contacts that were traced in that study, only 237 were from children under 10. The low rate of spread among young kids may not have been because they are less likely to transmit the virus, but because they have largely been home over the last few months, and had few contacts as a result.

As our kids become increasingly mobile, they will become part of a large national experiment, and there is little doubt the infection rates will increase. Just over the past four weeks, the number of children infected in the United States has increased by 90% to more than 380,000 cases, according to that same analysis by AAP and CHA. While some of that increase may be due to increased testing, younger kids starting to emerge from their homes for the first time also play a role. And, for much of the country, schools haven't even yet reopened.

It is also important to remember that a school community is made up of more than just young students. According to one recent analysis, nearly a quarter of teachers working in the United States school system are at higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19, either because of age or pre-existing conditions. I was particularly struck by the stories of worried teachers around the country who said they were writing out their wills in anticipation of returning to school.


Why I am not sending my kids back to schoolBy Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent