COVID-19: Children more infectious than others but less vulnerable, reveals study

Researchers from China and the United States have conducted a brand new study on assessing the household transmissibility of COVID-19, disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 among children and adolescents. In the study published in the renowned journal, The  Lancet Infectious Disease journal this week, the researchers collected data from more than 20,000 families from Wuhan, where the virus was first generated.

The retrospective study of Wuhan households has revealed that children and adolescents were less vulnerable to the infection than adults but more likely to pass on the infection to others. Infants aged between 0 to 1 year were also at greater risk than the ones who 2 to 12-year-old. Further, people aged 60 years or older were at a greater risk of the infection than any other age group.

Moreover, the researchers also found out that the symptomatic patients of COVID-19 are more likely to infect others than the asymptomatic individuals and are more likely to do so before the symptom onset than after. 

"Within households, children and adolescents were less susceptible to Sars-CoV-2 infection but were more infectious than older individuals. Pre-symptomatic cases were more infectious and individuals with asymptomatic infection less infectious than symptomatic cases,” the researchers wrote.

“These findings have implications for devising interventions for blocking the household transmission of SARS-CoV-2, such as timely vaccination of eligible children once resources become available,” addedShun-Qing Xu from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan and colleagues.

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COVID-19 Prompted Food Inadequacy

In a separate study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that 25 per cent moved towards food deficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is being linked to demolished psychological wellness. According to the reports by ANI, lead author of the study, Jason Nagata said, “People of colour are disproportionately affected by both food insufficiency and COVID-19. Many of these individuals have experienced job loss and higher rates of poverty during the pandemic”.

Hunger, exhaustion, and worrying about not getting enough food to eat may worsen depression and anxiety symptoms”, said Nagata as a total of 65 per cent Americans reported anxiety symptoms and 52 per cent reported depressive symptoms, just a week before completing the survey.

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