They are 1, 3, 4 and 5 years old. This Monday, four children are hospitalized in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) and Montpellier (Hérault) after being found positive for Covid-19, the coronavirus whose preferred target is adults. A 12-year-old girl from Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) is also infected.
A recent analysis, published in the prestigious medical journal Jama, shows that out of nearly 45,000 patients studied in China, 1% (or 416 pups) are under 10 years old and 1% between 10 and 19 years old. Age groups that currently have no deaths. For Professor Robert Cohen, pediatrician at the Créteil hospital (Val-de-Marne) and president of the Pediatric Infectious Pathologies Group (GPIP), these data should reassure us.
Should we be alarmed by the hospitalization in France of several children infected with the coronavirus?
Pr ROBERT COHEN. I fully understand that the hospitalization of such young people can arouse emotion and concern. But it must be reassured: the share of risk that a child declares a serious form of coronavirus is extraordinarily reduced compared to an elderly or fragile person. Nothing today can make us think otherwise.
But didn’t we think the virus left them alone?
We know from studies that less than 1% of sick patients are children. The latter can be infected without even noticing, with completely asymptomatic forms or with minor symptoms, such as colds or coughs… so common that difficult to identify. Clearly, yes, children will be infected. But with an extremely low risk of complications.
So why close schools if this is so commonplace?
Because the big question is: are children without symptoms contaminating? We do not know today whether they are carriers of the disease and are likely to transmit it to people who may contract severe forms of viral pneumonia. However, making them wear masks or asking them not to stick to an adult is almost impossible. The school closure is therefore not aimed at curbing excess mortality that does not exist but at preventing large-scale contamination.
