According to an American study published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics, the level of genetic material of the coronavirus detected in the nose of children under five years of age is 10 to 100 times higher than that found in older children and adults. “Therefore, young children can potentially be major contributors to SARS-CoV-2 contagion in the population,” according to the scientists.
“The usual behaviors of young children and closed spaces in schools and daycares raise the question of a spread of SARS-CoV-2 in this population as health measures become more flexible,” they concluded. Very young children could therefore be major propagators of the virus, a scientific hypothesis going against current discourse.
The administration of Donald Trump has been pushing for weeks schools and daycares in different states to reopen in order to revive the country’s economy. Little research has been done on this topic so far. Children between 10 and 19 transmit the virus as much as adults in a household, according to a study in South Korea, but children under nine transmit it less.
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