Why schools can be ‘a setup for disaster’

Cases of COVID-19 are “on the rise” in children, according to new guidelines for health workers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The guidelines, which were updated on the CDC’s website on Friday, say children now represent more than 7% of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. At the same time, children make up approximately 22% of the American population, the CDC Notes. The number of cases “increased steadily” from March to July, according to the guidelines.

However, the CDC warns that the actual number of children infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could be higher. “The true incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is not known due to the lack of widespread testing and the prioritization of testing for adults and the critically ill,” the guide says.

The CDC also said children can spread the coronavirus “effectively in households and camps” and that school closures and “community mitigation efforts” in the spring and early summer “may explain the low incidence in children compared to adults. “

The updated guidelines come less than a week after a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association found that more than 97,000 American children have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past two weeks. July – a 40% jump over the previous two -period of the week.

The increase in pediatric cases of COVID-19 is particularly happening in areas where school districts have reopened and are not implementing social distancing or mask mandates. In the Cherokee County School District, Georgia, approximately 2,000 students, teachers and staff are in quarantine after cases of COVID-19 were reported. The district welcomed students back for in-person learning on August 3 and transferred one of its schools – Etowah High School – to distance learning until August 31, according to an announcement on the website of school.

Georgia’s Department of Public Health shares data online on the number of confirmed virus cases per day, but does not have a daily age breakdown. As of Sunday, there were 1,873 new confirmed cases in the state, the agency revealed. But a graph of aggregate cases shows a significant number of confirmed cases in children from newborns to 17 years of age during the pandemic.

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In Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has been pushing for the reopening of schools, there have been 45,852 pediatric cases of the virus since March 1, according to the Florida Department of Health. And in Texas, it’s hard to say. The state, which recorded 6,024 confirmed cases on Sunday, does not share an age breakdown online through the Texas State Department’s health services, and it does not currently track cases of COVID-19 in schools, according to Dallas Morning News.

There are probably a few factors behind this steady rise in cases of COVID-19 in children, explains Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease specialist and professor in the faculty of medicine at Vanderbilt University, at Yahoo Life. “For a long time, children were kept at home and very separated from others,” he says. “Now that they’re on the go and families are carefree going out, the kids are exposed – they’re playing together, going into crowds with their parents, and now they’re starting to go to school.

“The exposure opportunities have increased dramatically for children,” he adds.

There are also more tests underway in children right now, Dr Rajeev Fernando, an infectious disease expert in Southampton, NY, told Yahoo Life. “I don’t think COVID-19 hasn’t infected children in the past – it’s just that we didn’t test children before, and now we are testing,” he says.

It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on in areas where schools are open and also have large amounts of community spread of the virus, says Dr Amesh Adalja, senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, to Yahoo Life. . “These children are just as likely to contract COVID-19 in the community as they are in school,” he says. “It’s no surprise, however, that the spread of the community is also having an impact on children.

However, “it’s a disaster situation” in schools where social distancing is not enforced, masks are not mandatory and the community is widespread, Fernando says. “We have to open on the basis of science and epidemiology – and you need the social distancing and the masks,” he says. “Without it, there can be a pandemonium.”

Schaffner is concerned that some areas are not tracking COVID-19 cases in schools and warns that things may get worse if this continues. “If you don’t look, you won’t find, you won’t know, and the virus will spread without your knowledge,” he says. “You would be wrong thinking that not much is going on there.” We went. The virus will only be rampant. “

For the latest news and updates on the coronavirus, follow to https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those with compromised immune systems continue to be at greatest risk. If you have any questions, please consult the CDC‘sand WHO resource guides.

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