By The editorial staff of Allodocteurs.fr with AFP

Written on
08/19/2021, Updated

08/20/2021 at 09:59

Before even knowing how to walk, children have their hands on everything. From the Legos, to the fruit basket to the books in the library, they put their hands everywhere.

But at that age, it’s hard to make them understand that they should wash their hands, cough into their elbows or wear a mask. Here is what could explain, in part, the role of children in the transmission of Covid-19.

A study published in the scientific journal Jama Pediatrics attributes high transmission of Covid to children aged 0 to 3.

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Babies more contagious than adolescents

The researchers observed 6,280 homes in which a person under the age of 18 was found positive for Covid-19.

The study shows that a second infection within the same outbreak occurs more often when the first sick person was aged 0 to 3 years. Children aged 4 to 8 and those aged 9 to 13 are also more contagious than their older siblings over the age of 13.

Almost impossible isolation

The hypothesis put forward to explain this contagiousness is the difficulty of isolating such a young child.

Therefore, researchers insist on the importance of barrier measures such as masks or hand disinfection when in contact with a sick child. They also recommend separating him from his brothers and sisters, until the end of his contagiousness.

Finally, the medical data collected for the study shows that young children are still less at risk of being infected with the coronavirus.