Det er fortsatt usikkert hvor stor rolle barna spiller i smittespredningen. Men det er kommet en del rapporter i sommer som peker mot at barn sprer smitte, som også ECDC-rapporten påpeker. Nedenfor har jeg samlet noen slike lenker. Samlingen er ikke fullstendig, men et bidrag til informasjon omkring kjente utbrudd.
«Two new studies, though from different parts of the world, have arrived at the same conclusion: that young children not only transmit SARS-CoV-2 efficiently, but may be major drivers of the pandemic as well.»
Man mener at årsaken til at man mistet kontrollen i Israel i sommer, etter en lengre periode med svært gode resultater, var for radk gjenåpning av skoler, bl a et smitteutbrudd i skole som man mener kom ut av kontroll delvis fordi man lot elevene slippe munnbind i en hetebølge. https://www.haaretz.com/.../.premium-america-wants-to...
I USA er det påvist mye smitte blant barn i sommer. «New CDC guidance says Covid-19 rates in children are 'steadily increasing'» https://www.cnn.com/.../us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html
Et stort utbrudd på en summer camp i USA:
During June 17–20, an overnight camp in Georgia (camp A) held orientation for 138 trainees and 120 staff members; ... A total of 597 Georgia residents attended camp A. Median camper age was 12 years (range = 6–19 years), and 53% (182 of 346) were female. The median age of staff members and trainees was 17 years (range = 14–59 years), and 59% (148 of 251) were female. Test results were available for 344 (58%) attendees; among these, 260 (76%) were positive. The overall attack rate was 44% (260 of 597), 51% among those aged 6–10 years, 44% among those aged 11–17 years, and 33% among those aged 18–21 years (Table). Among 136 cases with available symptom data, 36 (26%) patients reported no symptoms; among 100 (74%) who reported symptoms, those most commonly reported were subjective or documented fever (65%), headache (61%), and sore throat (46%).
...
These findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 spread efficiently in a youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high attack rates among persons in all age groups, despite efforts by camp officials to implement most recommended strategies to prevent transmission. Asymptomatic infection was common and potentially contributed to undetected transmission, as has been previously reported (1–4). This investigation adds to the body of evidence demonstrating that children of all ages are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection (1–3) and, contrary to early reports (5,6), might play an important role in transmission (7,8).»
Legg merke til at 51% av barna i aldersgruppen 6-10 år ble smittet.
Fra en annen side : "Children under age 10 do not spread the virus as much as adults do, and the ability to transmit seems to increase with age. Even if the risk of transmission from children is lower, they usually have contact with a great number of other people — more so than the average adult. When schools reopen, these increased exposures create more opportunities to transmit the virus, which may counterbalance their lower propensity to transmit the virus." https://www.nytimes.com/.../older-children-and-the...
Og her er lenken til ECDC, som skriver at tross dette synes det å være relativt trygt på skolene: «There is conflicting published evidence on the impact of school closure/re-opening on community transmission levels, although the evidence from contact tracing in schools, and observational data from a number of EU countries suggest that re-opening schools has not been associated with significant increases in community transmission. Available evidence also indicates that closures of childcare and educational institutions are unlikely to be an effective single control measure for community transmission of COVID-19 and such closures would be unlikely to provide significant additional protection of children’s health, since most develop a very mild form of COVID-19, if any.» https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/.../children-and-school...
FHI konkluderer fortsatt: «Nye studier om barns rolle i smittespredningen av covid-19 som har tilkommet de siste månedene, styrker kunnskapen om at barn har en mindre rolle i smittespredningen enn voksne.» Ut fra det kunnskapsgrunnlaget jeg selv har ville jeg ikke konkludert slik. https://www.fhi.no/.../skolestart-og-barns-rolle-i.../
Det er fortsatt mye som er usikkert vedrørende barns rolle som smittespredere. Utover høsten vet vi mer. I Sverige falt antall smittede bratt ganske nøyaktig to uker etter skoleferien begynte, etter en lang vår med stor og økende spredning. Om det er tilfeldig får vi en pekepinn på snart nå. Vi får fortsette å følge med med et åpent sinn.
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