President Donald Trump faces a complaint after falsely claiming that young people are “almost immune” to coronavirus, as schools across the country continue to wonder when and how to reopen. Although experts sometimes say young people under the age of 10 are less vulnerable to coronavirus than adolescents or adults, there is evidence that they can still get it.
Doctors are also learning about the ability of other people under the age of 18 to transmit the virus to others who are possibly more vulnerable, Dr. Ron Elfenbein, a Maryland emergency physician at CBSN, said Thursday.
“Science is constantly evolving,” he said. “Every day more and more knowledge comes out, so it’s very confusing.”
About 339,000 young people in the United States have coronavirus as of July 30, representing 8.8% of all cases, according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Elfenbein said children under the age of 10 seem less likely to get sick.
“Science has shown us that children under the age of 10 don’t get it very often, in fact, rarely get it and, if they get it, they’re asymptomatic,” he said.
But there are a growing number of examples of young people who have contracted the virus. An exam published last week through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented the case of a summer camp in Georgia where more than 200 young people tested positive for coronavirus after a teenage staff member diagnosed in June. Of the hundred young people over 6 to 10 who were evaluated, 51 were positive, according to the test.
In the next age group, elderly people aged 11 to 17, 180 of the 409 young people evaluated had positive results. Overall, 260 of the 344 campers and examined had the virus. There were more than six hundred people in the camp.
The camp required all students and campers to provide documentation of negative coronavirus verification within 12 days of the camp’s start. He also required masks, but did not require campers to do so, the CDC said.
Researchers said they planned to stand firm and see if young people are transmitting the virus to other members of their household.
In several communities across the country, cases of young people who tested positive for COVID-19 have already interrupted the start of the school year, forcing classmates and teachers to quarantine.
Although young people generally have a lower threat of severe contracting the virus, some have ended up being hospitalized with serious complications. The CDC reports that at least forty-five young people under the age of 14 have died for COVID-related reasons since the onset of the pandemic.
Trump made a comment about youth and immunity in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, and was shared on his Facebook page and on his campaign’s Twitter account. Social media corporations reported that the video violated its disinformation policies in COVID-19 and that the posts were deleted.