[dirk digler]

CDC confirms what Dr. Haseltine and others have been saying with their update yesterday. Kids have the same or higher viral loads and they were sequestered with their WFH parents. Also state they can spread the virus in households and such which makes school just as bad or worse. As Suzzer pointed out alot of people are still working from home, including probably most of the big corporations so when kids go back to school there is going to be a new huge pool of potential victims.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...atric-hcp.html

It is unclear whether children are as susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2 compared with adults and whether they can transmit the virus as effectively as adults. Recent evidence suggests that children likely have the same or higher viral loads in their nasopharynx compared with adults and that children can spread the virus effectively in households and camp settings.

Due to community mitigation measures and school closures, transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to and among children may have been reduced in the United States during the pandemic in the spring and early summer of 2020. This may explain the low incidence in children compared with adults. Comparing trends in pediatric infections before and after the return to in-person school and other activities may provide additional understanding about infections in children.

While children infected with SARS-CoV-2 are less likely to develop severe illness compared with adults, children are still at risk of developing severe illness and complications from COVID-19. Recent COVID-19 hospitalization surveillance data shows that the rate of hospitalization among children is low (8.0 per 100,000 population) compared with that in adults (164.5 per 100,000 population), but hospitalization rates in children are increasing. While children have lower rates of mechanical ventilation and death than adults, 1 in 3 children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States were admitted to the intensive care unit, which is the same in adults.

Current evidence suggests that children with certain underlying medical conditions and infants (age <1 year) might be at increased risk for severe illness from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the children who have developed severe illness from COVID-19, most have had underlying medical conditions.

There is limited evidence about which underlying medical conditions in children might increase the risk for severe illness. Current evidence suggests that children with medical complexity, with genetic, neurologic, metabolic conditions, or with congenital heart disease might be at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Similar to adults, children with obesity, diabetes, asthma and chronic lung disease, sickle cell disease, or immunosuppression might also be at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

While healthcare providers should maintain a high index of suspicion for SARS-CoV-2 infection in these populations and monitor the progression of illness closely, it appears that most infants18 and children with certain underlying conditions such as cancer who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not usually develop severe illness.

Hospitalization rates in the United States are higher among Hispanic/Latino children and black, non-Hispanic children and non-Hispanic black children compared with white children, which may be related to the higher rates of obesity and other underlying conditions among these populations.