At Least 97,000 Children Tested Positive For Coronavirus In Last 2 Weeks Of July

Speaker 1: 00:00 The UC San Diego experts advising San Diego unified to delay in school classes are just part of a worldwide effort by scientists to discover more about how COVID-19 infects and is transmitted by children. The American Academy of pediatrics released a report this week that finds more than 97,000 children tested positive for the virus in the last two weeks of July. That's more than 25% of all us kids testing positive for COVID since March. Joining me is dr. Mark Sawyer and infectious disease specialist with Rady children's hospital and UC San Diego. Dr. Sawyer is also a member of the American Academy of pediatrics, the organization that released the study and dr. Sawyer, welcome to the program. Speaker 2: 00:48 It's always good to join you, Maureen. Speaker 1: 00:50 Now we keep hearing that kids are virtually immune from Corona virus. How vulnerable are children to getting this virus? Speaker 2: 00:58 Well, the good news is most children. The vast majority of children do not get significantly ill, but they're certainly not immune. And the numbers released by the Academy of pediatrics show that children get infected just like adults do, but fortunately they don't end up in the hospital as often Speaker 1: 01:16 The increases that were reported that we're seeing in children testing positive. Do those increases come from more testing, being done on asymptomatic children going back to school? Speaker 2: 01:27 That's a very good question. I was a little surprised by the increased rate of cases in children. And I'm wondered if it was partly for more testing, but it seemed to have occurred quite suddenly. I think another possible explanation is that because of the relaxation of controls that many communities have implemented, we're now catching up and seeing children affected by the same spread of disease that we've seen in adults in recent weeks. Speaker 1: 01:54 Most children who get COVID show any symptoms, Speaker 2: 01:57 No, the majority actually have no symptoms or very mild symptoms. So to the parent, it's going to look like a cold little runny nose, a little cough maybe, or no symptoms at all. And that of course is one of the challenges when it comes to getting back to school is it's going to be very hard to know which children might be infected on any given day, Speaker 1: 02:17 No about children's ability to spread the virus about the amount of viral load they can carry. Speaker 2: 02:23 Yeah. Well, there have been a several studies in the last few weeks that have informed us better about that. Certainly we know that children carry the virus. In fact, one study showed that young children had even more virus in their nose and throat than adults. On the other hand, they don't seem to transmit it as well. At least children under 10 years of age, clearly don't transmit the infection to those around them, as well as older children or adults. And it may have to do with, they don't cough as forcefully or, or they're not in as close contact with as many people. I'm not exactly sure why that is. And there a difference Speaker 1: 03:00 In spreading ability based on the age. Speaker 2: 03:03 Yes, we, we, it does seem that young children are less likely to spread, but older children that is 10 and above spread at least as, as frequently as adults do. So when it comes to school entry advice, you know, that may translate into kindergarten and elementary students starting first because they're less likely to spread it among themselves. And then once we get that underway, uh, opening up middle schools and high schools Speaker 1: 03:29 Now in those rare instances where children do get a more serious case of Corona virus, what happens do they, do they have the same kinds of symptoms that adults get? Speaker 2: 03:42 The disease in children is a little bit different than adults. Uh, but certainly children can be hospitalized and even require intensive care unit care for COVID infection. But if the new phenomenon over the, that we've understood over the last few months is called M I S C, which is an inflammatory reaction that the body undertakes several weeks after initial infection. And that seems to be unique to children. And we've seen several of those here in San Diego. Speaker 1: 04:11 So that was my next question as, so has radios as, have you had any bad cases of children with COVID now? Or how many have you seen? Speaker 2: 04:21 Well, we've seen only a handful in the hospital and maybe only one or two in the intensive care unit, but we have seen of those, the MIFC form of the disease has been more frequent recently and has led to several children getting put into the hospital. Speaker 1: 04:38 There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about children and COVID is that because, Oh, well, I mean, researchers just don't know what the effects really. Speaker 2: 04:48 Yeah. So I think we have to say that about COVID in general that we're on a very steep learning curve and learning more and more about transmission and aerosol transmission and the effect of masks and all of the things that people are hearing more recently from public health officials. And I think everybody just has to realize that we're, we're learning on the go here and each, each new study informs us a little bit more about how we can protect ourselves from this infection. Speaker 1: 05:16 Well, considering the, the bulk of things that we really aren't sure of when it comes to kids and COVID some schools in San Diego and other counties across California are suing over the governor's order that most counties conduct only online classes this fall. So my question is, do you think in-person classes can be safely conducted at this time? Speaker 2: 05:39 I think it depends very much on the community you are in. I think in San Diego right now, it would not be a good idea to open schools right now because our level of disease in the community over the last month or six weeks is, has gone up to a point where I think if open schools we would see transmission and schools having said that, I do think the school systems have thought very carefully about how to control the spread of COVID in schools. And once the community burden of disease drops back down, I do think schools can reopen and as long as they're following guidelines. Speaker 1: 06:16 So it all depends in your opinion, on how much virus there is in the larger community as to whether it's going to be safe or not for schools to open with their own safety precautions. Speaker 2: 06:30 Exactly. I think the first thing we have to look at is the burden of disease in the entire community. And when that's at a reasonably low level, then schools can look at reopening, but they certainly have to follow all of the guidelines, which include children wearing masks and spacing children apart in school. And there are lots of strategies about how to do that. And again, the school systems have been planning all summer about how they can reopen and putting things in place to make it safe. Speaker 1: 06:58 Just finally, what do you think about the idea of trying to conduct some classes out in the open? Speaker 2: 07:04 I think the more things that can happen outdoors, the better that is one of the things we have learned about COVID that air circulation is very important. And if you're in a closed space without good air circulation, you're much more likely to get infected. So eating outdoors, even classes outdoors, I think it's a great idea. And we're lucky that we live in San Diego where that's going to be feasible for a lot of the year. Speaker 1: 07:29 I've been speaking with dr. Mark Sawyer and infectious disease specialists with Rady children's hospital and UC San Diego, dr. Sawyer, as always. Thank you so much. Speaker 2: 07:39 Thank you, Maureen.