Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday, July 8 that children with the coronavirus are not contagious. Most likely, the lack of evidence is because not enough children have been tested to see how likely they are to spread the infection.
His claims follow the government's decision to reopen schools. At the White House Taskforce briefing, Redfield said, "We really don't have evidence that children are driving the transmission cycle of this."
In agreement, Sally Goza, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said, "Children are less likely to become infected and they are less likely to spread infection."
Dr. Deborah Birx, a White House health advisor, however, said otherwise. According to her, there is not enough data gathered about patients below 18-years-old to make such conclusions. As state officials have pressured the government to reopen schools, finding out how contagious kids may be is crucial.
"I think it really comes to the evidence base of what do we have as far as testing in children," said Brix. "So if you look across all of the tests that we've done, and when we have the age, the portion that has been the lowest tested portion is the under-10-year-olds."
Since the CDC ruled out earlier that adults and senior citizens are more vulnerable to contracting the virus, testing and data have been focused more on them and hospitalized patients. As a result, most young people in America have not been tested.
"Remember, early on, we said test if you have symptoms and now we know that if you're under 18, the majority of you don't have symptoms," Birx reminded. "Our data is skewed originally to people with symptoms, and then skewed to adults over 18, so we are looking very closely into that category by using our antibody test."
Children with Coronavirus
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was not present during the White House briefing, previously explained that although children are less likely to become infected and spread the virus to others, the few that have gotten the coronavirus still suffered severe symptoms and have died. Young patients have shown neurological symptoms in the absence of respiratory ones.
Earlier cases of children with coronavirus led medical experts to the new condition named Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome. In the absence of the usual respiratory symptoms associated with the virus, children showed signs of confusion, abdominal pain, rashes, and even organ failure.
Dr. Fauci added, "Even if you do not get any symptoms and you do perfectly well, by getting infected, by allowing yourself to get infected because of risky behavior, you are part of the propagation of the outbreak, so you are part of the problem." Testing can help identify children who are asymptomatic yet may possibly still infect others with the coronavirus.
Mass Testing for Children
Some medical experts think that mass testing with antibody tests are necessary to determine if children are highly infectious. To date, the CDC has not mentioned if they plan to have mass testing for children.
In May, the CDC released guidelines for what schools need to consider when reopening classes. This includes implementing physical distancing, intensive cleaning, and investing in refitting school buildings. Before the briefing, President Trump said, "We're very much going to put pressure on the governors and the schools to reopen. Open your schools in the fall."
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