This rapid review aims to shed light on the role of children in the transmission of COVID-19.
The review concludes that children are being infected by the virus, and they are a relatively small proportion of all registered cases testing positive (4% in Norway, 2% in China and 5.2% in South Korea). However, the author clarifies that this does not mean that children have a lower rate of infection, but that since adults become ill more often than children, it leads to more adults being tested and this contributes to finding a greater number of positives among adults.
Furthermore, the review states that children do get ill, but they tend to be less severely affected than adults, experiencing mild or moderately serious illness or no symptoms at all. Some children, however may also be severely affected, namely those with underlying conditions. Following this, the review aims to reach a conclusion on whether children transmit the infection, and if so, to whom. However, there are a number of reasons why a conclusive answer cannot be reached. Therefore, even if the evidence points to children not representing a major vector for transmissions, the picture may change when more comprehensive data is obtained.
Finally, the review aims to state the measurable effects of the school/kindergarten closures during the epidemic, but the authors have not found any research reports on the topic, only a few systematic reviews based on studies done in connection with influenza epidemics.
The authors state the possibility of these reviews not being relevant as it is quite possible that children play a small role in transmitting the COVID-19, the opposite of the influenza virus.
COVID-19-EPIDEMIC : The role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) – a rapid review. Oslo, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 2020, 14 p.
English / Europe / Norway