Older children are more likely to spread Covid-19 within a household than younger children and adults, according to a new study of 5,706 coronavirus patients in South Korea.<\/p>\n
The researchers traced and tested nearly 60,000 people who had contact with the infected people and found that, on average, 11.8% of household contacts tested positive for Covid-19, according to the early release of a study published on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.<\/p>\n
For people who lived with patients between the ages of 10 and 19, 18.6% tested positive for the virus within about 10 days after the initial case was detected – the highest rate of transmission among the groups studied.<\/p>\n
Children younger than 10 spread the virus at the lowest rate, though researchers warned that could change when schools reopen.<\/p>\n
The study comes on the heels of an intensifying debate about whether, when and how schools should resume classes.<\/p>\n
Working parents around the world have been struggling to balance their own remote work with the added complication of school closures.<\/p>\n
There is intense pressure on political leaders. In the US, the Trump administration has threatened to withhold federal funds for local school districts that fail to reopen.<\/p>\n
At the same time, virus rates have been rising again, even in places that thought they\u2019d extinguished their outbreaks, and many teachers are wary of returning to the classroom.<\/p>\n
State data suggests the infection rates among children could also be far higher than the 2% reported by the CDC.<\/p>\n
The South Korean study suggests that older children may be particularly contagious, although the researchers point out that household contacts could have contracted the virus elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Still, given the high rates of infection within families, the study called for more research to understand how to limit the spread of the virus at home.<\/p>\n