Scientists are sending cautions against reopening schools, saying it may lead to an accelerated spread of the coronavirus.
New research is showing children have the same rate of spreading the virus as adults, even though most of their infections are asymptomatic. Christian Drosten, a German Virologist, lead a group of scientists to study how children are spreading the virus and how the virus was affecting them.
The study found that children displayed mild symptoms of the virus. However, those infected with the disease had the same rate of transmission as adults. The data provided by the research showed how schools may become hubs of coronavirus.
Scientists caution against reopening schools
Reopening schools will also pose a challenge for testing of coronavirus and curbing its spread because tests are only administered to those showing symptoms of the virus. Most infected children were found to be asymptomatic and would their cases would go undetected. The lack of testing in schools would result in these children carrying the disease and spreading it in other places, a possibility that the scientists have warned about.
The German study tested more than 60,000 people across groups of all ages ranging from one to a hundred years. The study found that, out of those tested, 4,000 people turned out to be positive. Comparing the viral load across all the age groups showed they have similar levels throughout indicating that the rate of transmission was the same across all age groups.
The pandemic has caused a global shutdown of schools and lockdowns. More than 3.3 million people have already been infected by the virus with 233,000 people succumbing to the virus. The virus has also caused a massive loss of jobs and slowing down of economic growth in many countries.
Europe and the US have already started easing the coronavirus lockdown measures as they start to slowly reopen the economies. Speculations on reopening schools have gained momentum.
Featured image by Pixabay
