Jenny Harries: "Children have less severe disease, and they're certainly not transmitting disease any more than adults do."
Hang on a mo! If they transmit coronavirus at the same rate as adults, they are of danger to adults as carriers - even if they themselves will survive ok.
Hang on a mo! If they transmit coronavirus at the same rate as adults, they are of danger to adults as carriers - even if they themselves will survive ok.
And that means that if they go to school and catch the virus, they can infect:
- Teachers
- Other school staff
- Transport workers (if by public transport)
- Passengers (ditto)
- Their parents and other family members
- People they encounter in other settings, e.g. shops
- Teachers
- Other school staff
- Transport workers (if by public transport)
- Passengers (ditto)
- Their parents and other family members
- People they encounter in other settings, e.g. shops
They may not even realise they're carrying it if they're asymptomatic or only very mildly affected. But that doesn't reduce the danger to everyone else.
On the other hand if they're homeschooled and not meeting anyone, the danger's near-zero.
On the other hand if they're homeschooled and not meeting anyone, the danger's near-zero.
Also worth noting: adults aren't being crammed 15 to a classroom (minimum, *if* schools have the space and the staff to split classes) for hours on end. So children will have far more opportunities to infect each other in a typical day than the same number of adults would.
And then there's this official UK Government guidance, which doesn't really gel with the idea that children can't be transmitters...
gov.uk/government/pub…
gov.uk/government/pub…
