(1/5) Study of 91 children with #COVID19 from South Korea, showing that symptom screening will fail to identify the majority of cases in children, and that viral RNA can be detected for an unexpectedly long time.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamap…
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamap…
(2/5) Children were tested if they had a history of close contact with a known case, had an epidemiological link to an outbreak, had arrived from abroad, or had symptoms suggestive of #COVID19. This means the study is likely representative, as few cases are missed in South Korea.
(3/5) Approximately one-fifth of children (22%) were asymptomatic.
Of the children who were symptomatic, 66% had symptoms which went unrecognised before they were tested.
Only 6 children (9%) were diagnosed at the time of symptom onset.
Of the children who were symptomatic, 66% had symptoms which went unrecognised before they were tested.
Only 6 children (9%) were diagnosed at the time of symptom onset.
(4/5) Of the children with symptoms, 60% had respiratory symptoms (including cough and runny nose), and 18% had gastrointestinal symptoms (including diarrhoea). Loss of smell or taste was reported by 16%.
(5/5) Viral RNA was detected for an average of 14 days in asymptomatic cases, 19 days in children with upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), and 20 days in those with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). Infectious virus was likely shed for a shorter time, however.
