Thread by @smartrestartaps

1/ NEW preprint finds bigtime under-reporting of COVID-19 in kids in NoVA.

8.5% of kids in INOVA/GMU study had COVID-19, but ⅔ were asymptomatic/didn't know it.

Higher infection rate found in kids than adults; MUST reconsider role of kids in epidemic.

tinyurl.com/34b26jce

2/ Significant risk factors included being Hispanic, living in a multifamily apartment building without a private entrance, not having health care access/insurance, and known exposure to a COVID+ family member.

3/ Early serology studies had indicated low rates of COVID-19 infections in kids, as low as 1%, or adults having much higher rates than kids.

So 8.5% of kids having had COVID-19 is a lot higher than expected.

4/ Analyzing samples from more than 1,000 kids in the NoVA study, the prevalence rates showed how COVID-19 cuts by race and wealth:

Hispanic kids: 26.8% had had COVID-19
Medicaid insurance: 21.6%
No insurance: 55%
Apartment/Multifamily home: 28.7%
Low-income clinic: 25%

5/ More breakdowns:

White kids: 8.2%
Black kids: 5.2%
Asian kids: 5.7%
"Other" racial origin: 16.2%

0-5 years old: 13.7%
6-10 years old: 7.5%
11-15 (young teens): 5.1%
16-19 (older teens): 10.8%

33% kids with known exposure to someone with COVID-19+ had antibodies.

6/ Of the kids who had a family member who had had COVID-19 living in their household, 52.5% also had had COVID-19. (Very similar to CDC study on household transmission.)

65.9% of children never reported symptoms.

54.6% of children — family had no idea where kid was exposed.

7/ The rate for kids "cared for outside of the home" was 8.7% and the rate for kids not cared for outside of the home was 8.2%. The authors noted that child care centers were more likely to have mitigations in place to stop transmission; not a significant difference.

8/ The authors note findings have "important implications for this silent burden of disease and risk of transmission to and from children."

"Children appear very important in the transmission of disease, including silent transmission."

Vaccines for kids — a big need.

@BarbaraKanninen @ReidForSchools @Monique4APS @PriddyAPS @cdiaztorres240 @SuptDuran @BrianStockton19

Tagging @APSVirginia since this is an incredibly useful study, and local!

Realistic that 5-14% of students (different by grade) may come to school COVID-19+ over school year.

Also, assume that ⅔ of COVID-19 cases in your students, will NOT BE CAUGHT BY COVID-19 TESTS! They will fly under the radar until we get a better plan for testing.

@BarbaraKanninen @ReidForSchools @Monique4APS @PriddyAPS @cdiaztorres240 @SuptDuran @BrianStockton19

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