key: cord-0911951-6eewbhh3
authors: Cho, Eun Young; Choi, Eun Hwa; Kim, Jong-Hyun
title: Interpreting Transmissibility of COVID-19 in Children
date: 2020-12-03
journal: Emerg Infect Dis
DOI: 10.3201/eid2612.203452
sha: 2969dbcd93f983a03845f5f629d433fc083271eb
doc_id: 911951
cord_uid: 6eewbhh3

nan

Eun Young Cho, Eun Hwa Choi, Jong-Hyun Kim In the study, the overall detection rate of COVID-19 among household contacts was 11.8%; the highest detection rate (18.6%) was in household contacts of those 10-19 years of age and the lowest detection rate (5.3%) in household contacts of those 0-9 years of age. The media have reported the research as evidence that transmissibility in adolescents and adults is similar (2) . Such an interpretation may influence decisionmaking on the reopening of schools.

Although this study nicely demonstrated the effectiveness of contact tracing strategy during a period of school closure, understanding transmissibility and the implications for the reopening of schools requires reinterpretation of the data. As of April 29, 2020, a total of 37.8% of the 10-19 age group were 19 years of age (223/590) and, therefore, were not school children (3) . A recently published study in South Korea (4) reported 107 primary source children (aged 0-18) had 248 household contacts and only 1 became infected, giving a secondary attack rate of 0.5%. Data from source and contact tracing in the Netherlands (5) also confirmed low transmissibility in children <18 years of age (0/43, 0%) compared with persons >18 years (55/566, 8.3%).

Accumulating data, including this study, suggest low transmissibility in infected children <10 years of age. However, transmissibility in the adolescent age group is unclear at this time. The 10-19 years age group includes diverse students who have completely different contact patterns from elementary school through college; thus, transmission dynamics of COVID-19 may be different. Further detailed studies on understanding transmissibility of the virus by each school level can provide helpful insights for safe reopening of schools.

Dr. Cho is a clinical associate professor at Department of Pediatrics, Chungnam National University Hospital. Her primary research focuses on pediatric infectious diseases.

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