The potential risk COVID-19 presents to your family has been well documented and is the subject of ongoing study. The ongoing study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the joint effort of thousands of public health officials and scientists all over the world. While the information they discover answers many questions, it also continues to present more. Trying to discover the right information to keep your family safe can be a real challenge. Below we’ll present some of the latest findings and what it means for the health and safety of your children.
How Children Respond To COVID-19
There’s been some evidence to suggest that children are less susceptible to COVID-19 than adults. The accuracy of this statement is hard to discern, as studies show that children often contract COVID-19 without showing symptoms. This phenomenon is known as an asymptomatic infection. What we do know is that children who contract the virus are less likely to experience severe symptoms from the disease. Unfortunately, asymptomatic children are still quite capable of spreading the infection. Aside from regularly having your children checked for COVID-19, it’s critical that you follow these safety tips:
- Continue to practice social distancing and masking outside the home
- Wash your hands frequently, taking at least 20 seconds each wash, using hand sanitizer when washing your hands is impractical
- Get your family vaccinated as soon as it’s available, and be sure to get your booster shots
COVID-19 has been showing a propensity to rapid mutation. This has resulted in multiple strains, or variants, of the virus being discovered in the past months. Many of these variants have shown a greater ability to bind to receptors on the cell’s surface. This has been speculated to be the reason they tend to be more contagious than other strains. While this is worrying, it appears that none of the new variants result in a more severe sickness than COVID-19.
There’s a silver lining on this otherwise dark cloud, however. The CDC’s initial research suggests that our current COVID-19 vaccines still provide protection against these new variants. Further, the safety measures already in place will continue to protect us if followed closely. This means that the above tips are still essential in protecting your family from contracting the COVID-19 virus.
Children over five years of age are currently able to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as of the publishing of this article. Research continues to be done to produce vaccines for children below this age.
Ask Your Physician For More COVID-19 Facts
If you’re concerned about your child contracting COVID-19, speak to your physician. They’ll be able to help you understand the potential risks and what to expect if it happens. It’s thankful that the vast majority of those children who contract COVID-19 recover well without the need for advanced medical care. In rare cases, a condition known as multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, can occur. This syndrome causes the inflammation of internal organs, skin, and eyes as part of an excessive immune response. If you see symptoms like these, speak to your pediatrician immediately.