Children’s role in spread of Covid-19 still puzzles scientists
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Children can carry coronavirus in their noses for up to three weeks, according to a study from South Korea.
Earlier studies have found the vast majority of children with the virus have mild or no symptoms.
But these findings shed light on the unresolved question of how likely children are to spread the virus to others.
The study emphasises the continuing role of social distancing and good hygiene as children go back to school.
The study, based on 91 children, found that even among those with few or no symptoms, virus could be found in their swabs as much as three weeks later.
The fact they had detectable virus in their noses, the authors concluded, suggested they were capable of passing it on.
Because of the way South Korea tested, traced and isolated cases, even those without symptoms, it is uniquely placed to look at this group.
Once they had identified and isolated cases, the patients were repeatedly tested until the virus had cleared.
The study was therefore able to give us some new information about children as carriers of the virus, and their potential capacity to be spreading it onwards.
Like other studies, though, it still leaves a missing piece of the puzzle.
Just because virus is found in a child’s nose does not definitively prove they are transmitting it at the same rate as adults.
