CHAPTER 5
How does Long Covid affect children?
Can children under the age of 15 contract Covid-19?
C
hildren under the age of 15 can contract Covid-19. Unlike adults, they are less likely to become severely ill. 76
Babies are at slightly higher risk for serious illness than older children, but overall Covid-19 infant and child mortality is rare. 77 Do children experience the same Covid-19 symptoms as adults?
Children display the classic signs of Covid-19—cough, fever, sore throat, runny nose, diarrhea, nausea—though more mildly than in adults. A child may have very few or many symptoms, but in either case will rarely need to be hospitalized. Most can recover at home. Children can also display no symptoms. Studies estimate up to half of infected children have either very mild or no symptoms at all. 78 This age group is most likely to spread Covid-19 without knowing, as they remain infectious despite the lack of symptoms. 79 COVID-19 in babies and children - Mayo Clinic Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report 78 Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis | PNAS 79 Virologic features of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children | medRxiv 76 77
38
