Coronavirus infection rate spikes for children – NEWS.com.au

Until now, children had largely escaped the serious dangers of coronavirus.But it seems COVID-19 – which wasn’t said to be dangerous most kids – has turned on them, with more cases, deaths and child-to-child transmission being reported.
Throughout the worldwide pandemic we’ve been told children are at extremely low risk of becoming sick from the virus, with adults, particularly older ones, far more likely to be seriously ill and die from complications.
Now hundreds of children are dying from COVID-19.
At the weekend the first child under the age of five in South Carolina in the US died from the virus.
According to health officials there, younger South Carolinians continue to contribute to more and more positive cases.
A young adult also died there on Saturday.
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There has been a massive 436.5 per cent increase in newly reported cases among the state’s 21-30 age group since June 1, which is the largest percentage by age group.
In Texas a six-week-old baby also died at the weekend.
The child had a co-infection and his death was identified as sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.
“Unfortunately (coronavirus) does not discriminate,” Nueces County Medical Examiner Dr Adel Shaker told CNN.
“It affects people with comorbidities, and with pre-existing condition like diabetes, hypertension and obesity, but now it affects everybody. Nobody is secluded from infection.”
In the US, more children are being diagnosed with coronavirus-related inflammatory syndrome.
The syndrome is a potential complication seen in some children and teenagers following infections or exposure to those with COVID-19.
Symptoms include fever, stomach pain, vomiting, a rash and fatigue.
“We continue to see more and more young people, especially those under 20, contracting and spreading COVID-19,” South Carolina state epidemiologist Dr Linda Bell said,
“Multisystem inflammatory syndrome is a serious health complication linked to COVID-19 and is all the more reason why we must stop the spread of this virus.”
Experts are still trying to figure out why some children experience the syndrome and others don’t.
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In the UK, doctors have revealed at least two children have died from the disease.
The illness has been likened to Kawasaki disease, which mainly affects under-fives and causes blood vessels throughout the body to swell.
In Indonesia, doctors have warned that more than 100 children may have died from the coronavirus.
“Cases of children being exposed to COVID-19 have mostly been infected by family members who are positive patients or caregivers,” Commissioner Susianah Affandy said in a statement.
Indonesian Paediatrician Association chairman Dr Aman B Pulungan told the ABC the number proved it was not true that those under-18 were not susceptible to the virus, or that they only suffered mild illness.
Back home in Australia, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer warned extensive testing was showing that child-to-child transmission was “more apparent” than first thought.
Professor Brett Sutton said while instances of transmission in children was not a significant risk, the data was showing that it had a greater prevalence in the community.
“Child-to-child transmission has become more apparent as we have tested more kids,” he said.
“It is still not a significant risk, but some of the earlier evidence was clearly biased by the fact that kids have mild symptoms and they were not being tested.
“We have done much more extensive testing, we have found there are probably more kids that get infected, not necessarily propagating an outbreak, but certainly kids are getting infected when you have a high community levels of transmission.”

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