Francois wrote:
That’s simply not true. There is one study in France which is observational showing one child not infecting anyone in a small cluster of schools. This is indeed unusual and is one of the studies that led to checking whether there is a spread from children to adults.
There is also one study in Australia in NSW showing similar results but where they didn’t control for social distancing and other mechanisms in place and it’s clearly identified as a weakness by the lead author.
But then there is this
https://zoonosen.charite.de/...d-by-patient-age.pdf Which basically says there is no reason kids would spread it less. One study in Hong Kong where they also showed a less spread from kids posited that it’s most likely because most schools have been closed.
Mechanistically there is no reason children wouldn’t spread it. There are reasons though why they’d get less impacted.
Finally I didn’t change the burden of proof. I just said we need a plan for reopening schools. I have said from the very start that there are also very good reasons to reopen and I highlighted such reasons.
As outlined in the discussion section of the paper. " Because of difficulties in conducting observational trials to investigate the infectivity of children as opposed to other age groups with SARS-CoV-2 infection, in this short study we attempt the provision of a direct measure of virus concentration from which one can extrapolate to infectivity." From a wired article. " While experts note that the precise transmission dynamics between children, or between children and adults, are “
not well understood”—and indeed, some argue that the best evidence on this question is that “
we do not have enough evidence”—many tend to think that the risk of contagion is
diminished. Jonas F. Ludvigsson, a pediatrician and a professor of clinical epidemiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, reviewed the relevant research literature as of May 11 and concluded that, while it’s “highly likely” children can transmit the virus causing Covid-19, they “
seldom cause outbreaks.” The World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan,
suggested last month that “it does seem from what we know now that children are less capable of spreading” the disease, and Kristine Macartney, director of Australia's National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, noted a
lack of evidence that
school-aged children are superspreaders in her country. A
study in Ireland found “no evidence of secondary transmission of Covid-19 from children attending school.” And Kári Stefánsson, a leading researcher in Iceland,
told The New Yorker that out of some 56,000 residents who have been tested, “there are only two examples where a child infected a parent. But there are lots of examples where parents infected children.” Similar conclusions were drawn in a
study of families in the Netherlands." As per the last paragraph in the article the reopening plans should be focused on adult interaction within the school. " None of this implies that Covid-19 couldn’t still spread efficiently among a school’s adults—the teachers and staff. Under any reopening plan, those who are most vulnerable to the disease should be allowed to opt out of working onsite until there is a vaccine or effective treatment. And adults who are present, when around each other, should wear masks and maintain proper social distancing. Distancing among adults may be easier to implement in schools, where teachers tend to spend their days divvied up in different rooms, than it would be in some work environments that have already reopened, such as offices, factories, and stores."