WEBVTT - How COVID-19 Affects Children

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<v Speaker 1>It's Monday, March sixteen. I'm Oscar Emeras from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus update. We know that older people are most at risk.

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<v Speaker 1>We're getting severe symptoms from coronavirus, but why aren't children

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<v Speaker 1>getting that sick. Studies have shown that children can contract

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<v Speaker 1>the virus at the same rates as adults, but the

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<v Speaker 1>symptoms are not as bad. It all could come down

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<v Speaker 1>to a person's underlying health conditions. While the immune system

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<v Speaker 1>is fighting the virus, it could also be exacerbating these

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<v Speaker 1>underlying health factors. Megan Ulteney, staff writer at Wired, joins

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<v Speaker 1>us for why COVID nineteen isn't affecting kids the same

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<v Speaker 1>way as others. Thanks for joining us, Megan, Thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>having me. We're still trying to learn more about COVID nineteen,

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<v Speaker 1>the coronavirus, and how people get affected by it. Right now,

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<v Speaker 1>a single contagious person can affect about two point two others.

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<v Speaker 1>On average. Globally, three point four percent of reported COVID

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<v Speaker 1>patients have died. These numbers are all subject to change

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<v Speaker 1>as we get more infections and we get to drill

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<v Speaker 1>down a little bit more on what's happening. But one

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<v Speaker 1>of the big questions that has been because we've seen

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<v Speaker 1>the debts, and we've seen the severe cases, mostly in

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<v Speaker 1>older adults, mostly having underlying health conditions. But the big

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<v Speaker 1>question is where have all the kids gone? Like, what's

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<v Speaker 1>happening to children that are being infected with the virus.

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<v Speaker 1>Because usually when there's some type of respiratory disease something

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<v Speaker 1>like that, it tends to affect young kids and older people.

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<v Speaker 1>So we're trying to figure out exactly why there haven't

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<v Speaker 1>been that many severe cases and children Megan. There's a

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<v Speaker 1>few studies that have come out about this. Now what

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<v Speaker 1>do we know? Yeah, so you know, there have been

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<v Speaker 1>some recent analyzes um looking at cases coming out of

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<v Speaker 1>China that have indicated that children under the age of

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<v Speaker 1>ten account for less than one percent of all infections.

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<v Speaker 1>According to the World Health Organization, their data shows that

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<v Speaker 1>about two point four percent of reported cases in China

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<v Speaker 1>were children under the age of ten, So those are

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<v Speaker 1>still you know, if it's somewhere between one and two

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<v Speaker 1>point four percent, it's still a pretty small case. And

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<v Speaker 1>if we look at you know, cases of where children

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<v Speaker 1>got critically ill, that's happening even less like point two

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<v Speaker 1>percent of the time. China has yet to report any

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<v Speaker 1>instances of a young child dying of the disease caused

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<v Speaker 1>by this you know, new novel coronavirus. So for the

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<v Speaker 1>last you know number of weeks, as UM you know,

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<v Speaker 1>these cases have passed a hundred thousand globally, we're just

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<v Speaker 1>seeing very few kids, um in the case numbers. The

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<v Speaker 1>interesting thing is that children are not necessarily not being infected.

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<v Speaker 1>They are being diagnosed with COVID nineteen. They're just not

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<v Speaker 1>getting as sick as some older people. Yeah, So for

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<v Speaker 1>the last few weeks there's kind of been this question of,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, our kids not getting infected and that's why

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<v Speaker 1>we're seeing the low case numbers, or do they just

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<v Speaker 1>have much more mild response to the virus and so

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<v Speaker 1>they're not showing up because they're not you know, presenting

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<v Speaker 1>symptoms that would um, you know, allow them to get diagnosed.

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<v Speaker 1>And so a new study came out um last week.

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<v Speaker 1>It was published to a preprint server, and instead of

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<v Speaker 1>just looking at case data, it actually looked at contact tracing.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is the process by which health officials will

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<v Speaker 1>go out and find people who have been exposed to

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<v Speaker 1>patients of COVID nineteen and then track all of those

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<v Speaker 1>people and monitor them and see if they get sick

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<v Speaker 1>or not. And so that starts to build a more

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<v Speaker 1>detailed picture of something called the attack rates, So how

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<v Speaker 1>often the virus actually spreads into people of different age

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<v Speaker 1>groups when they've kind of been exposed to the same

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<v Speaker 1>number of infected people. And so looking at that data,

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<v Speaker 1>which was actually collected by the Chinese c d C

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<v Speaker 1>in Shenzen Province, which about seven hundred miles to the

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<v Speaker 1>south of where the kind of epicenter of the outbreak

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<v Speaker 1>was in Hube, they were able to identify about four

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<v Speaker 1>hundred patients and about twelve people who've been in close contact.

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<v Speaker 1>And when they looked at that data, what they found

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<v Speaker 1>was that the virus basically appears to infect children at

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<v Speaker 1>the same rates that they infect adults. So between seven

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<v Speaker 1>and eight percent of the time that someone is exposed

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<v Speaker 1>to an infected person, say themselves would get the disease,

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<v Speaker 1>and that was true whether that person was in their

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<v Speaker 1>sixties or that person was under the age of ten.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the first time we're seeing data AMERGE that

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<v Speaker 1>suggests that in fact can get the disease just as

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<v Speaker 1>much as if anyone else can. It's just that they

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<v Speaker 1>appear to have much milder symptoms than adults, and particularly

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<v Speaker 1>people in the kind of elderly age coort. So then

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<v Speaker 1>that leads us to believe underlying health conditions seemed to

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<v Speaker 1>be a key factor in the severity of COVID nineteen.

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<v Speaker 1>When you know it starts going crazing their bodies, also

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<v Speaker 1>their immune system the response. So the immune system seems

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<v Speaker 1>to be a double edged sword because it's trying to

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<v Speaker 1>fight the virus, but it's also fighting the body itself,

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<v Speaker 1>damaging healthy tissues sometimes and other people are said, going

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<v Speaker 1>back to the children, they don't have a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>these underlying health conditions. Their lungs haven't been as going

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<v Speaker 1>through years and years of inflammation, and these little things

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<v Speaker 1>could be helping children have these milder symptoms. So at

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<v Speaker 1>this point these are hypotheses because we don't have the

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<v Speaker 1>kind of experimental data that we would need to prove

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<v Speaker 1>these out. I'm sure those studies will be coming, but

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<v Speaker 1>what you've talked about relies on some older research on

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<v Speaker 1>a related coronavirus, the coronavirus that causes stars. There was

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<v Speaker 1>an outbreak of that in two thousand two and two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand three in China, and so scientists who over the

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<v Speaker 1>last decade or so have been studying stars in the lab.

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<v Speaker 1>What they have seen is that as mice get older

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<v Speaker 1>and older, they have worse and worse symptoms and worse

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<v Speaker 1>and worse outcomes um with stars. And because of the

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<v Speaker 1>way that stars um, it has what's called kind of

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<v Speaker 1>a biphasic pattern where you kind of have this big

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<v Speaker 1>surge of symptoms right after infection when the virus is

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<v Speaker 1>replicating heavily in the lungs, and so you get that fever,

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<v Speaker 1>you get that cough, and then it dies down as

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<v Speaker 1>the immune system kicks in. And then for patients who

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<v Speaker 1>experience the worst symptoms, patients who often died, they kind

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<v Speaker 1>of saw an uptick in symptoms that this time they

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<v Speaker 1>researchers believe was not being caused by the virus itself,

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<v Speaker 1>but by an immune system that had turned on and

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<v Speaker 1>was kind of an overdrive and not able to turn

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<v Speaker 1>itself off. And so their data from epidemiological studies of

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<v Speaker 1>STARS patients as well as UM lab animals that have

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<v Speaker 1>been infected with stars, has kind of built up this

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<v Speaker 1>body of evidence that suggests that the immune response is

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<v Speaker 1>as important in determining how severe someone's symptoms are with

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<v Speaker 1>the stars coronaviruses as the virus itself, and so we

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<v Speaker 1>have reason to believe that this new virus that causes

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<v Speaker 1>COVID nineteen may um, you know, may provoke a similar

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<v Speaker 1>a similar set of circumstances in patients. And so that's

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<v Speaker 1>why we're seeing the higher mortality rates and higher set

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<v Speaker 1>of severe symptoms and older patients. It's super important to

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<v Speaker 1>understand why this is happening, why children aren't getting affected

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<v Speaker 1>as seriously as some others, because when it comes down

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<v Speaker 1>to public health officials being confronted with these choices, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we keep hearing a lot about social distancing and closing

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<v Speaker 1>down concerts and all this other stuff, closing schools down.

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<v Speaker 1>Even children are being infected at similar rates as normal adults,

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<v Speaker 1>but they're not showing the symptoms. So it's kind of

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<v Speaker 1>an interesting thing, you know, do you shut down more schools?

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<v Speaker 1>Do you keep kids out of bigger areas just because

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<v Speaker 1>they might have it but not be showing the same

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<v Speaker 1>amount of symptoms as So it's important to understand what's

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<v Speaker 1>going on here to some extent. It's still a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit of an open in question just to what extent

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<v Speaker 1>kids are involved in what's called onward transmission. So we

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<v Speaker 1>don't really know right now the extent to which kids

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<v Speaker 1>who are maybe experiencing mild symptoms are going out and

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<v Speaker 1>spreading the virus further. You know, if they're not having

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<v Speaker 1>a bad cough, then they may not be shedding large

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<v Speaker 1>amounts of virus on other people. So that's a place

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<v Speaker 1>where ongoing research is going to be required to understand

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<v Speaker 1>just how much kids are playing a role in spreading

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<v Speaker 1>this disease. Now that we know that kids can get

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<v Speaker 1>infected with it at the same rates as adults, that

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<v Speaker 1>would suggest that, you know, closing schools is perhaps a

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<v Speaker 1>more relevant strategy than if kids weren't getting infected in

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<v Speaker 1>the first place. But still don't understand exactly what some

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<v Speaker 1>of the transmission dynamics are, and so I think the

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<v Speaker 1>probably cautious approach would be to act as though they are,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, vectors of diseases transmission. But like we said,

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<v Speaker 1>that's not something we know for sure at this point.

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<v Speaker 1>Megan Multeney, staff writer at Wired, Thank you very much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us. Yeah, thank you very much for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>This has been your daily coronavirus update. Don't forget that.

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<v Speaker 1>For today's big news stories, you can catch me on

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