Study: No Difference in Rate of COVID Spread in Adults and Children

A new study, “Household Transmission and Clinical Features of SARS-CoV-2 Infections,” in the March 2022 Pediatrics (available online Feb. 23) finds no significant difference in how susceptible family members from preschool-aged children through older adults were to catching COVID from another family member. Researchers examined a COVID transmission study conducted in Tennessee and Wisconsin between April 21, 2020, and April 30, 2021, and found that the risk of spread from one family member to another was 36% to 53%, with little difference between family members of differing ages. For example, the risk of infection ranged from 36% among people ages 65 and older to 53% among children ages 5-11. Of the secondary infections in each household, 19% were asymptomatic, and it took two days for symptoms to appear after detection on average, which also did not differ by age, and eight days until the person no longer tested positive. However, about a third of those infected (34%) continued to be positive on the last day of follow-up. Researchers concluded that both children and adults can transmit and are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, but more research is needed because this study was conducted before the Delta and Omicron variants and transmission frequency may differ for those new variants.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.