A Dallas-area toddler has coronavirus. Here’s what to know about the virus in kids.
A 3-year-old child in Frisco caught coronavirus from his or her father after the man returned from a trip to California, the Frisco school district and Collin County Health Department confirmed Tuesday.
Cleaning crews marched into Tadlock Elementary School on Monday to sanitize the building, where two of the man’s four children attend school. Health officials said neither of the children had symptoms and weren’t contagious while they were at school. The district has canceled classes until March 23.
So far, coronavirus has been relatively rare among children — in China, only about 2.4% of all patients were under 18 years old, the World Health Organization reported.
Still, Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth expects to see some cases among children in the upcoming weeks and months, the hospital said in a news release.
Children who test positive for COVID-19 will likely have a fever, cough and not feel well, the hospital’s news release said, but symptoms among adults will likely be more severe.
Not only have relatively few children been confirmed to have coronavirus, those who have gotten it have generally showed mild symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With so few cases among children, kids might be avoiding the infection entirely, or they are just displaying minor symptoms when they do catch it, said Dr. Baruch Fertel at Cleveland Clinic.
“The thing about this coronavirus is it’s so new,” Fertel said. “Our information is just a few months old.”
If the current pattern holds, it appears that coronavirus might not be as hard on children as it has been on adults, said Fertel, who is the director of operations for the Emergency Services Institute.
It is also possible that children are contracting the virus, but they are exhibiting very minor symptoms that do not prompt parents to get the child tested, Fertel said. A child with the infection might only have the sniffles and bounce back quickly.
However, coronavirus can become severe for children with asthma, underlying health conditions or chronic conditions.
Regardless of the severity of symptoms, if a child has coronavirus, they can still spread it to others. That’s why it’s important for children to stay home if they’re showing any signs of being sick, Fertel said.
“This has moved into the realm of a public health issue,” he said. “It’s not every man, every woman and family for themselves. It’s important to take precautions for others. It’s just the right thing to do.”
Frisco Independent School District encouraged parents to keep their children at home if they have had a fever or been otherwise ill in the previous 24 hours.
Children should also be encouraged more than ever to wash their hands before eating, cough and sneeze into their shoulder or a tissue, and practice good hygiene, Fertel said.
“Because what if the kids are vectors of this disease as well?” Fertel said.
Frisco Independent School District said they were working with the Collin County Health Department and Denton County Public Health to help contain further exposure to the community.
The 3-year-old who tested positive reportedly did not attend a daycare, officials said. The child’s mother also tested positive.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 12:32 PM.
