UW Study Compares COVID Differences Between Kids And Adults

SEATTLE — A recent University of Washington study is shedding new light on how COVID-19 spread and symptoms differ between children and adults.

Or rather, how little they differ.

According to the study, published Friday in JAMA Pediatrics, children infected with the coronavirus may show fewer symptoms of COVID-19, but they still carry similar levels of the virus as infected adults.

For the study, researchers used data collected by the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network, which mailed COVID-19 self test kits to volunteers all over Seattle and King County. Those volunteers swabbed themselves or their children, logged their symptoms, and mailed the results back in for processing.

UW Medicine collected and studied the results from March 23 to November 9, 2020, and found that children and adults had similar viral loads. Asymptomatic children and asymptomatic adults had smaller loads than their counterparts with symptoms, but the levels remained largely consistent regardless of age.

Researchers say that means asymptomatic children carrying COVID-19 should be considered as infectious as asymptomatic adults, at least until the issue is explored further.

That's difficult news for educators, because it also means simple symptom-based screenings are not enough to prevent COVID-19 spread in schools — researchers say their findings suggest masks, ventilation and other safety guidelines will likely remain necessary going forward.

"[I]t does tell us that when you look [at] children in the community with SARS-CoV-2 infection, these children can have viral loads similar to adults, and that they can transmit to others," said Dr. Helen Chu, the study's senior author and associate professor of medicine at UW. "They need to be vaccinated, both to protect themselves and the community."

>> Read the full study in JAMA Network.