Invited to the Why Doctor podcast on Wednesday April 15, Professor Robert Cohen, specialist in childhood infections, provided an update on the implications of the reopening of schools announced for May 11. He also presented the terms of the study he is currently conducting in the Paris region.
-1587046651.jpg "Covid-19: a study in Île-de-France to take stock of the contaminating power of children")
- A study of 600 children will be carried out in Ile de France to see more clearly about their ability to transmit Covid-19
- It is likely that this study shows a lower than expected level of the number of children who have been contaminated
- These data are important to judge the relevance of the reopening of schools on May 11
The announcement of the reopening of nurseries, schools, colleges and high schools from May 11 is widely debated in France. In particular: the risk of a further spread of Covid-19. “Before, we were all convinced, pediatric infectious disease specialists, that, as with several viruses, children were more often carriers than adults and that they could play an important role in contamination., explains Professor Robert Cohen in the Why Doctor podcast. An idea taken up by Emmanuel Macron when he announced the closure of schools before the entry into force of confinement, on March 17.
“Based on this hypothesis, we quickly realized that the sample taken from children, taken in the emergency room or in the entourage of patients, was three to five times more frequently negative than in adults.develops the doctor. Then, among the hospitalized children, the vast majority were contaminated by an adult in their entourage..” Data which therefore calls into question the contaminating power of children.
A study of 600 children in the Paris region
Faced with this observation, Professor Cohen decided to look further into the question, through a study of 600 children in Île-de-France. Half of them will show fever and cough, while the other part of the children will show no symptoms of Covid-19. The pediatricians will first perform a PCR test, then a micro-method serology. If he warns on the “lack of certainty” concerning the reliability of this second category of tests, the doctor says to himself “quite confident”. “Only studies allow us to move forward”he adds.
The one he launched on Tuesday April 14 with his team will not be finished in time for May 11. Nevertheless, the pediatric infectiologist evokes the possibility of having some data by then. “We will already have a considerable number of children who will be registered, who will already be included in the study”, he says. Especially since the test results come fairly quickly.
“A trial run for the start of the school year in September”
“We understood that in terms of Covid-19, we had very few certainties and that we were working on the most probable scenarios.says Professor Cohen. The most likely scenario is that in September, there will still be very few children who will have positive serology, and who will thus be likely to catch the disease. So, in September, we will find ourselves in exactly the same situation.
Deconfining children by fixing the reopening of classes on May 11 would therefore not be a bad thing. “We are not going to reopen everything at the same time and we are going to see what is possible, what is reasonable, by opening graduallyconsiders the specialist. How many children per class, what protections for the teachers… I think it could be a trial run for the start of the school year in September that it would not be negligible to have.”
Below, the interview of Professor Robert Cohen:
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