What we are learning about Covid-19 and kids
As schools around the world prepare to reopen, new scientific evidence about children and coronavirus is coming to light
Back in April, the French epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet found himself leading an investigation in the town of Crepy-en-Valois, a small community of 15,000 inhabitants just to the north-east of Paris. In February, the town's middle and high schools had become the centre of a new outbreak of Covid-19.
Fontanet and colleagues from the Pasteur Institute in Paris were tasked with conducting antibody testing across Crepy-en-Valois to understand the extent to which the virus had been circulating. As they surveyed the town, they noted an interesting pattern. While the virus had spread rampantly through the high school, with 38% of students being infected, along with 43% of teachers and 59% of non-teaching staff, the same was not true for the town's six primary schools. While three primary-age pupils had caught Covid-19 in early February, none of these infections had led to a secondary case. Overall, just 9% of primary age pupils, 7% of teachers and 4% of non-teaching staff had been infected with the virus.
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