Coronavirus panic continues to take its toll worldwide – particularly in financial markets, which have been brutalized amid fears that a failure to contain COVID-19 could ultimately prompt a global recession.
According to online search queries, however, the primary concern among most parents at this time of uncertainty is how children fare with the disease.
The median age of coronavirus-related deaths is 75, while, in the case of the latest outbreaks, it’s between the ages of 49 and 56 years, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
And while at least two newborns have been infected, children are less likely to succumb to the Coronavirus and no children in the U.S. have died from the disease.
From USA Today:
Reports out of China that looked at more than 70,000 COVID-19 patients found that only about 2% were in people younger than 19, according to the CDC. A very small proportion of those under 19 years have developed severe (2.5%) or critical disease (0.2%), according to the February WHO study in China.
It’s not immediately clear how many children in the U.S. have been infected with the virus, but reported cases in Washington state appeared to mirror the trend in China: Just 2% of the state’s 366 cases are 19 or younger.
Scientists believe differences in the immune responses of children compared to adults is the reason that older adults are more susceptible to the disease.
What is less clear is how the coronavirus may affect pregnant women, but the CDC warns that pregnant women may experience changes to their body that could make them more susceptible to all viral respiratory infections.
With a vaccine for COVID-19 still more than a year away, U.S. officials are focussing their efforts on prevention and containment of the disease.
WIBC host Tony Katz discussed President Donald Trump’s Wednesday speech from the Oval Office in today’s popcorn moment. Click below to check it out.
