Children Half as Likely as Adults To Transmit New Variant

(from the New York Times) Initial reports about a new variant of COVID-19 were tinged with worry that children might be just as susceptible as adults, fueling speculation that schools might need to pre-emptively close. But recent research from Public Health England may put those fears to rest. Based on detailed contact-tracing of about 20,000 people infected with the new variant — including nearly 3,000 children under 10 — the report showed that young children were about half as likely as adults to transmit the variant to others. That was true of the previous iteration of the virus, as well. But the variant is 30-50% more contagious among children, just as it is among adults, and is expected to pummel the United States and other countries, as it did Britain, becoming the dominant form by March. 

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