COVID-19 Transmission in Children: Implications for Schools

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic poses multiple issues of importance to child health including threats to physical health and disruption of in-school learning. This chapter reviews what is currently known about COVID-19 epidemiology, presentation, pathophysiology, case definitions, therapies, and in-school transmission in children. COVID-19 has some unique characteristics in children including the rare yet severe Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) that may be related to acquired immune responses. There are limited studies to date to define therapeutic guidelines in children, however consensus recommendations from multiple organizations are summarized including the use of immunomodulatory therapies (intravenous immunoglobulin, steroids, anakinra and tocilizumab), antiplatelet (aspirin) and anti-coagulant (low molecular weight heparin) therapies. Finally, considerations for safe return to the classroom are discussed including strategies for optimized student to teacher ratios, hand washing, social distancing, sibling pairing and staged re-opening strategies.