A new study published in PLOS Computational Biology aimed to estimate the susceptibility and infectivity of children with COVID-19, compared to those of adults.

The present study used data on infections within households. Data were collected from 637 households in the city of Bnei Brak, Israel; all household members were tested for COVID-19 using PCR. 

The findings revealed that children are less likely to be tested positive compared to adults—25% of children were tested positive over all households, whereas, among adults, 44% tested positive, excluding index cases. Additionally, it was noted that the risk of testing positive increases with age.

Analysis of joint PCR/serological data showed that there is under-detection of infections in the PCR testing, which is more substantial in children, but were not sufficient to account for the differences in PCR positive rates in the two age groups. 

The estimates indicated that the susceptibility of children under 20 years of age is 43% of the susceptibility of adults. Meanwhile, the infectivity of children was estimated to be 63% relative to that of adults. Furthermore, individuals below the age of 20 years were also found to have lesser odds of transmitting the disease to others.

Source: PLOS Computational Biology. February 11, 2021. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008559