Covid in children: very sharp increase in cases and concern in schools – Linternaute.com

CHILD CORONAVIRUS. The number of Covid-19 cases detected in children in France has jumped in the latest figures released by the authorities. The Ministry of Education indicates this Friday that more than 4,000 classes are closed because of a case of coronavirus …

This is the highest figure since the start of the school year in September. According to latest update from the Ministry of Education, 4,048 classes were closed as of Thursday, November 18, due to at least one case in the class. The ministry also lists 28 establishments that are completely closed. And these are only schools, no college and no high school being fully blocked to date. In total, nearly 11,000 cases of Covid have been confirmed among students over the last 7 days, 776 among staff. If they are different, these figures coincide with those of the weekly epidemiological update from Public Health France which indicates that the number of contaminations in the school environment (children or adults) increased from 563 to 5,477 in one week, that is to say a tenfold increase.

The daily data also seem to illustrate a worsening. The number of children from 0 to 9 years old tested positively in the latest figures communicated by Public Health France was 2558 positive cases on November 15, 2021. A figure sharply higher compared to the previous week (+1227 cases). Among 10-19 year olds, there were 2717 new cases in 24 hours, still according to the same data (+1123 cases). Among 0 to 9 year olds, there were 90.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in week 45 according to the latest data from Public Health France against 106.3 cases / 100,000 for the general population. This incidence rate for 0-9 year olds was up +35.06 points. Among 10-19 year olds, this incidence rate was 95.4 cases per 100,000, an increase of +27.4 points.

Children in intensive care still very few

This concern in schools is still very weakly reflected in hospitals. 52 children aged 0 to 9 were hospitalized with an infection in the coronavirus according to the results of November 18, 2021, or 9 more than the previous week. 39 patients aged between 10 and 19 were also in hospital, a stable figure from 7 days earlier. The number of children and adolescents in intensive care for Covid-19 remains very low at this stage, with 6 children aged between 0 and 9 years in these services on November 18, 2021. 4 patients aged 10 to 19 were in intensive care, two stable figures in one week.

Scientists continue to disagree on the health impact of the Covid epidemic in children. The French Society of Pediatrics estimated on its website at the end of September that “the most alarmist predictions on the number of children likely to be infected on their return to school should not be seen that among all the epidemic viruses which affect the child, SARS-CoV2 is one of the least pathogenic “and that” the main danger of COVID-19 for children is not that of developing a serious form of the disease but that of affecting their mental health by repeated measures class closure and confinement “. But several doctors and scientists regularly bring divergent points of view. The effects of the coronavirus in children, but also the contagiousness of the youngest remains debated, almost two years after the emergence of the virus.

So where is the coronavirus epidemic in children after the back to class following the All Saints holidays? The government, via Public Health France and Data.gouv, has set up a certain number of indicators which allow the evolution of the Covid to be followed according to the age groups.

This dashboard shows the number of children from 0 to 9 years old and from 10 to 19 years old tested positively in the latest figures communicated by Public Health France (figures consolidated on D-3, updated every evening).

If we follow the evolution of the number of positive tests reported daily among 0 to 9 years old and 10 to 19 years old, the different waves of the coronavirus epidemic are clearly visible in the youngest. The indicators seem to follow the same trend as the general population data:

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Here is the incidence rate (number of cases per 100,000) measured in 0-9 year olds and 10-19 year olds. This rate is measured over the last calendar week. The gray curve represents the incidence rate in the general population.

How is this evolution in the number of cases and incidence in hospitals reflected? Here is the number of children 0-9 and 10-19 hospitalized with coronavirus infection. Figures updated every evening between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

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Here is the number of children 0-9 and 10-19 in intensive care due to coronavirus infection. Figures updated every evening between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

These Covid figures in children seem to draw a double observation: the youngest seem, in France, indeed as much affected (if not more according to the periods for the teenagers) by the coronavirus, but these contaminations do not translate not quite in hospitals and intensive care units. There remains the question of the accelerator that children can constitute in the progression of the epidemic. More affected, they can potentially transmit the virus more massively in the intrafamilial sphere and cause a leverage effect. It is this argument that was taken into account in particular in the choice to close schools before the Easter holidays in 2020.