Kids and COVID

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Anchor lead: Most children don’t seem to develop severe COVID-19 illness, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Children appear to develop mild or moderate COVID-19 illness, studies show, yet Rachel Thornton, a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins, says that knowledge may not alleviate the fears of parents.

Thornton: To parents any infection in their child that could cause them illness is a problem, and there’s a variety of other complications to daily life that our response to the pandemic is facing children and families with. In terms of the illness itself our sense so far is that in general, children do not seem to overall have extremely high risk of severe illness or death, but generalizations don’t apply to every specific situation the same way.  :29

Thornton says parents may help themselves deal with their fears by keeping informed about the COVID-19 pandemic and what they can do individually to help, including social distancing and vigilant hygiene. She notes that pediatricians are available to help parents, too. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.