Closed classes, hoarse coughs and reinfections… the sixth wave of coronavirus is particularly visible at school where, despite a lightened protocol, many students are regularly absent.
The current outbreak of Covid-19 cases does not spare children. The omicron variant has spawned. It is his BA.2 sub-lineage that currently prevails. Very contagious, its impact on hospitals is limited because the population is widely vaccinated and it seems less dangerous than the previous variant, delta. But the cases are accumulating and the return of the February school holidays is marked by an increase in closed classes. From 72 on February 26, according to national education data, we go to 3,184 on March 17.
Paradoxically, this increase in closures does not refer to the increase in viral circulation among children, but to that noted among teachers. Since the beginning of January, classes no longer close automatically from three cases of Covid. These 3,184 closed classes are rather the result of positive and non-replaced teachers, assures the ministry to Release.
Be that as it may, the youngest are indeed among the most affected at the start of the epidemic recovery, especially since the mask is no longer compulsory. The incidence among 6-14 year olds exceeds 1,200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven rolling days, well above the 928 average incidence.
A disease much less serious than for their elders
Figures to put into perspective, according to Professor François Angoulvant, pediatrician at the Robert-Debré hospital in Paris. “The question is who are you testing. At the moment, there are more measures to go and test children. At the start of the epidemic, it was the opposite. But the virus is spreading among the youngest as well as the rest of the population.he explains to Release. In fact, in its point of March 18, Public Health France notes that the screening rate “increased the most among 3-5 year olds (2,750/100,000, +28%) and 6-10 year olds (3,194, +39%)”.
Fortunately, Covid-19 remains a disease much less serious for health children than that of their elders. France deplores 59 deaths of patients under the age of 19 since the start of the epidemic. But half of them have taken place this year. Ultra-contagious, the omicron variant has infected a particularly high number of people. This rate of circulation also raised fears for a time that children could be, in large numbers, victims of very acute inflammatory syndromes a few weeks after their infection, the famous Pims. Fortunately, this push of Pims did not occur. “During the omicron wave, it is estimated that the rate of Pims fell by a factor of ten”, advances François Angoulvant. He offers an explanation. “It is the first encounter with the virus that seems most at risk of generating a Pims. Now, the number of children who have already had Covid or are vaccinated is in the majority“, he believes. The omicron variant has, in fact, multiplied the number of reinfections. Re-infection with BA.2 one month after infection with omicron has even been observed.
Moreover, Denmark, ahead of the omicron and BA.2 waves, did not observe any serious effects on the health of children either. Likewise in Israel, “We cannot say that this wave has been more aggressive than previous ones towards children, even if we take into account that there have been many more infections than in the past. Two-thirds of Covid-19 infections occurred in three months during the omicron wave, compared to one-third for previous waves», Tells us the epidemiologist Cyrille Cohen. One more confirmation that, thanks to vaccination, the incidence rate is no longer correlated as before with hospital blood pressure.
“Seal Cough”
But the arrival of each variant requires an ad hoc analysis. Symptoms and their severity can change from version to version of the virus. An American study, carried out in Houston, highlighted “the seal’s cough”, as a symptom linked to Covid-19 in the youngest (mainly those under 5 years old). These laryngitis were already observed before omicron but seem to be more frequent with this variant, known to attack the upper airways more readily than the lower ones. But it is a symptommarginal“Which is much more common with the flu, tempers François Angoulvant. Lille University Hospital, contacted by Releasehas also not noticed a particular influx of children with strong coughs in its pediatric emergencies.
Whatever happens, the best protection against severe forms of Covid for children, as for adults, remains vaccination. If nearly 80% of the French population is vaccinated, they are only 2.4% among 5-9 year olds and 7.3% among 10-11 year olds against 82% among 12-17 year olds.