Every second Covid infection of a child or adolescent is not discovered in Vienna. This was shown by the lead Covid-19 study carried out in Vienna, for which scientists carried out antibody tests on more than 600 unvaccinated children and adolescents who believed they were not infected with the virus. The vaccination is the only way to protect the children, concluded project manager Marie-Kathrin Breyer from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Lung Health.
Around ten percent of children and adolescents in Vienna had already been infected with the Covid tests carried out several times a week in schools. With the data collected in October 2021, the scientists now found that this number only represents around half of all infected people in the age group from six to 20 years. 9.3 percent of the six to twelve year olds were knowingly infected, the study found additional 8.8 percent whose infection has so far gone undetected. A similar picture emerges among adolescents between twelve and 20 years of age: 12.4 percent of this age group had knowingly gone through an infection, and even more – 13.7 percent – unknowingly. Around 20 percent of Viennese children and adolescents have already been infected with the corona virus. School tests are important Testing at Viennese schools is important because otherwise the number of unreported cases would be even higher. It is to be feared that this is the case in other federal states, because the Viennese children and adolescents are best tested in Austria, said Breyer. “Not only does SARS-CoV-2 disease in children not always run without complications and without long-term consequences, the children and adolescents also ensure that the virus continues to spread. If we really want to protect our children – and thus also ourselves and others – vaccination is the only way, ”said the scientist.
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