The child’s snot nose is not the biggest concern

Children up to the age of twelve with a snot nose, sneezing or a sore throat are allowed to go to school and day care again. They also do not need to be tested, the cabinet decided on September 19. With the measure, the government hopes to ease the pressure on the congested test streets and prevent many children from missing long-term school and contact with friends. The fact that children with complaints do not have to be tested is a temporary exception, it emphasizes RIVM on its website.

Isn’t this decision dangerous? That seems to be not so bad: relatively few colds are currently caused by the new coronavirus, brats are not the most common symptom of Covid-19 anyway, and children also seem less contagious than adults.

Feverish

For primary school children, the corona measures had been more flexible since 11 May: they were then allowed to go to school if they had no complaints, and did not have to keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other. It was the government’s first step in reversing the nationwide lockdown which came into effect on March 13.

So now a child can go to school even with a cold. Staying at home is only necessary if someone close to him has proven Covid-19, or is feverish and short of breath, or if the child himself has a fever, or is coughing or short of breath. And even with those complaints, children no longer need to be tested for the corona virus. When the covid-like complaints are gone for 24 hours, they can go back to school. Only if a child is seriously ill, or if someone in the household has tested positive, should it also be tested.

The new measure is causing concern among teachers. Because what is the chance that a sneezing child with a snotty bell carries the corona virus? And how contagious is such a child with a cold if it is unexpectedly corona?

For starters, a runny nose isn’t the most common symptom of Covid-19 in children, according to the European CDC. Fever and coughing are by far the most common, in more than half to two-thirds of children with Covid-19, a dozen studies in different countries indicate. Headaches, colds and intestinal complaints were reported less frequently.

Other cold viruses

“The chance that a child currently has a cold due to Covid-19 is still very small,” says Louis Bont, professor and pediatrician specializing in respiratory infections at the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital in Utrecht. “Depending on the season, there were all kinds of respiratory viruses around. Now that is the rhinovirus, and in the coming months all kinds of other viruses will be added in waves, first the RS virus, then influenza and other cold viruses. ”

The weekly sample of people with flu or respiratory complaints at forty NIVEL GP sentinel stations also shows that the rhinovirus in particular causes these complaints at the moment. In the last poll, in the week of September 7, the coronavirus was found (SARS-CoV-2) in 1 of the 19 samples submitted – for the first time since the beginning of June. With 6 of 17 samples rhinovirus was found.

In addition, the chance that you will be infected by a child with a mild corona infection is modest, ”says Bont. “A child who is not coughing does not give out many cough drops. In addition, there are indications that children are less contagious because they carry less virus than adults. “There is still debate about this among scientists; a recent US study found just that children could carry as much virus as adults.

Absolutely impossible

Also within the Dutch Pediatric Association a few weeks ago, five hundred paediatricians held a webinar discussion about how contagious a child with Covid-19 could possibly be, and whether every sick child entering the hospital should be tested, says Bont. . “We discussed that we only test children with respiratory complaints, although not all children with Covid have those complaints.” Test capacity is a clear problem, he says. “It is completely impossible to test every child at the moment.” He therefore supports the cabinet’s decision. “It is important that children can be at school.”

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