Kids Less Likely to Spread COVID in Daycare Than at Home: Study
Research disputes the notion of childcare centers as major COVID-19 transmission hubs.
Limited Transmission in Child Care Centers
Over the past three years, the daily routine of dropping children off at daycare has been fraught with concern. Fear of children contracting COVID-19 often battled against the worry of an unexpected call to retrieve them due to a classroom case. A fresh perspective from a study published in JAMA Network Open may alleviate some of these anxieties.
The study monitored 83 children across 11 childcare centers, extending its observation to the children’s household contacts for a total 118 adults, 16 siblings, and 21 providers over a year. While participants underwent weekly COVID-19 tests and maintained symptom diaries, center directors reported weekly on the health of all 1,154 children and 402 care providers in attendance.
Findings suggest that COVID-19 isn’t significantly spread by children in daycare to caregivers, peers, or their own families. Notably, the SARS-CoV-2 transmission rate within these centers was only 2 to 3 percent, indicating that neither kids nor caregivers are the primary culprits of COVID-19 spread in these environments.
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10/28/2023
In households, however, the situation differed. Only 5 out of 30 cases were traced back to a child contracting the virus at daycare. Once inside a home, transmission rates jumped to 50 percent among children and 67 percent among adults.
He added a word of caution about generalizing these findings, emphasizing the differences in transmission among children of various ages. “While limited studies in school environments generally show low transmission rates, similar to our results, direct comparisons should be approached carefully,”he told The Epoch Times.
Pandemic’s Financial Strain on Families
Childcare challenges during the pandemic took a toll on working families. A 2020 survey found that over half of employed parents with children under 12 struggled to juggle child care during the outbreak.
Dr. Shope highlighted the cascading effects of the pandemic on families. “Unnecessary exclusions were an issue before COVID,” he said. “However, during COVID, this issue was heightened. Given the virus’s contagious nature and the heightened risk to adults, it was challenging to gauge if COVID exclusions were unnecessary initially.”
Elaborating on the economic repercussions, Dr. Shope shed light on the domino effect of childcare exclusions. “Lost wages from a single 10-day COVID exclusion can hit hourly workers hard, especially parents of unmasked children under 2,” he remarked. With young children prone to up to 10 respiratory infections a year, the financial burden, he emphasized, becomes a pressing equity issue.
On testing, he shed light on the financial strains and the subsequent hesitancy it might induce in families. “Home antigen tests cost around $15 for a pair. Yearly testing could cost $150 per child, not factoring in other family members. Given these costs, it’s plausible that many families might forgo recommended testing,” he noted.
Rethinking Exclusion Criteria Post-Pandemic
Post-pandemic, the call to reassess exclusion criteria has grown louder. Current guidelines focus on testing those with respiratory symptoms and recommending a minimum five-day isolation for positive cases.
“Our study indicates that 87 percent of COVID in households came from sources other than children infected at child care centers, suggesting current exclusions might be excessive,” Dr. Shope said.
This new understanding could influence future guidelines regarding testing in child care settings, impacting both the economic aspects of frequent testing and the subsequent disruptions to work and education.
Dr. Shope emphasized the teamwork in updating exclusion criteria, involving pediatric experts, the CDC, and early education specialists. He suggests comparing COVID-19 guidelines to diseases like RSV and influenza. “The current testing and exclusion practices for COVID-19 go well beyond what is recommended for RSV and influenza, which pose similar risks.”
