What risks might day cares pose to my children?
When it comes to transmission of Covid-19 through day cares, data remains scarce.
Nevertheless, studies from several countries have found that, once they are exposed, kids under 10 are about half as likely to be infected as older children and adults, said Justin Lessler, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
And when they do get infected, they seem to be less likely to develop severe symptoms and die.
However, the risk isn’t zero. More than 740,000 children (some states define a child as anyone up to age 20) have been infected since states started reporting case numbers. And cases have been rising steadily in children since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Every form of social interaction poses a risk in the pandemic,” said Dr. Lessler, who is currently sending his 1-year-old to day care, “and day cares are no different.”
So, beyond my kids, what are the risks for me and my family?
Scientists still don’t know how often kids pick up the virus at day care and then spread it to the people they live with, Dr. Lessler said. But some early evidence suggests that while sending your kids is not risk-free, it might not be as high risk to your family as you may fear.
Over the summer, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Rhode Island health and human services departments examined how many people — including children, staff, parents or…
