French study shows children don’t spread the coronavirus

In a study of 1,340 people in Crepy-en-Valois, a French town northeast of Paris, researchers from the Institut Pasteur confirmed that children experience fewer symptoms of the coronavirus and they appear to be less contagious than adults. 

The researchers also found that 61% of parents of infected kids had the coronavirus while 7% of parents tested had healthy kids (no coronavirus infection), which suggests that it was the parents who infected their children, not the other way around. 

This study served as another basis for the reopening of schools in countries from Denmark to Switzerland.

Editor’s Note: Several studies have already shown these same conclusions: closing schools have no impact on coronavirus mitigation strategies as children remain largely unaffected. Moreover, the previous belief that children are carriers of the virus has been repeatedly dispelled, which adds support to the call that in-person learning must resume as soon as possible. There is no need to wait for vaccines before children can attend school physically. 

[Several scientific organizations have added their voice to this already resounding call, see Overcome the fear: Sign petition to end lockdowns of children and the youth, Finland Schools Reopen Successfully].