Swiss Health Authorities Say Its Safe For Children Under 10 To Hug Grandparents

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BERN, SWITZERLAND (VINnews) — Swiss health authorities have announced that children under the age of 10 can hug their grandparents again without fear of infecting them with coronavirus. The change of advice came after Swiss scientists concluded that young children pose no risk of infection from Covid-19 because they do not have the “receptors” targeted by it.

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Dr Daniel Koch, the head of the infectious diseases unit at the Federal Department of Public Health, told a press conference in Bern: “Children are very rarely infected and do not pass on the virus. That is why small children pose no risk to high-risk patients or grandparents.”

However the Swiss ruling says that contact between grandparents and their grandchildren should remain brief and grandparents should not be babysitting yet for their grandchildren. Additionally, children showing signs of illness should not visit those at risk of infection.

Dr. Koch said at the press conference that the original directive to maintain distance between young children and grandparents was given before much was known about the disease. He added that “many of the grandparents are yearning to see their grandchildren and it is important to their physical and mental health. The grandchildren will not be the ones to infect them, but rather the parents.”

The Swiss findings echo the results from another study carried out earlier this month by a French epidemiologist. The French scientist examined the case of a nine-year-old British schoolboy who became infected with the virus while on a skiing holiday in France. Despite coming into contact with over 170 people, the young boy did not infect anyone else. The epidemiologist concluded that “children might not be an important source of transmissions of this novel virus”.

According to a report in the British Daily Telegraph, some member’s of the British Government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) also believe that children do not pass on the virus, which has resulted in calls for schools to reopen in June.

However not all experts concur with the Swiss study. Germany’s chief virologist Christian Drosten, who originally advised in early March that children should be separated from  people at risk ‘until September or October’ told the Austrian broadcasting company that there was not yet enough evidence to state categorically that children do not pass on coronavirus to others since different studies have shown varying results.

British experts also warned that more data would be required before a decision allowing contact between children and grandparents could be made in the U.K.

The president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, Professor Russell Viner, said that his organisation advised against children and grandparents hugging in the UK for the time being.

‘We think that children probably transmit Covid-19 less than adults but we need to be absolutely sure and we would need to have a lot more data on that particularly because elderly grandparents are in the vulnerable group,’ he said.

 


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Educated Archy
Educated Archy
3 years ago

Great so can we open schools for those under 10. It would help us open the economy. They seem to be a very low risk. The curve is down. why the shelp?

ANON21
ANON21
3 years ago

Archie the liberals are enjoying the closures too much. Unfortunately it’s their dream come true. More unfortunately is that here in the northeast we’re stuck will progressive liberals.