Are We Ready for Coronavirus Disease 2019 Arriving at Schools?

Choe, Young June; Choi, Eun Hwa

From the early epidemiological reports on COVID-19, we see a low frequency of cases and less severity among children. As of March 15, 2020, among 8,162 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Korea, 83 (1.0%) were aged 0-9 years and 427 (5.2%) were aged 10-19 years. 8 Adults with COVID-19 efficiently transmit the virus during the asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic phase. 9 A recent study on close contacts in China shows similar infection rates among children and adults. 10 In such context, it is reasonable to expect that children are a source of transmission in the community, despite their mild symptoms. As outbreaks are occurring in places where people interact with each other closely, transmission between children is likely to occur when schools open, thus triggering a second wave in the community. Opening of schools is also expected to increase contact rates in the community, decreasing the effectiveness of social distancing, which is the mainstay of the current mitigation strategy.