French paediatricians on the known and unknown effects of Covid on children
The medical profession has been on a steep learning curve about the consequences, notably long-term, of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Covid-19 disease it causes. But mystery remains over many aspects of the virus, and in particular about its effects, and true infection rates, among the very young. Caroline Coq-Chodorge reports from the south-east French city of Lyon, where paediatricians with the country’s second-largest teaching hospital group recount their findings.
ByBy mid-January in France, the number of weekly new cases of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, among children aged up to nine was recorded at a rate of 5,000 per 100,000, and among those aged between ten and 19 the weekly rate was 7,000 per 100,000. That month, between six and seven percent of French children tested positive for the virus in just one week.
