Children getting COVID-19 re-infections, other seasonal illness like foot and mouth disease: Expert

Amid the rise in COVID-19 cases among children, the health expert said that children who were infected with coronavirus in January or April are again being infected with the virus but the cases are mild that can be managed at home.

However, children are also being infected with other seasonal illnesses. Dr Nitin Verma Director Madhukar Rainbow Children’s Hospital said that children are coming with COVID-19 reinfection.

“I have a large number of cases who have had COVID once and are again being infected with the COVID for the second time. So a child who was infected with COVID in January was again infected in April and who had it in April got it again now.”

“if it is a different strain then the protection doesn’t last, so many children are getting COVID for the second time, said Dr Verma.

He further said children are also getting other infections, “COVID has been going on and even now I get almost four to five children who are down and are proven cases of COVID in a day. There is a lot of hand foot and mouth disease, especially among small children going to school. There are a lot of viral fevers which are the beginning cases of Dengue and recently we have started getting cases of swine flu also,” he added.

Dr Verma said most of the COVID cases are mild that can be managed at home.

“Fortunately most of the cases are mild. The severity is only in the adults. The advantage in the adults is that they also have taken their vaccine. So their symptoms are a little bit more but the children are having mild to moderate severity and all are being managed in the house itself,” he added.

Concerning the symptoms being diagnosed among children, he said, “Children are showing fever, some of them are having a sore throat. Some children are having rashes and others are having symptoms of vomiting and loose motion.”

“Vaccination helps in preventing the severity of disease, and making sure that you don’t land up in the hospital or the ICU and wearing a mask, hand washing and social distancing,” Dr Verma said on protection measures.

In most cases, children are being infected to COVID from schools also, Dr Nitin said it is important to focus on the school environment.

“So obviously, we need to focus on the school environment so that at the schools make sure that masks are made compulsory. You know the time when children are eating their meals, they are dispersed so that they are not close to each other. Then that’s one way that we can prevent the spread of COVID in schools,” said Dr Verma.

On the issue of closing down schools to curb the spread of COVID, he said there is no need for that unless the cases go very, very high.

“So, if there is a rapid surge of cases or we are witnessing rise in COVID cases with severe disease, yes, than it is important to close schools. But even in school, we can devise measures like you can have a hybrid model that half the number of people come so that you can maintain social distancing. But I think given the current situation and the fact that the cases are not very severe, I would not recommend closing schools at this time,” he added.