With many children suffering debilitating effects from long COVID, the reopening of economies must take them into account.
Good morning. David Meyer here in Berlin, filling in for Alan.
As economies open up, we have to be doing everything we can to protect children from the coronavirus, particularly in schools—this is the urgent take-away from an article I worked on for a long while, which Fortune published yesterday, on the subject of long COVID in children.
Yes, children are less likely to catch COVID, and those who do tend not to have “long-hauler” symptoms. But many still do, with the range of symptoms being broader and less predictable than what adults typically experience. On top of the more familiar fatigue and chest pains, some children are suffering from seizures, visual impairment, brain inflammation or severe skin lesions, along with other bizarre symptoms, including Tourette syndrome.
We have very little idea of how widespread the problem really is, because long COVID can be a lot harder to spot in kids. In adults, a 20% “brain fog” reduction in concentration levels is noticeable, but less so in children—and that impairment, if it persists, could have serious educational consequences.
The most reassuring estimates suggest only 2% of kids who had symptomatic COVID still have long COVID symptoms after eight weeks; in absolute numbers, that is still a lot of children. Older kids seem more prone to long COVID—when it comes to pre-teens and teenagers who had COVID, a study has suggested one in seven still have symptoms a whole 15 weeks later. Some have had them for a year and a half now.
Everyone I spoke to for the piece said schools need to have appropriate protective measures, and there needs to be a stronger push to get children vaccinated. I’ll leave the last word to Dr David Strain, the British Medical Association’s lead on long COVID, who told me:
“The risk of voluntarily putting children through this, when we don’t fully understand it and the problems might not be manifest for years, is reckless to say the least. I fully appreciate the need to reopen the economy, but simple measures like wearing masks in school, like enhanced ventilation, they’re not going to hold the economy back or prevent us from getting on with our lives. They are the sorts of measures we should have in place to protect the future generation.”
The article is here, and you can also find out more at the website of Long COVID Kids, an advocacy and support group. News below.
David Meyer
@superglaze
david.meyer@fortune.com
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This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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