Kids Have 44 Percent Lower Odds of Catching Covid-19 Than Adults: UK Analysis

Children read books in a classroom at the Barnton Community Primary school on the first day back, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Barnton, Britain, on Sept. 2, 2020. (Molly Darlington/Reuters)

LONDON—Children have 44 percent lower odds of catching COVID-19 than adults, according to an analysis led by the president of Britain’s Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.

“In this systematic review and meta-analysis including 32 studies, children and adolescents younger than 20 years had 44 percent lower odds of secondary infection with SARS-CoV-2 compared with adults 20 years and older,” the analysis said.

“There is preliminary evidence that those younger than 10 to 14 years have lower susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection than adults, with adolescents appearing to have similar susceptibility to adults.”

The analysis was led by Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.