NEW YORK (AP) — A new report underscores that kids can bring the new coronavirus home from day care and infect relatives.
The study released Friday comes from researchers in Utah and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It focused on three outbreaks in Salt Lake City child care facilities between April and July. The study concluded 12 children caught the coronavirus at the facilities.
They then spread it to at least 12 of the 46 parents or siblings that they came in contact at home.
Scientists already know children can spread the virus. One infectious diseases researcher says the study “definitively indicates — in a way that previous studies have struggled to do — the potential for transmission to family members,” said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious diseases researcher.
The findings don’t mean that schools and child-care programs need to close, but it does confirm that the virus can spread within those places and then be brought home by kids.
So, masks, disinfection and social distancing are needed. And people who work in such facilities have to be careful and get tested if they think they may be infected, experts said.
